Asia Pacific Tennis League
Dear Players,
If you didn’t know already City Community Tennis has entered a Team in the Asia Pacific Tennis League with our very own Jess Engels as team manager. City Community Tennis has its first match at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre at 6:30pm Monday the 7th of November. For the complete draw please Click Here!
City Community Tennis Team Members
Caitlin Billingham, Cassandra Chan, Tammy Srbinovski, Bianca Chidrawi, Natalie Barbir, Alex Osborne & Chloe Costello. Team Manager Jess Engels.
Press Release – NSW/ACT announces ATL draws
The NSW/ACT Conference for the Asia-Pacific Tennis League (ATL) is stepping up a gear, with the draws for the competition officially released today.
In the inaugural year, the ATL will include five very formidable teams per side. These teams are, ATP Sydney, National Academy NSW AUStars, Canterbury Bankstown Wizards, Hunter Raworth Tigers and ACT (men) and City Community Tennis, National Academy NSW AUStars, Asia-Pacific Tennis Institute, NSTA Avengers and ACT (women).
“It is great to see that the ATL has had such a supportive response from players in the first year. To provide our conference with 10 teams in total is an exciting start to this competition in NSW/ACT. To compare the number of teams, the ATL was piloted last year in Victoria, SA and WA, which was extremely successful. In our first year we have the same number of teams Victoria has in their second year” said Tennis NSW Competitions Coordinator, Daniela Scivetti.
The first round of the ATL will kick off at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre on Tuesday 8th November from 6.30pm.
The men’s draw sees ATP Sydney, managed by Luke Bourgeois, take on National Academy NSW AUStars. ATP Sydney has a host of current players, including 2010 Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Greg Jones (AR no. 13), Alice Springs International winner, Matt Barton, as well as Adam Feeney and Nick Lindahl, both have had consistent results on the ITF Futures circuit over the last months.
“In the last five futures events we have two singles victories, two singles finals and three doubles titles. I’m expecting that through the ATL everyone will go from strength to strength. The matches won’t be easy, but hopefully we will pull together and set our sights on the final in Melbourne” Bourgeois said.
The AUStars, managed by Craig Purcell, has a host of up and coming junior players within the team. 2012 US Open Junior Championships Doubles Finalist, Jordan Thompson will look to continue his stellar year with his teammates Jay Andrijic, Nick Horton, Matt Tanza, Jake Delaney, Max Purcell and Brian Tran. Purcell believes that the ATL will provide great matchups for his athletes.
“This event series is an excellent opportunity for all of our team members to gain valuable, competitive experience as part of their ongoing player development process” explained Purcell.
Canterbury Bankstown Wizards will meet the Hunter Raworth Tigers in the second match-up of the first round. The Wizards lead by Marious Zelba, will look to represent his side against the Tigers. Both teams are evenly matched, with all athletes playing regularly around the state of NSW.
Looking towards the women’s draw, City Community Tennis will meet National Academy NSW, AUStars on the courts of Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. Again the AUStars team will be made up of some of the most talented junior girls within the state. The team will be no easy beat, with AR no.23, Abbie Myers leading her teammates which include; Maddie Antoun, Pamela Boyanov, Seone Mendez and Monique Belovukovic.
City Community Tennis, managed by Pat Jensen, will lead an experienced team of women into the ATL. All players have an Australian Ranking of 70-200 with all athletes consistently performing on the Australian Money Tournament (AMT) circuit. Jensen agrees that the ATL concept will provide players with the confidence to develop their game with a team environment.
“It has been a long time coming in Australian Tennis. It’s a fantastic opportunity for players to be in a team atmosphere as tennis is such an individual sport” explained Jensen.
Asia-Pacific Tennis Institute, managed by Chris Steel, will take on NSTA Avengers in the other women’s match of the first round. The Asia-Pacific Tennis Institute has a number of players who have worked their way up WTA rankings. The NSTA Avengers have included of up and coming girls in their team to take on the experience of their opponents. Both ACT teams have drawn a bye in the first round of the competition.
The ATL will be held throughout November on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6.30pm at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. Entry is free so head down to the home of tennis in NSW and catch all of the action.
