Penrith’s newly refurbished Woodriff Gardens Tennis Centre played host to over 400 young tennis players over the Easter long weekend in a leg of Tennis Australia’s Junior Tour.
The annual Nepean Easter Junior Open is the largest tennis event held across the country over the Easter period, and sees some of Australia’s best juniors descend on Penrith to compete.
“Feedback on the new courts was fantastic,” Nepean Tennis CEO, Chris Woodland said.
“It was the biggest field for some time, and players excited to play on the new surface was a contributing factor.”
Local juniors played strongly, producing some great results at the local tournament. Andre DeOliviera was runner-up in U16 Boys Singles, Taylah Lawless was a semi-finalist in the U14 Girls Singles, and Joel Stevens was the runner-up in the U14 Boys Consolation Singles.
Woodland hoped even more high level tennis events would be headed to Penrith in the future given the international standard of the facility on offer.
“On behalf of Nepean Tennis I would like to extend a huge thank you to Tennis Australia, local member Stuart Ayres, and particularly to Penrith Council for their investments in the Woodriff Gardens venue,” he said.
“The Penrith community should be thrilled with the results.”
The new courts were opened in February by tennis legend Ken Rosewall and Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown, and have been widely applauded.
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.
