The inaugural "Vets and Legends" Tennis Tournament, held at Kiama recently, attracted 168 players from all over NSW, the ACT plus a small group of Melbourne players.
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The players were impressed with the facilities at both Kiama Tennis Club and Jamberoo, as well as the organisation of the event, which featured Round Robin Doubles and Mixed Doubles events across the weekend.
The first day of the tournament on Friday featured singles events, with many local players performing well.
Bob Morgan won the 75 Mens singles, and coach Joe Moseley defeated Dane Mottley in an entertaining 45 men’s final.
Tournament director, Ross Smith, was impressed with the high standard of play and the goodwill among the players getting matches started on time after being allocated a court.
Fortunately, the threatening weather held-off and all the scheduled events were completed, although some venue changes were put in place, as Jamberoo courts succumbed to the overnight rain and were unplayable on Sunday morning.
The event attracted players from 35 years of age up to Goulburn’s Betty Bertram, aged 83, who paired with her daughter, Jamberoo’s A grade player Sharyn Farrell.
Club president, Dave Lehman, had high praise for the tournament committee who had been planning the event for more than a year.
Ann Boulton and Jackie Parker, together with club volunteers, provided the players with high quality food from the Kiama TC Kitchen, which included a BBQ lunch each day.
Feedback from the visiting players provided high praise to Kiama Tennis Club in all aspects of the inaugural event.
A major feature of the tournament was the Legend’s Dinner, which was held at the Kiama Leagues Club.
The dinner featured Mark Edmondson – the last Australian man to win the Australian Open Tennis Men's Singles in 1976.
A warm welcome was extended to special guests, including Mark Simpson from the ANZ Bank, Kiama MP Gareth Ward and Kristina Petkovic from South-East Region Tennis.
A huge crowd of interested tennis players were wowed by the tennis tales of the 1970s and 80s from champion Mark Edmondson, who hailed from Gosford.
After defeating John Newcombe in the 1976 final, he went on to represent Australia in the Davis Cup under non-playing coach Neale Fraser, winning the event in 1983 against Sweden.
In the 1980s, Edmondson specialised in doubles, where he won the Australian Open Men's Doubles on four occasions in 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1984 with Kim Warwick and Paul McNamee (1983).
He also won the French Men's Doubles with Kim Warwick in 1985 at the famous Roland-Garros venue in Paris.
The 132 guests were treated to a three-course meal provided by the catering staff at the Kiama Leagues Club, as well as music by Giles Robinson.
Between courses, patrons were entertained with a number of tennis trivia competitions, presented by board member Frank Wallner.
The evening concluded with the drawing of a raffle with the major prize – a holiday package donated by Easts Beach Big 4 Caravan Park.
