Narrabri District Tennis Association hosted the highly anticipated Narrabri weekend of tennis on Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19.
On Saturday the Dangar Park Tennis Centre was the venue for the 2020 North West NSW UTR Super Series event, then on Sunday it hosted the second of four North West Return To Tennis Series qualifying days.
Narrabri District Tennis Association president Rod Kirk, who played in Sunday’s event, told The Courier that it was great to see so many players back on court.
“It was good to have everyone back on court in a tournament atmosphere,” Kirk said.
“The weekend went well and we had good numbers considering, I think a few people are still a bit tentative when it comes to travelling.
“We had 32 on Saturday which was capped then we had 82 registrations for Sunday but a few pulled out.”
Kirk said that he was pleased to see so many Narrabri Tennis competitors excel across the weekend and he also congratulated Narrabri Tennis head coach Shane Murphy for the outstanding way in which he ran the events and thanked the NDTA committee members and event volunteers for all the hard work they put in to making the weekend a success.
Eleven Narrabri Tennis players took to the courts on Saturday, and on Sunday 22 Narrabri Tennis players competed.
They were joined by many travelling players to total a maximum 32 competitors on Saturday and 78 on Sunday.
The Tennis NSW Super Series is a brand new match play offering for tennis competitors of all abilities.
The Super Series is powered by Universal Tennis Rating is available in both junior and senior divisions.
Unlike Australian ranking tournaments, rating bands through the UTR system are used to separate players in to draws.
Male and female players are combined, which means that there may be instances where boys and girls play matches against each other.
The main aim of NSW Super Series events is to ensure that all players are playing matches against players of similar ability.
Results for Narrabri Tennis players from Saturday’s event are as follows:
Lincoln Cecil – no wins from three matches (but played up an age group), Sophie Hartnett – two wins from three matches, Billy Johnstone – three wins from three matches, George Bennett – two wins from three matches, Cooper Butler – two wins from four matches, Callum Wales – four wins from four matches, Alex Bennett – no wins from four matches, Jack Hartnett – two wins from three matches, Ava Garbutt – three wins from three matches, Alistair Dowdell – two wins from three matches, Shane Murphy – three wins from three matches.
The North West Return To Tennis Series replaced the JDS tournament format in 2020 following a layoff for the sport while the state managed the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament includes four qualifying days to be followed by the Champion of Champions invitational event on Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23 in Inverell.
The first qualifying day was held at Inverell on Sunday, June 28, Narrabri’s event on Sunday was the second, and the third and fourth will be held at Armidale this Sunday and West Tamworth on August 9 respectively.
Results for Narrabri Tennis players from Sunday’s event are as follows:
8-years-and-under girls’: Charlotte Murphy – winner.
8-years-and-under boys’: Lincoln Cecil – third on countback, Charlie Johnstone – fourth, Lucas Dowdell – fifth overall.
10-years-and-under girls’: Sophie Hartnett -fifth overall.
10-years-and-under boys’: Billy Johnstone – third, Charlie Butler – fouth, Percy Hayes – sixth overall.
12-years-and-under girls’: Ava Garbutt – fifth, Taryn Kirk – ninth overall.
12-years-and-under boys’: Jack Hartnett – second in his pool then first round of playoffs, Alistair Dowdell – third in his pool just missing playoff qualification, Toby Hayes seventh in his pool.
14-years-and-under girls’: Lily Campbell – third, Ally Dunn – fifth overall.
12-years-and-under boys’: Callum Wales – third, George Bennett – fifth, Cooper Butler – eighth overall.
Opens: Josh Campbell – third in his pool after countback for second, Rod Kirk – fourth in his pool after countback for second, Ryan Steel – fifth in his pool, Brock Heideman – eighth in his pool.
