The City of Greater Geelong is putting $13m towards a new regional tennis centre at Armstrong Creek as it steps up pressure on state and federal governments to help get the project built.<\/p>\n
The proposed $22.5m Geelong Regional Tennis Centre would feature 20 tennis courts and eight smaller multipurpose courts, with the aim of attracting professional tournaments and providing a training and development base for players across western Victoria.<\/p>\n
Tennis Victoria has made the project its number one infrastructure priority ahead of the state election and, together with Tennis Australia, has committed a further $1m in funding and in-kind support.<\/p>\n
The city and Tennis Victoria are seeking another $8.5m from the state and federal governments to deliver the project.<\/p>\n
Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj said the proposal had strong backing across the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to have conversations with government and candidates because we know what this project could deliver for Geelong, for tennis and for western Victoria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The centre would include 12 International Tennis Federation-approved courts capable of hosting international events, eight community courts and training and recovery facilities.<\/p>\n
The eight smaller multipurpose courts would cater for pickleball, Hot Shots and POP Tennis.<\/p>\n
Professional tennis player Amy Stevens, who grew up in Ocean Grove and Wensleydale, said a high-level facility closer to home would make a major difference for regional players.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a regional facility would be amazing for a visibility side of things. You can really be what you can see,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat belief system and pathway that the regional facility would provide would be amazing for the young talent coming up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see the regional tennis facility being used as a hub for big professional tournaments, whether that\u2019s a lead-in for the Australian Open or junior events.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennis Victoria chief executive Kim Kachel said the centre would support community participation, player development, high-performance pathways and major events.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a region experiencing significant growth, investment in contemporary sporting infrastructure is critical,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Greater Geelong is putting $13m towards a new regional tennis centre at Armstrong Creek as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-892229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}