By Tara Murray
Hume Tennis and Community Centre’s biggest month of the year will be even bigger this time around.
The centre will next week host the fourth Stockland Melbourne Wheelchair Tennis Open in the lead up to the Australian Open, while they will have an Interactive Live Site run throughout the Australian Open for the first time.
The centre’s Tim Connelly said the idea of having a live site at the centre throughout the Australian Open was something he came up with while watching the open at another venue.
The site will be open for all 14 days and nights of the open, with food and drink facilities, live entertainment and free introductory tennis lessons.
“I thought why can’t we do this?” he said.
“Each day from 11am, families are welcome to come in to the centre and enjoy the tennis on the big screen as well as trying their hand on court themselves on the same surface as the Australian Open.”
“We want to offer families in Craigieburn and surrounding areas more interactive and outdoor community activations. With free entry each day there is no reason why families or groups of friends can’t come down and experience the fun of tennis.”
Connelly said they were hopeful this would be the beginning of hosting more community events at the centre throughout the whole year.
During the first week of the of the Australian Open, the Craigieburn-based centre will host the Stockland Melbourne Wheelchair Tennis Open.
The even starts on January 15 with the finals on January 19.
Connelly said the event continues to get better each year.
“We’ve got 12 out of the top 14 players in the world playing,” he said.
“Players are understanding how close we are to the Airport and want to come and play.”
Among those playing are last year’s singles winners, Yui Kamiji and Guestavo Fernandezis.
For more on what is happening the next few weeks at the Hume Tennis Community Centre, go to www.humetennis.com.au
