TENNIS fans in the Mallee will be visited by the Australian Open trophy later in the year, one of the prizes guaranteed to the region after Swan Hill’s temporary mayor Novak Djokovic took out the competition in January.
The Swan Hill Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club won a national competition to have a player represent the region at the event, sparking a viral campaign dubbed ‘Get Behind the Mallee Djoker’ which brought everyone together.
Despite the efforts of the campaign, Djokovic would never come to Swan Hill but his trophy will.
Tennis Club president Peter Morrison has reassured fans the negotiations are still underway.
“The trophy is coming soon,” he said. “We are still in negotiations and want players to come with the trophy and organise a ball, potentially have some players speak to the crowd as well.
“It will definitely come and we would like it to be a community event when it does come, and we will welcome the general public to be involved around the trophy arrival.”
The club has declared it will run another open day, the same competition which gifted them Djokovic, but it may have started a trend going forward.
While it may be tough to go back-to-back, they hope to be able to select a player, before adopting Australian players in the future.
President Morrison declared he wanted the concept to flourish locally.
“We want to think outside of the box and we might even approach an Aussie player, and become a support crew for that player,” he said.
“It means you might not get as far, but we want to do the same, get shirts and be as supporter club.
“I want to make it an annual event. It would be interesting when we do pursue this with Tennis Australia as we look to do this…but the club is proud of what the town has done and we want to put Swan Hill on the map.”
