The top-ranked Barty defeated an American, Danielle Collins, to become the first Australian to win the Grand Slam singles title there since 1978. “I’m so proud to be an Aussie,” she said.
By Christopher ClareyJan. 29, 2022
MELBOURNE, Australia — The 44-year drought was over in Ashleigh Barty’s sunburned country. Barty, often inscrutable on a tennis court, had just finished letting her guard down with a full-flex howl of delight that could almost be heard above the roars in Rod Laver Arena.
Now, Barty, Australia’s first Australian Open singles champion since 1978, was motioning to someone on the other side of the deep blue expanse, beckoning with both hands and a relaxed smile.
Casey Dellacqua emerged from the sidelines. They have been close for a decade — since Barty summoned the moxie at age 15 to ask her to play doubles — and it seemed appropriate on this fulfilling Saturday night that Dellacqua, now retired, be the first to embrace her.
“She brought me into the sport again,” Barty said.
Dellacqua supported Barty’s decision in September 2014 to leave the tennis tour. Barty, just 18, was depressed, lonely and desperate to live a more normal life than that provided by hotels and practice courts. And when Barty had spent more than a year away from the game, playing professional cricket and leaving the jet lag behind, it was Dellacqua who invited her out for a hit and helped her realize that she did indeed want to fully explore her prodigious tennis talent.
Barty returned to the tour in 2016 with no ranking but full commitment, and Saturday’s 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Danielle Collins of the United States was the latest proof that she made the right decision, for herself above all, but also for her sports-mad country.
“She knows how proud I am of her,” Dellacqua said as she sat next to Barty on the set of Australia’s Channel Nine on Saturday. “Everybody thinks I have done a lot, but I cannot explain what Ash has done for me.”
For a tennis nation like Australia, home to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall and to grass courts in country towns and fancy clubs, it beggars belief that it would take 44 years to win any tournament, much less their own. But the drought was real in Australia, as homegrown champions like Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur won major singles titles abroad but came up short in Melbourne.
Barty, now 25, has solved the riddle — aced it actually — by not dropping a set in any of her seven matches at this year’s Australian Open.
Born and raised in the steamy Australian state of Queensland, Barty has been ranked No. 1 for more than 100 weeks and has become a hugely popular figure in her home nation. Her matches during the Open this year have attracted large television audiences.
But until now, her most significant triumphs also have come far from Australia. She won her first Grand Slam singles title in 2019 at the French Open and won Wimbledon last year when most Australians were unable to travel because of coronavirus restrictions.
Read more
Mens’ 2022 Badge Teams
/in Badge, Club News /by Rob2022 ITF SUPER SENIORS WORLD TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
/in Club News, Tennis Seniors /by RobSuper Seniors
SUPER SENIORS FACT SHEETS
2022 Super Seniors World TEAM Championships Fact Sheets
2022 Super Seniors World TEAM Championships Hotel Information
2022 Super Seniors INDIVIDUAL Championships Fact Sheets
2022 Super Seniors INDIVIDUAL Championships Hotel Information
List of 2022 Super Seniors Team members who will represent the USA in Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, FL April 24-29.
MLTC Newsletter 17 Feb 2022
/in Club Championships, Club News /by RobSenior Club Championships
The Men’s and Ladies 40 plus and 60 plus singles will be played this Saturday,
Noon start 3 short sets each in a round robin.
Sunday will be the same format at 9.30am start for Combined Age 100 Men’s and Ladies Doubles.
Social Play on Saturday will be on 2 courts only until the Club Championships finish.
No club courts on Sunday morning for social play.
Good luck to all
Denis Crowley
Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
Vale Paul Wigney
/in Club News /by RobPaul Wigney passed away on Sunday. He was 92. Paul had been in poor health for some time and it had been a while since he was last at the Club.
Paul was a life member of the Club. Paul played Badge continuously for 58 years – all with Manly. Paul once told me that “I played badge in my first year at the club and also have the distinction of being in the winning team on my first badge and my last”.
Prior to Badge Paul played A grade in the Manly Hardcourt competition for Balgowlah Club for 14 years giving him a total of 72 years continuous competition tennis.
Details of his funeral will be passed on to members when they have been finalised.
Craig Withell
President
Manly Lawn Tennis Club
MLTC Newsletter 9 Feb 2022
/in Club Championships, Club News /by RobLast Chance To Sign Up
Badge Sign Up
The Badge season will start in April. If you are wanting to play Badge you must complete an online form before 13 Feb – please click here to submit your Badge entry form.
Senior Club Champs
Our annual Club Championships start in February. We’d love to see more entries in our aged Club Champs over the weekends of 20/21 and 27/28 Feb. All events are round robin and just for fun, singles and doubles.
Entries close 13 Feb, enter here.
Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
COVID-19 Restrictions Extended
/in Club News, COVID /by RobCurrent restrictions have been extended to Mon 28 Feb.
Stay up to date with the evolving rules.
COVID-19 Safe QR check-ins required!
Rules and restrictions for all people living in NSW.
Some premises may make it a condition of entry that you are fully vaccinated or wear a face mask.
NSW Health strongly advises people get fully vaccinated and wear a face mask where they cannot physically distance.
Source: NSW Health
Rafael Nadal Wins the Australian Open, His 21st Grand Slam Title
/in Goss, News /by RobNovak Djokovic overshadowed the first Grand Slam of the year before it began, but Nadal pulled off an epic comeback over Daniil Medvedev that broke his tie with Djokovic and Roger Federer in men’s singles major career victories.
By Christopher Clarey
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal shook his head, as if in disbelief. Then he moved to the net to shake the hand of his opponent, Daniil Medvedev, and it was then that it seemed to sink in. Nadal stood alone in the record book with 21 career Grand Slam men’s singles titles, one more than his rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Suddenly, Nadal punched the air like a prizefighter, flexing his arms like a bodybuilder, pumping his fists overhead, then dropping to his knees as tears flowed.
Nadal’s five-hour-and-24-minute triumph, after being down by two sets, thrilled a raucous crowd on a warm Sunday night at Rod Laver Arena. It came just a day after Ashleigh Barty of Australia won the women’s singles title, the first home court win at the Australian Open in 44 years.
But if the final weekend of the first major sporting event of the year ended in singular fashion, the beginning was anything but.
read more
Tennis Seniors Newsletter Jan 2022
/in News, Tennis Seniors /by RobTSNSW 2022 Committee
We have a new committee this year. We welcome Mary Baker, the Vice President of Tennis North West and Stephen Taylor, the Tournament Director of our Nelson Bay Tournament. We thank our outgoing committee members, John Whittaker and Carol Campling for their many years of service on committee.
The 2022 Committee is;
President – Mick Bruton
Vice President – Brett Haines
Secretary – Graeme Sticka
Treasurer – Arthur Olsen
Assistant Secretary – Rod Clarkin
Committee Members – Bob Bow, Mary Baker, Stephen Taylor, Cathy Benson, Sharon Killen
and Craig Edwards
TSA Committee
Tennis Seniors Australia also has a new Executive with Paul Moss, from WA the new TSA President.
Paul managed the very successful 2020 National Teams Carnival and Australian Championships in
Busselton. Di Cassel is the NSW member of the Executive and their Vice President.
2022 Tournament Calendar
Our complete list of 36 tournaments is now listed on our website tsnsw.com.au. Check it out.
COVID-19 UPDATE 31 JANUARY 2022
The Tennis NSW Board has updated the guidelines for participation in the sport by removing the requirement for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination from Tuesday 1 February 2022.
The change now brings participation in tennis in NSW into line with the NSW State Government position which currently states:
Anyone can now participate in sport and exercise. People are no longer required to be fully vaccinated or carry vaccination evidence. Face masks are required indoors when not participating in exercise. Density limits no longer apply. COVID Safety Plans are no longer required.
With the State Government having allowed both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals to participate in sport and exercise for some time now, it is timely for tennis to follow suit and align with the current Public Health Order.
Any venue in NSW (including tennis venues) retains the right to enforce mandatory vaccination at their own premises. Therefore, individual tennis venues are permitted to continue to require proof of vaccination for entry to their premises if they choose to do so, which should be respected by patrons at those venues.
This right will be determined by the venues for each of our 36 seniors tournaments so please check your tournament entry for details before entering.
However, in making the change to the statewide guidelines, Tennis NSW is no longer requiring a standard which exceeds the current Public Health Order and is moving to a position in line with how the general community in NSW is now operating.
While the immediate effect of this change (as from 1 February) may cause inconvenience in the short term, it was determined that there would be a level of inconvenience irrespective of which date in the future was nominated. Please contact Tennis NSW staff if you require assistance or guidance on working through implementation of the change.
Tennis NSW continues to strongly encourage all participants in the sport to be fully vaccinated and to receive a booster when eligible to do so.
Before you plan to play in any event don’t forget to renew your membership. Still just $20 payable to BSB 032-044 Acc # 315 326 or renew online with your credit card.
MLTC Newsletter 1 Feb 2022
/in Club News /by RobBadge Sign Up
The Badge season will start in April. If you are wanting to play Badge you must complete an online form before 13 Feb – please click here to submit your Badge entry form.
Senior Club Champs
Our annual Club Championships start in February. We’d love to see more entries in our aged Club Champs over the weekends of 20/21 and 27/28 Feb. All events are round robin and just for fun, singles and doubles.
Entries close 13 Feb, enter here.
CPR Course Saturday 12 Feb, 2022 at 2pm @ Clubhouse
There are 4 spots left, please let me know if you would like to attend. Be aware you will need to perform CPR on the floor.
Water Fountains
Milton has helped secure a grant for two new water fountains. They can be found on courts 1 and 3 and if you need ice you can get this from the bar. You can now easily fill two water bottles at once.
Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
Ash Wins Australian Open Women’s Singles Title
/in Goss, News /by RobThe top-ranked Barty defeated an American, Danielle Collins, to become the first Australian to win the Grand Slam singles title there since 1978. “I’m so proud to be an Aussie,” she said.
By Christopher ClareyJan. 29, 2022
MELBOURNE, Australia — The 44-year drought was over in Ashleigh Barty’s sunburned country. Barty, often inscrutable on a tennis court, had just finished letting her guard down with a full-flex howl of delight that could almost be heard above the roars in Rod Laver Arena.
Now, Barty, Australia’s first Australian Open singles champion since 1978, was motioning to someone on the other side of the deep blue expanse, beckoning with both hands and a relaxed smile.
Casey Dellacqua emerged from the sidelines. They have been close for a decade — since Barty summoned the moxie at age 15 to ask her to play doubles — and it seemed appropriate on this fulfilling Saturday night that Dellacqua, now retired, be the first to embrace her.
“She brought me into the sport again,” Barty said.
Dellacqua supported Barty’s decision in September 2014 to leave the tennis tour. Barty, just 18, was depressed, lonely and desperate to live a more normal life than that provided by hotels and practice courts. And when Barty had spent more than a year away from the game, playing professional cricket and leaving the jet lag behind, it was Dellacqua who invited her out for a hit and helped her realize that she did indeed want to fully explore her prodigious tennis talent.
Barty returned to the tour in 2016 with no ranking but full commitment, and Saturday’s 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Danielle Collins of the United States was the latest proof that she made the right decision, for herself above all, but also for her sports-mad country.
“She knows how proud I am of her,” Dellacqua said as she sat next to Barty on the set of Australia’s Channel Nine on Saturday. “Everybody thinks I have done a lot, but I cannot explain what Ash has done for me.”
For a tennis nation like Australia, home to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall and to grass courts in country towns and fancy clubs, it beggars belief that it would take 44 years to win any tournament, much less their own. But the drought was real in Australia, as homegrown champions like Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur won major singles titles abroad but came up short in Melbourne.
Barty, now 25, has solved the riddle — aced it actually — by not dropping a set in any of her seven matches at this year’s Australian Open.
Born and raised in the steamy Australian state of Queensland, Barty has been ranked No. 1 for more than 100 weeks and has become a hugely popular figure in her home nation. Her matches during the Open this year have attracted large television audiences.
But until now, her most significant triumphs also have come far from Australia. She won her first Grand Slam singles title in 2019 at the French Open and won Wimbledon last year when most Australians were unable to travel because of coronavirus restrictions.
Read more
MLTC Newsletter 25 Jan 2022
/in Club News /by RobMember Team Tennis Saturday 29th Jan
Based on numbers there will be 4 in a team. Teams will be divided up with players of mixed abilities. 12.30pm start, please arrive just before. Players will play three sets each. Eight games, two serves each. Teams will be playing a round robin against 3 other teams (depending on numbers). After each match against a team, the pairs will swap around so you will not have the same partner. Following the tennis we will be holding a BBQ. Ladies Singles Final will be on the TV for those that want to stay.
See the list of players signed up, there are still places available. Email me if you want to play or if I have missed you.
Ray Dummett, Steve Nettleton, Denis, Craig, Tony H, Peter Roberts, Narelle, Virginia, Nick Brenner, Kristina, Matthew, Krista, Andre, Christo, Milton, fernando, Bede, Larry, Geoff, Jon C, Daniel, Bob Hill
CPR Course 12 Feb – 2pm – Still a few places available, email me if you would like to attend.
Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
MTC Junior Tennis: Term 1 Enrolments
/in Tennis Centre /by RobEntries are now open online for Term 1 Manly Junior Tennis enrolments.
For more information, please contact or email Carmela.
Sign up on the web below.
Carmela Blackburn
MTC General Manager