Paul Kleverlaan, Matt Lamattina and Shannon Salter are thrilled with the news that a new junior tournament will be held at Casey Tennis Centre and Casey Fields Tennis Centre during the Australian Open. Picture: Luke Plummer.By Marc McGowan
TENNIS has received a major boost in the region with the announcement that Casey Tennis Centre and Casey Fields Tennis Centre will co-host the inaugural Casey Junior Masters next year.
The event will run from 16 to 20 January, coinciding with the first week of the Australian Open, and is likely to attract some of the best junior national and international talent.
The tennis clubs will also share the Casey Classic Open Tournament between 20 and 23 September.
The Casey Junior Masters has taken over from the Royal Park Junior Masters, which was held on the same dates this year, but has folded after struggling because of water restrictions.
Co-tournament director and manager of the two local venues Paul Kleverlaan has high hopes for what he predicts will become an annual event.
“We are expecting around 400 to 600 players at the tournament,” he said. “It’s part of the Optus Junior Tour competition around Australia.”
The Optus Junior Tour involves more than 100 junior tournaments across the country at under 12, under 14 and under 16 level.
Under 18 International Tennis Federation events, which give competitors the opportunity to acquire points towards their world ranking, are also part of the Optus Junior Tour.
All four age groups will be catered for at the Casey Junior Masters after Kleverlaan and co-tournament director Ben Goltz survived a stringent application process to be awarded the tournament.
“There was a whole lot of criteria we had to follow, including experience running tournaments, and having a suitable venue and appropriate umpires and court supervisors,” Kleverlaan said.
The under 18 competition at the Casey Junior Masters is currently the highest Tennis Australia graded event at the tournament but Kleverlaan believes the younger age groups will rise in the coming years.
The higher the tournament is graded the more points players can earn towards their rankings but any upgrades are determined by Tennis Australia.
This is decided upon by a number of factors, including the quality of participants the event attracts and how well it is run.
Kleverlaan is aiming to add further junior and senior tournaments to the calendar in the future but his other goal is to produce a State Grade side for Casey.
State Grade is the top pennant competition in Victoria.
“I’d be hopeful for not next season but the season after – subject to sponsorship,” he said.
“We need to get hard court (surfaces) to get a State Grade team here. If you look at the tournament calendar, no tournaments are played on synthetic grass.”
Casey Fields Tennis Centre has two hard courts but the rest of its 12 courts are synthetic grass, while Casey Tennis Centre has 12 synthetic surfaces.
Money will be a significant factor as, despite the huge amount of talent in the district, it lacks the marquee players at present that are required to be competitive at State Grade standard.
Endeavour Hills prodigy Andrew Coelho heads the local charge with a world ranking of 389 and an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship.
However, Coelho is unlikely to be a part of any State Grade push for Casey but there are plenty of others in contention.
Pearcedale’s Lisa D’Amelio, who reached a career-high world ranking of 363 last year, is a possibility after only recently quitting the professional circuit.
Other locals playing at the upper echelon of pennant tennis for clubs around the state include Paul and Karen Kleverlaan, Ben Goltz, Montana Grenfell, Lisa Newman, Samantha Meares, Michael Turlejski and Aaron Tran.
Paul Kleverlaan believes it will take between $6000 and $12,000 a season to run a Casey State Grade squad as, among other expenses, top players at that level are paid.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring a potential Casey State Grade team, Kleverlaan can be contacted at Casey Tennis Centre on 9702 0310.
