The 70th consecutive running of the Far Northern Tennis Championships served up plenty of competition but numbers were down in the landmark event.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Players turned up from Armidale, Tamworth, Inverell, Casino, Brisbane and Sawtell to play in what is considered one of the biggest local tennis tournaments.
"We just ran a few more round robins in events than we normally do and, because of that, we were able to run 19 out of the 20 events,” competition secretary Dianne Morris said.
"People played extra events for us to make events a little bit more competitive.
"The players were very supportive that way.
"They were happy to do that because the entries were down and they weren't going to get as much match play as they normally would have so they were happy they got to play extra events.”
Morris said there was only one hiccup with a storm delaying play on Saturday but matches resumed with the players putting on a display.
Armidale tennis star Connor Dennehy took on Tamworth’s Martin Russell in the final of the men’s A division which went down to the wire.
In a thrilling finish, Dennehy won the match and the prizemoney 9-7.
Keeping it in the family, Sahra Dennehy won the women’s singles.
"Her event ended up being a round robin,” Morris said.
"She is only a young teenager but she is a top player and has a very impressive ranking for her age.”
Despite the lower numbers, the association received “only positive feedback” and plan to keep running the championships in the future.