On the same weekend the Wagga tennis legend passed away, the Wagga team emerged victorious at the tennis centre bearing his name in the John Ferguson Cup on Sunday.

With the team event returning after a two year absence, the hosts' 20-player squad held off Albury by just two match wins, with Griffith and North East finishing third and fourth respectively.

Normally a junior event, Wagga's captain and South Wagga Tennis Club coach Karen Staines said an open competition was incorporated into the schedule for the first time with great success.

The result wasn't determined until the final fixtures where Wagga and Albury did battle for overall honours.

"It hasn't been held for a couple of years, but it's back up and running and we had an opens component to it this year, which was great," she said.

"It (hiatus) was probably just scheduling, but the importance of what John's done for tennis has been amazing so it was great to get it back on the calendar.

"The juniors love watching the opens and there was so much tennis, that's what we want for our young ones."

Staines said the players heard of inaugural Wagga Wagga Tennis Centre president Elphick's passing before they took to court.

Elphick died aged 99 on Saturday, eight weeks from his 100^th birthday, after a short illness.

"He was just such a legend of Wagga in tennis circles and it was so sad to see the news," Staines said.

"Jim put a lot of hard work into Wagga tennis and he was certainly a great man."

It is expected the John Ferguson Cup will return to being an annual event going forward.

Saturday's teams were comprised of 16 junior players and four seniors.

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