Come Sunday, they aim to be swinging shiny winner's medals, and with eyes on that prize Peter O'Dea and Steve Bowen have been polishing up their doubles act for a hometown defence of their national title this week.
With more than 200 players hitting Tauranga for the Tennis NZ seniors national championships, the Homewood Park club duo are out to reproduce the tight combo routine that took them to the men's 50-54 years men's doubles crown in Napier last January.
The annual seniors tournament runs from tomorrow through to Sunday at the Tauranga Lawn and Otumoetai clubs, with age divisions in five-year spans from 35-39 years upwards and some round one matches spilling to the Gate Pa courts tomorrow.
Both carving out a career in their chosen sport - O'Dea is Sport Bay of Plenty Coachforce officer for tennis and Bowen is coach at their Katikati club - the pair are among a strong lineup of Western Bay players defending national seniors titles.
First teaming up two years ago for Homewood, O'Dea (53) and Bowen (52) blazed a trail through the season's Western Bay premier interclub draws with a 10-match winning streak.
To kick off their 2011 interclub campaign they won their first doubles rubber without dropping a game, before O'Dea's move to Homewood's No1 doubles slot put their interclub partnership on hold for the season.
"We've been getting in as much court time together as we can lately," Bowen said last week. "We haven't played together as much in the past year and there's another age group coming through."
Bagging the Waihi Beach vets' doubles title on January 3 in their latest triumph proved they still have a winning formula.
Explaining the key to success in the two-player format, O'Dea said: "You need to be consistent, good at the net and enjoy the strategy doubles involves.
"Like most successful doubles partners, we've got different signs the person serving makes to indicate where the ball's going to go. There are a few [play] patterns, you can think ahead. The best doubles combos can sometimes think 3-4 shots ahead."
Asked whether they have established roles, Bowen said wryly, "He'll think I'm going to run for everything, so he won't run for anything."
"No, no, it's the other way round," O'Dea fired back, with laughter from both.
"We both enjoy net play and volleying," he added.
"We're both good servers too," Bowen continued. "Serve and volley, that's how top doubles partnerships work."
On strengths, O'Dea observed: "I'd say mine is serving and overhead shots. Steve's also good on overheads though, and he's got very fine touch, soft hands.
"It's neat playing alongside someone you've got inbuilt communication with."
The pair are seeded No2 behind John Lawrence and Peter Stokes in the nine-strong men's 50-54 doubles. O'Dea notched a seniors singles title about 10 years ago and teamed with his Hamilton-based sister Rosemary Fleming to take out the 50-54 years mixed doubles in 2010.
"I'm delighted to have won all three [national seniors] titles but I still feel the business of more ahead," he says.
This time round he's paired with Gate Pa's Janis Smith for the 45-49 mixed doubles and will also contest the 50-54 men's singles, while Bowen will tackle the 45-49 mixed doubles with Denise Jones of Tauranga Lawn.
With points going towards ITF rankings, this year's field includes six players from Japan and four from Australia, plus entries from England, Germany and Latvia.
Christchurch player Peter Hampton, currently ninth in the ITF over-50 rankings, is a perennial threat and seeded No 1 in men's 55-59 singles and with Sam Dean is No2 seed in 55-59 doubles.
Among the locals with a burgeoning haul of national seniors titles is Otumoetai club coach Jason Young, who is eyeing a clean sweep after taking out both the men's and mixed 40-44 doubles in 2011 and finishing runner-up in singles. Listed as 84th in ITF 40-plus rankings, he's the top-rated Western Bay player in the tournament.
Others with a long history of success include Tauranga Lawn's Dave Hawkes, this year defending men's 65-69 singles and doubles titles and out to better second-placing in last year's mixed doubles.
Also with a swag of seniors titles, Te Puke's Tup Cox is top seed in women's 70-74 singles and will contest the 70-75 mixed doubles and women's 70-79 doubles, after winning both her women's and mixed doubles divisions last year.
Seeded No 2 in women's 65-69 singles, Maureen South of Tauranga Lawn is another multiple title winner and with partner 1974 Federation Cup international Bev Billington of Warkworth is seeded top in their grade's women's doubles.
Moving up to 60-65 men's singles, the Mount's Quentin Maisey finished runner-up in 55-59 singles and 50-54 doubles in 2011, while Gate Pa president Mike Callard is a men's singles and doubles champion.
Still lining up at age 85 for the 80-plus men's doubles is the tournament's most senior player, Norman Hynes of Auckland.
Directing the event for the first time, Tennis NZ seniors administrator and Tauranga resident Sue Clarke says the bump in entry numbers from last year's 172 is testament to the city's appeal. "Whenever tournaments are held in Tauranga there's a good turnout," she noted.