Albany tennis juniors set to mix it with the best at regional cup competition in Busselton

The Lower Great Southern Tennis Association’s brightest junior talent will be on show on Sunday when they hit the courts for the D’Arcy Slater Cup and Women in Tennis Foundation Cup.

More than 90 junior tennis players from across the State will compete in the longstanding regional tournament in Busselton.

Players from nine zones — Peel, Midwest, Upper Great Southern, Lower Great Southern, Great Southern, South West, Central Districts, Pilbara and Eastern Districts — will face off in the under-14 junior singles competition over four days.

Players will also compete in a zone-based teams competition, with regions vying for top honours in both boys and girls events.

A team of four boys and four girls from Albany will travel to the tournament this weekend.

Tennis West chief executive Brett Patten said the tournaments continued to attract a wealth of talented young athletes from across regional WA.

“The D’Arcy Slater Cup and Women in Tennis Foundation Cup have been longstanding events on our competition calendar for many years,” he said.

“Our regional players always compete at such a high standard, but we expect that this year will be something extra special.

“The one thing that stands out year after year is just how important it is to provide these competitive playing opportunities to the junior athletes who reside in regional WA.

“WA has a host of talented players out in the regions and these tournaments are crucial to the ongoing development of these aspiring athletes.”

LGSTA junior coordinator Alex Riggle stressed the importance of providing regional tennis juniors with opportunities to compete.

“It’s a great way to encourage country kids to play tennis,” she said.

“Making friends while playing a great sport is what it’s all about really.

“It can be hard because they don’t get as many opportunities as Perth kids so we’re looking forward to getting the tennis centre in Albany going where we’ll have more opportunity for children to develop more competition locally.

“That will be really exciting for the future.”