Known as one of the premier tennis events on the Goulburn Valley calendar, the iconic Euroa Labour Day Tournament has now reached statewide acclaim.
Selected as one of three finalists for the Outstanding Tournament of the Year category at the 2022 Tennis Victoria Awards, Euroa soared above its competition to take home the top gong at the awards ceremony on Thursday night.
A central part of the tournament’s operations, club secretary and coach Mark Borthwick said it was a massive honour to receive such an accolade.
“I think the club really deserved to win and probably qualified to win a long time ago, but we never elected to put in a nomination until this year,” Borthwick said.
“So we are really excited that the decision to put in for the award this year has paid off, and for Bob and Gayle Murphy, who have been icons of the tournament for years to be the ones to go down and receive the award, it was wonderful.
“The response we have gotten from people sending in congratulations has been overwhelming and just shows how beloved our tournament is for people across not only our region but the entire state.
“This is an award for a lot of people that have worked hard over a long period of time.”
A long-time staple of the Euroa community, the club saw 2022 as a wonderful opportunity to expand its showcase tournament, bringing a host of upgrades to its facilities.
This coupled with an unprecedented demand from players across the state to come and participate, is what Borthwick believed made this year’s edition of the tournament such a success.
“After putting the tournament on through COVID-19 with a lot of restrictions, this most recent one was the first one we had put on with no restrictions, so we were able to change a lot of the things we were doing,” he said.
“We upgraded a lot of things for our kitchen and bar facilities, seating areas, we put a lot of money into the club to make the event the best one yet.
“From a playing perspective our entries filled up straight away, with over 600 people applying to take part almost instantly.
“The whole weekend was really well received and after thinking of all the effort we put in I thought it was worth sitting down and putting into writing exactly what we had achieved.”
But while the upgrades were an excellent addition to the iconic tournament, Borthwick said it was the community-first focus of the club and its volunteers that made it so special.
“What makes it such a good tournament is the fact that we keep it a very country-focused, family tournament,” he said.
“We run the tournament ourselves, the kitchen, the bars, everything is run by the club and not Tennis Victoria, which I think is the key to our success.
“The community of volunteers we have is so strong, they do such great work, and that is what brings people to Euroa every year.”