The region's tennis aces continued their COVID-comeback on the weekend with Gunnedah Tennis Club hosting the first round of the new Tennis NSW Super Series.
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The first tournament of it's kind to be played in the region, rather than using age and/or gender to determine divisions, tournament director Dale Martin said the Super Series is more 'level-based', utilising the Universal Tennis Rating.
It was a challenging weekend for the players, playing five best of three matches.
"It was a good test for a lot of the kids because they haven't had any match play for about three months," Martin said.
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While many of them have been back training for a little while now, they are lacking that match fitness.
Gunnedah's Aaron Osmond (Division 9-12), Isabelle Moore (Division 7-9 Pool 2), Jai McInnes (Division 1-4 Pool 1) and Blake Nobilo (Division 1-4 Pool 2) all had success on their home court winning their respective divisions. Tamworth's Connor Guest (Division 7-9 Pool 1), Seamus Shepherd (Division 4-7 Pool 1), Will Penberthy (Division 4-7 Pool 2) and Lachie Penberthy (10&U division) also aced their rivals.
It was the second tournament to be played in the region since the COVID pandemic with Inverell hosting the first North West Return to Tennis event late last month.
The next Super Series event will be held at Narrabri on July 18 and precede the club's Return to Tennis event. Martin said they are looking to do the same when Armidale is scheduled to hold their Return to Tennis event, as they look to make up for lost opportunities.
"We decided to put these three or four extra tournaments on just to try and give players in the region a bit more tennis," he said.
After three months away from the court, he said the players are all excited about getting back into some competitive tennis with a good roll-up for the Inverell event. They had to have a limit of 50 for the weekend due to the expected longer time on court with the three sets.
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