Tennis at the 2012 Australian Deaf Games involved 3 intense day of tennis on the blue Plexicushion courts at the Geelong Tennis Club.  All competitors displayed admirable fortitude and competitive spirit, battling the 30+ degree weather, high winds and each other.  With the new competition format every match counted towards both individual and team standings, which made for some close battles for players of all standards.

The Edith Bryan Cup (Women’s team event) was a closely fought event, dominated by Ayami Sato (NSW) who for her efforts won individual Gold in both the singles and doubles (partnered with Maria Jordan (NSW)). Despite Maria claiming the consolation singles event for NSW, ultimately the New South Wales team was unable to match the depth of the winning Victorian team, who finished with three players (Fiona Goldab, Kathy Sakellarios and Penny Gillett) ranked in the top four in the singles.

In the Cohen Cup (Men’s team event), honours were shared between players from Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand. Glen Flindell (VIC) captured the individual Gold in both the singles and doubles, but overall it was team depth that again won the day for Victoria.  Congratulations to Leniker Thomas (NZ) for winning the A-grade consolation singles, and to the youngest player in the event Oliver Dunn (VIC) for winning the B-Grade consolation singles.

In the Mixed doubles, Ayami continued her dominance pairing with Leniker Thomas to outclass NSW young guns Heather Bowie and Albert Nguyen.  Congratulations to Heather on being awarded the Allen Mann encouragement award.

Final standings are available here.

Many thanks to the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club for their hospitality, the crew of Australian Deaf Games organisers and volunteers, and for all those who voluntarily helped out here and there to keep things running smoothly. 

DeafTV have kindly prepared a video with a few highlights from the tennis, available on youtube here.

Bring on the next Australian Deaf Games in Adelaide in 2016!