SAWTELL Tennis Club and Englands Park Tennis Club are set to be the big winners after being awarded $30,000 in grants thanks to a partnership between the NSW Government and Tennis NSW.

The two clubs will receive the grants as part of the NSW ATP Cup Tennis Legacy Fund, which sees the NSW Government and Tennis NSW investing $2.4m over three years to ensure community tennis benefits from NSW hosting the ATP Cup.

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Sawtell Tennis Club will receive a grant of $19,695 for the upgrade of its clay court surface, installation of irrigation to clay courts and an upgrade of the lighting.

Englands Park Tennis Club will receive a grant of $10,000 for the installation of new fencing for courts 5 and 6.

Sawtell Tennis Club President Karleaha Baylis said the upgrades would be a welcome and timely addition.

“The clay court upgrades have been in the works for about a few years, and the courts have not been wholly upgraded since the 1970’s,” she said.

“Also on our wish list was a built-in clay irrigation system.

“The other LED lights were our last big project, so after upgrading the last three we’ll now have 12 full courts with LED lighting.

“It’s not cheap to upgrade the facilities, so whenever you get a grant it’s great for the club and we are very grateful.
“Every little bit helps.”

Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh congratulated the two clubs on receiving their vital grants.

“I congratulate Englands Park Tennis Club and Sawtell Tennis Club on their outstanding projects which will bring enormous benefits to our community for years to come,” he said.

Minister for Sport Natalie Ward said more than $360,000 had been awarded to clubs, associations and councils across NSW for projects which improve facilities and encourage participation.

“The NSW ATP Cup Tennis Legacy Fund is a clean winner for grassroots tennis in NSW,” she said.

“With the world’s best players returning to Sydney in 2022 for the ATP Cup, these projects will encourage girls and boys to pick up a racquet and emulate their heroes on Ken Rosewall Arena.”

Tennis NSW CEO Lawrence Robertson said he was delighted to see the positive response of the tennis family to the NSW ATP Cup Tennis Legacy Fund.

“With more than 50 projects now having benefited from the fund, our sport has been able to leverage more than $3 million of investment into tennis across NSW,” he said.

By Aiden BURGESS