Country Week has become an annual pilgrimage for many, with 1320 tennis players ranging in age from 16 to 82 descending on the grass-court oasis of Albury Wodonga this week.
Wodonga, Victoria, 15 February 2024 | Courtney Walsh
A fortnight after Jannik Sinner capped a record-breaking Australian Open with his maiden Grand Slam title, the world’s largest grassroots celebration of tennis is underway in regional Victoria.
Country Week has become an annual pilgrimage for many, with 1320 tennis players ranging in age from 16 to 82 descending on the grass-court oasis of Albury-Wodonga this week.
The 221 teams are competing on 101 grass courts – 30 in Wodonga, 35 in Albury and a further 46 which have been marked out on a local cricket and soccer ground.
Contested in the second week of February each year, the teams event has rotated over the past decade between Swan Hill, Yarrawonga, Albury-Wodonga and Shepparton.
Tennis brings together families and friendship groups that cross generations and come from all corners of Victoria, across Australia and even around the world, in a celebration of community.
It is an event as traditional as enjoying a barbecue in summer, with the smell of freshly-cut grass permeating the air as players arrive each morning to find the lines freshly chalked.
Similarly to the Australian Open, where the outstanding tennis features as part of a broader festival experience, there is far more to Country Week than a decent first serve and volley.
The tennis is important, with teams split into 26 grades this year across the men’s and women’s competitions, but it is only part of the attraction of a true grassroots event.
From Sunday night at the Wodonga Tennis Club, where four new “Country Week Legends” were honoured for their service to the event and the sport, and throughout the week, the action is as thick, fast and furious on the social circuit as it is between the baselines.
Creativity is key and not just in regards to some of the home-crafted service actions on display.
Mastering a team name – for example –The Lecontes, Sledgends, The Miss Hits and The Mumms, and nailing a creative costume design add to the colour featuring players aged from their teens through to their 80s.
New Country Week legend Kerry White, who was inducted alongside Kieran Fitzgerald, Mary Dewis and David Kos, has played the event for more than 30 years.
Her Sunbury-based team wear eye-catching costumes each year and…
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