A GROUP of young Queensland tennis players, whose community was hit hard by floods in January last year, came to Bendigo yesterday at the beginning of a trip of a lifetime.
The children from Dalby, Tara and Chinchilla in the Western Downs Districts of Queensland are playing a two-day tournament at the Bendigo Bank tennis complex before heading to Melbourne Park for the Australian Open, which begins Monday.
After hearing of the damage to the Queensland towns, BTA coach Stephen Storer invited the group to visit Bendigo ahead of the Open, where they will play exhibition matches.
Storer also organised a ‘Bring an Adult Tournament’ last year to help raise funds for the flood-damaged area.
Western Downs Districts coach Stephen Farrell said it “meant a lot” to have support of another tennis community.
Farrell said the floodwaters reached halfway up the fence at the tennis clubs in Queensland and “had boats floating on them” before money could be raised to fix the courts.
Farrell said most of the courts in the region were fixed by Easter, but the courts in Tara are still being rebuilt.
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