Tennis: A century of tennis celebrated

Les Bairstow and Sam Capararo and Greg and Helen Cook were the winners of Albany’s first tennis tournament of the season on Sunday.

Picture by Dave Polette: A-grade player David Forshaw plays a volley as his partner Holly Horwitz looks on.

The annual mixed doubles tournament at Lawley Park Tennis Club, which is celebrating the centenary of its tennis courts, attracted six teams in A-grade and B-grade.

Sponsored by Lockyer Avenue Veterinary Hospital, the day served up some challenging weather with a strong breeze and the odd light shower holding up play at times during the day.

Teams played a round-robin format, with nine-game super sets.

Bairstow and Capararo from Merrifield Park Tennis Club went undefeated in the A-grade, winning all five sets against some strong competition, while Lawley Park’s Matt Thompson and Emma Russell were gallant runners-up.

In the B-grade, Emu Point Tennis Club’s husband-and-wife team of Greg and Helen Cook also made a clean-sweep of the competition to win their division title, with up-and-coming young brother-sister pairing John and Lauren Price runners-up.

Social tennis is played at Lawley Park, Emu Point and Merrifield Park tennis clubs each Saturday afternoon from 1pm and new players are always welcome.

More tournaments are planned for the season, the biggest being the annual two-day Albany Open at Emu Point on January 28-29.

Men’s, womens and mixed doubles will be played in A and B grades. Call Murray Field on 9842 8692 for more details.