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General Aussie Tennis News

78K views 731 replies 66 participants last post by  Daniel. 
#1 ·
Seeing as the QLD State Tennis Centre is due for completion later in the year, I thought I would start a thread for it, as it is the biggest development since the construction of the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

When completed, the centre will have:
- 22 international standard tennis courts (16 hardcourts, 4 claycourts and 2 grasscourts)
- A 5500 seat covered Centre Court
- Administrative facilities for Tennis QLD
- Cafes, restaurants, pro shop
- A new ferry terminal
- 390 apartments in the 'Tennyson Reach' development

All in all, the centre has cost $80 million to construct.

Here are some artists impressions of the QLD Tennis Centre:











And of course, the centre will host the Brisbane International from 2009...

Here are some sites of interest:
www.tennysonreach.com
www.tennisattennyson.com
www.tennisqueensland.com

And some photos of the stadium taking shape
 
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12
#10 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

whats the levels of the womens and mens tournies???:confused:
 
#11 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

I think, for the time being, the women's is still a Tier 3, and the men's a World Series...but I think there is certainly potential for it to be a Tier 2 (like Sydney) and a Championship Series in the future (part of the reason why they moved it)
 
#12 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

yeah... its certianly worthy of being TierII:)

aagh cant wait, will be a great week
 
#13 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

Cool! Our two number 1's wont be there next year coz they'll be in Perth which sucks.

What type of clay is it? Is it the european stuff that they keep saying we need more of??
 
#14 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

agh i love it... all aussies except hewitt and dellacqua will be there:)
 
#15 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

I want to know how this will change the tv coverage for this event, will we see more?
 
#16 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

i doubt it... channel 7 is signed to the hopman cup and show it all day???:(
 
#18 ·
#21 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

can't find anything on it, hopefully they give it more coverage
 
#22 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

There will be covergae :D It said in one of my newspapers :yeah:
 
#23 · (Edited)
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

READ THIS :hearts:


A DIGGER stands for the moment where the net will be in the enclosed, intimate theatre for 5500 spectators underneath synthetic sails.
A workman has marked out in the dirt the baselines and sidelines inside which generations of Queensland kids will want to take their first serious steps towards tennis greatness.

"It's been seven years of work to get to where we are, but it's going to be worth it," said Tennis Queensland president Ashley Cooper, who managed a quick visit this week before he flew out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Wimbledon win.

"I hadn't been to the centre court since the fabric went on. It's really going to be intimate. There won't be a bad seat in the place.

"For atmosphere, the Wimbledon centre court sticks out among courts in world tennis. But this court is going to be unique - there's nothing like it with its roof."


The stadium will be covered by a waterproofed, sun-resistant material, polytetrafluoroethylene. At the end of the month work will have started on putting down the bitumen in preparation for the plexicushion courts which will make up 17 of the centre's 23 courts.

There's a sense of space that will enhance the relaxed atmosphere organisers want players and patrons to feel at the Brisbane International, which will officially open the centre from January 4-10.

Tennis Queensland asked the state government last year to name the centre court after one former great Queensland player and the tennis centre after a second player.

It is expected Pat Rafter will be one of the two players honoured if the government elects not to seek corporate naming rights sponsorship.

For two weeks each year, the Tennyson centre will be home for the combined men's and women's event created when Tennis Australia merged its Adelaide men's tournament with its Gold Coast women's event.

For the other 50 weeks, it will be the base for Queensland's elite tennis academy, also offering tennis on each of the sport's three Grand Slam surfaces to hirers.

"The development of the stadium is totally on track and we expect to get the keys before (the scheduled handover date of) December 1," tournament director Steve Ayles said.

"Queensland can now not only host a major men's and women's event, but also bid for Davis and Fed Cup ties and potentially a Legends event."

The balcony of the players' area offers city views beyond the tree-lined river banks.

"It's going to be a wonderful centre which provides a focal point through the rest of the year for training of our best young players. Every kid interested in tennis will want to play there," Cooper said.

The sport also needs the impetus from a series of successful Brisbane Internationals, the first of which will offer more than $1 million in player remuneration in the first week of the Australian Open series month.

The event will have to attract sufficient numbers to stop the post-Christmas defection of Brisbane sports fans to the coast, a challenge the previous Milton women's tournament could not overcome.

Ayles says it will do this by offering more than tennis. "We will execute the same strategy the Australian Open has, which is to get as many people as possible interested in tennis," he said.

"We will get top-10 players and have a lot of depth in the fields because they can play on the same surface as the Australian Open, with the same ball, in the same time zone, a similar climate."

It helps that a local tournament is finally off its one-day-an-event television ration afforded the Gold Coast event. Channel 7 will telecast 36 hours of the inaugural Brisbane International, which will have two twilight finals - the women's final on Friday and the men's decider on Saturday.

Ayles contests the point that the tournament will hinge on the strength of its fields in the first few years.

"I'm very confident we will get top-10 players," he said.

Last week, three large cranes continued work on the 390 apartments in six buildings - the developmental component that made Cooper's tennis centre dream fly - on the site of a former power station on the south bank of the Brisbane River.

It's a beautiful twist that Brisbane's real estate clamour has given the financial means for the state government to provide the land for a tennis centre, 15 years after Milton hosted its last international event.

In 2001, former TQ president Maurice Philp asked Cooper to join a committee to look at how to arrest the loss of more than 200 tennis courts over the previous 15 years due to real estate sales to developers.

"Over the last seven years it would have been well over 100 meetings I've been to about getting a new state centre. There's been a hell of a lot lately," Cooper said with a smile.
 
#25 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

And another article with a plan to 'lure' players to Brisbane...sounds quite interesting




FUTURE of tennis ... an artist's impression of the new tennis centre at Tennyson.

Construction VIDEO!

Brisbane's new $77 million tennis centre serves it up

By Paul Malone | June 21, 2008 12:00am | link

TENNIS stars will be offered a free trip to the Whitsundays as part of a high-powered player recruiting campaign for the inaugural Brisbane International tournament in January.

The Brisbane International, from January 4 to 10, will officially open the new $77 million state tennis centre at Tennyson.

It is anticipated that either the centre itself or the main 5500-seat stadium will be named after Pat Rafter, the most recent Queenslander to win a Grand Slam title.


Eight to 10 players will be invited to relax at the Whitsundays for a day trip or a more extended stay if they play in the International, according to tournament director Steve Ayles.

The revelation comes as couriermail.com.au publishes the first pictures of inside the 23-court riverside centre.

The centre court stadium has been described by Tennis Queensland president Ashley Cooper as "unique" in world tennis.

The centre became reality after the Government in 2006 provided land for developers Mirvac to build 390 apartments on condition a tennis centre was also built.

Sport Minister Judy Spence said yesterday that Tennis Queensland and Stadiums Queensland, the government authority that will control the centre, were negotiating a lease for TQ to occupy and operate the centre.

TQ last year asked the State Government to honour one or two players by naming facilities at the centre after them.

Ms Spence said that part of the terms of the lease provided an option for TQ to buy the naming rights for the centre.

"Negotiations are not yet concluded but should Tennis Queensland exercise the option to purchase the naming rights it would be a matter for Tennis Queensland as to how this right was used," she said.

Mr Ayles spoke to representatives of the world's new No. 1-ranked player, Ana Ivanovic, during a French Open visit last month to sell the attractions of Brisbane's first international tennis tournament in 15 years.

"A lot of the players travel with partners and if they feel they can offer their partners something different like a day trip to the Reef, it might encourage them to come to Brisbane," Mr Ayles said.

"We would take them somewhere off the Whitsundays, for some snorkelling or just relaxing on a private yacht."

This year's two men's Grand Slam champions, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, also figure high on his wish list.

Players will be share in more than $1 million in prizemoney and incentives for playing the event, which combines Tennis Australia's former Gold Coast women's event and former Adelaide men's tournament.
 
#28 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

Bump!

This isn't so much news about the Queensland State Tennis Centre, but in an effort to boost the number of courts in Brisbane, Tennis Queensland has opened up a new tennis centre in the mid Northern suburb of Wooloowin. Known as 'Shaw Park' Tennis Centre, the new centre offers ten floodlit hardcourts for use.


And here is the website; http://www.shawparktennis.com.au/

Thought that it was interesting to note :)

And the QLD State Tennis Centre is due for completion in December :)
 
#29 ·
Re: Queensland State Tennis Centre

36 hours, that'll mean tennis on two channels. What choice :drool:
 
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