What is Pennant?

The Pennant competition is the largest tennis competition in Australia. There are over 4,500 players, in over 700 teams with over 165 clubs from all over Melbourne.

To view weekly results or ladder positions, click on link below

Pennant

If you wish to play in the 2010 Pennant Season, keep an eye on this page or on The Heatherdale Times newsletter for application forms.

Note: If you are not a club member you will need to download the membership application from the Membership page

There are 8 teams in each section & 4 sections in each grade (there are exceptions with some of the higher grades having less then 4 sections. To win a grade your team will need to defeat 31 other teams. 4 players compete each week. At Heatherdale TC, we TRY to allocate 5 players to each team, so that every team has a spare player each week.

Your team will play the other 7 teams in your section twice, once at HTC& once at the opposition’s venue.

One of the main differences of the Pennant to other competitions is that the format alternates from week to week. Rounds 1, 3, 5 etc is singles day & Rounds 2, 4, 6 etc is doubles day.

Singles Day: each of the 4 players will play 1 best of 3 sets singles matches. Each player is ranked in order of merit. So each singles round the number 1 players will play each other, the number 2 player’s play each other etc. Now for some players (like myself) – this can be a real challenge as some matches can take 2-3 hours to complete. A great test both physically & mentally.

Doubles day: each player plays two best of 3 sets doubles matches, with the same partner.

Each round play commences at 1.00 pm sharp! There are no exceptions & a forfeit can occur if all players are not ready to play at 1.00 pm.

Pennant is Unique

Each of the 4 rubbers during the day is played with new tennis balls. No more excuses.

Travel – Travel all over the country side…ask the Layland brothers! You thought Healesville Tennis Club was a trip – play Pennant!!! I can remember one team organizing a weekend trip away when playing at Geelong Tennis Club. It was a great weekend – but you know the saying, what happens on the tennis trip, stays on the tennis trip! This does ensure that from season to season you will play different teams & therefore different players!

Who can play:

You must be a full member of Heatherdale Tennis Club to compete.

Pennant is open to both male & female players of all ages. Pennant is a great competition for juniors to improve their standard. Heatherdale has many juniors that would benefit from playing Pennant & so I encourage you to play!

But wait, not only is Pennant great for juniors to improve their tennis, Pennant has veteran’s grades as well. You need to be 40 or older to play veterans tennis & doubles is played each week (no singles round matches for veterans).