Some of the greatest names in the history of Australian tennis will assemble at Pat Rafter Arena Friday morning to officially open the new $82 million dollar home of Queensland tennis.
Frank Sedgman, Ken Rosewall, Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, John Newcombe, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Wendy Turnbull , Pat Rafter and the late Ken Fletcher’s son Julien will all be part of the official opening ceremony at the Queensland Tennis Centre tomorrow morning.
Former world No.4 and Australian Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Wendy Turnbull is one of many who is thrilled there is a new facility.
“After all these years of driving past the old Milton site, it’s really exciting to have this new facility,” Turnbull said. ”I’m sure it will stimulate more interest in tennis and will bring on Queensland’s up-and-coming juniors.”
The Queensland Tennis Centre will officially open to the public tomorrow with the ceremony scheduled to start at 11:00 am .
After the tennis greats are introduced to the crowd, former world No.1 and two-time Grand Slam winner Pat Rafter will serve the first ball on the arena named in his honour.
Rafter will then team with outstanding Queensland junior Isabella Holland for a mixed doubles exhibition match against Queensland and Australia’s highest ranked woman Samantha Stosur and another talented Queensland teenager Jason Kubler.
The match will be followed by the Courier Mail “Win a hit with Pat Rafter”, return serve competition.
There will also be a special fundraising competition between Rafter and Wallaby Stephen Moore.
“There is a terrific day planned. If you are looking for a great way to spend the day, bring the family out to Tennyson, have a look at the new centre,” Tennis Queensland chief executive officer Tom Larner explained. “There will be some great Australian tennis names here and afterwards you can wander around and see some of the world’s top players practice in the lead up to the Brisbane International.”
The gates open at 9:00 am, entry is a gold coin donation.
Patrons are reminded that this is a public transport event and their TransLink event ticket will enable them to travel free to and from the venue on the entire QR network and BT services (Brisbane buses), including bus shuttles from Corinda railway station.