Clubs clash under new format

Senior inter-club tennis will get under way in Wairarapa on Saturday but in a vastly different format from previous years.

With just three clubs - Opaki, Masterton and Gladstone - entering the premier grade, the Wairarapa Tennis Association have been forced to abandon any thoughts of running a normal competition.

Rather, the players in the three teams will now meet at the one venue each Saturday and compete under a league concept.

They will be allocated their own numbers and participate weekly in one singles and one doubles match apiece, the doubles not necessarily alongside players from their own clubs. However, the winning doubles players will pick up the two points for every victory.

The Shirley Corlett Trophy, which has usually gone to the first- round winners, will now be presented to the top points-scoring club after December 17 while the then top two scoring clubs will playoff for the Gawith Shield at the end of the season. Prizes will also be presented to the leading individual scorers.

Initially, there was to have been six teams in regional two in 2011-12 but this number has been reduced to five by the late withdrawal of Gladstone due to a spate of injuries and unavailable players. The Saturday doubles competition has drawn an entry of four and there will be six teams in the Wednesday night doubles grade.

Junior tennis in Wairarapa is showing excellent growth with 120 children contesting the Friday night inter-club series and 85 college players in action on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The local association is also running a Grasshopper learn to play tennis programme over a six-week period and has attracted 35 children from ages six to 12, with a waiting list for next year.

Wairarapa juniors have been to the fore at tournaments played over the school holiday break.

The Wanganui Junior Open saw Sade Atkinson win the 16-years girls' singles and doubles titles and her sister, Georgia Atkinson, repeated the feat in the girls' 12-years grade. Patrick Wall was third in the 10-years boys' doubles.

Sade Atkinson also competed at the New Zealand Junior Masters top eight finals in Blenheim where she was runner-up to Bridgett Liddell of Wellington. She is playing her inter-club tennis in Wellington this season.