Wagga Tennis Centre coach Matthew Hort has tipped a tightly contested field ahead of this weekend’s Riverina Open.
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Hort has been busily putting together the city’s biggest annual tennis event and was impressed with both the number of registrations and calibre of players lining up to take part.
“It’s a pretty big deal this year because it’s the first time we’ve combined an Australian Money Tournament with a Junior Tour Tournament,” Hort said.
“Seeing as though it’s the first time running it, we weren’t sure about what kind of turnout we’d get, but we’ve already had 160 players register so it’s happy days here.”
“It’s nice to suss out what kind of numbers we can expect later on.”
Hort was quietly confident of attracting a decent field and said numbers could’ve been even greater if not for an external hiccup.
“Wagga always seems to draw a big attendance and big crowds for sporting things, so I wasn’t too worried about low numbers, especially with it being a longer weekend.”
“We probably could’ve had more if there was more accommodation available – everywhere’s already booked out.”
Griffith veteran and reigning champion Daniel Dossetor will headline the men’s field this year in a bid to boost his Australian ranking from 150 while ACT product Alyssa Simonchini is the highest ranked competitor in the women’s event.
“Danny’s probably the highest ranked player in the men’s but the top 13 seeds or so would be in the top 500-600 players in the country,” Hort said.
“It’s a good crop of players and even the non-seeded player are looking really good this year.
“Same goes with the women’s event where Alyssa’s got a ranking around 200 but there’s plenty of competitors up around there as well, so I reckon we’re in for a good weekend of tennis.”
Teenage talent Leon Hemmings has been labelled a bolter in this year’s installment and there’s a healthy Wagga contigent expected to storm the courts this weekend.
“Leon will be a strong contender if he’s fit and ready to go and we’ve also got players like Ben Duffy, Amelia Hanson and a few locals from South Wagga Tennis Club on board too,” Hort said.
“It’s good to see those players trying to give it a crack.”
Around 400 spectators are expected over the weekend with semi finals and finals scheduled on the following Monday.
“The event’s good for the town and good for the tennis centre too, so hopefully we get a big crowd down,” Hort said.
”We’ve shifted the semi finals and finals to the Monday to free up some space this year – usually there’s not a massive crowd for the finals so fingers crossed this keeps a few spectators around.”
