Tennis upgrade nears completion

JOHN HAWKINS/136606

NEW SURFACE: Waihopai Tennis Club president Graeme Kruger checks out one of the new courts at the Waihopai Tennis Club.

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Waihopai Tennis Club president Graeme Kruger has waited more than six years for the club to finally be upgraded.

So another three weeks shouldn't be too bad right?

"We are itching to get on it," he said, as work continued on the site this week.

Weather permitting, the more-than $1 million upgrade, supported by the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the Community Trust of Southland, should be finished by mid-February.

Four of the 12 courts are ready but the club has decided not to use them until the project is complete and is no longer a construction site.

When it is finished, however, southern tennis players would be in for a treat, Kruger said.

"There have been no true tennis courts in Invercargill or Southland everything has been multisport," he said.

"At the stadium, in the velodrome, it has got the right surface but it's a centre for a whole lot of sports."

The new court surfaces at Waihopai will be international standard the same as those used in the Australian Open.

Natural background, a "truer bounce" of the ball, a lower impact on the players' bodies as well as tennis-specific lines were all advantages, Kruger said.

As well as benefiting Southland's regular tennis players, Kruger said there was a growing excitement about the new complex among those who had taken a break from the sport.

"Once we are up and running the club will be welcoming members who have never thought of playing tennis, or people who want to take it up again we definitely don't want to be seen as an exclusive club," he said.

There had been some issues with drainage, which had pushed the completion date back, but Kruger expected it should be finished within about 20 days.

- © Fairfax NZ News