The club held their first South Pacific Open Tennis Tournament in 2008 as a lower level Tennis Australia tournament with a status of an open money tournament, before being elevated to a tier three level the following year.

By 2010, the SPO was elevated to a gold level with a prize pool of $7,500, a status it has held ever since.

In addition to the competition prize money, there is also $1000 to be won in the popular novelty event, the dash for cash on Saturday evening  – with the club also adding under 18 categories to the schedule in recent years too.

“Participation has continued to grow steadily with more than 100 competitors in previous years and approximately 80 players [52 men and 28 women] registered for year’s event,” Milton Ulladulla District Tennis Club’s Janice Shalhoub said.

“The lower numbers this year are the result of the dates unfortunately clashing with the beginning of the HSC.”

This year, the competition, which involves athletes aged from 14 to 50, will include a number of local athletes, such as Natasha Phillips-Edgar, Paul Metzler, Ryan Murphy, Brock Pearse and Anton Willett, as well as some highly ranked players.

“Of the 52 men who will compete at Ulladulla, seven are players who have Tennis Australia rankings from number 84 to 137,” Shalhoub said.

“Players to watch this year in the men’s event are top seed Nikita Volonski, ranked 81 in Australia who was knocked out of the draw by the winner last year, Troy Lockwood ranked 94 and Andrew Riminton number 96.

“While in the women’s event, eight players are ranked between 87 and 152 – including Lara Kaplan ranked 87 and Ashleigh Simes at 90.”

The four day competition, which runs from Friday to Monday, will involve the following divisions; 18 years and under boys singles, 18 years and under girls singles, open men’s singles, open women’s singles, open men’s doubles, open women’s doubles and open mixed doubles.

“Players will be giving their all as they vie for ranking points which will elevate them to levels that will enable them to qualify for entry to the Australian Open in January,” Shalhoub said.

“Of course, from there they will then have to go through qualifying rounds, with the winners gaining a place in the main draw of 128 players.”

This tournament has become a finalist for the Tennis NSW annual award for most outstanding gold level Australian Ranking Tournament Award. 

The winner will be announced at a glittering event held on October 25, which will be attended by several excited MUDTA representatives.

Members of the Ulladulla community are invited to come along to the tennis centre, free of charge, at any time during the four-day event. 

There are plenty of viewing opportunities around the 12-court complex to watch the top quality action, with extensive canteen facilities available across the four days.