Regional communities are pulling together to revive the sport of tennis for the next generation of players who could become the next Ash Barty or Nick Kyrgios.
While many public tennis courts lay dormant, with weeds growing through their cracked surface, some country tennis clubs are seeing a revival thanks to dedicated volunteers who keep the ball in play.
When Jock Hough moved back to his hometown of Cudal, he and fellow residents shared a vision to restore the local community tennis courts to their former glory. "The Cudal Tennis Club historically was a very popular place to be during the week back when tennis was a major sport," Mr Hough said. "There were a lot of weeds on there, it was sort of unplayable, so there was just a group of us that got in and cleaned it up."
The central-western New South Wales town has four ant-bed surface courts which now see regular use throughout the year."The town has had a tough decade or so, for all sorts of reasons; it's lost some big businesses," he said.On occasions coaches are brought in for regular 'fitness tennis' sessions and training clinics are held during the school holiday periods.
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