Australia’s first beach tennis facility to be built in Scarborough

Australia’s first dedicated beach tennis facility is coming to Scarborough.

After bringing the sport, which is globally popular but largely unknown here, to WA in 2018, partners Tuko Maia and Clarisse Menezes are courting a new chapter at the Scarborough Sports and Community Club.

With the support of SSCC and the City of Stirling, the pair plan to transform an unused barren bowling green into a beach arena with six white sandy courts, a clubhouse and storage facilities ready to play in January.

Perth has been an epicentre for the sport, with the WA association the first in the country to be affiliated with Tennis Australia and the pair having a key role in creating a governance model for the sport to continue to boom.

It has been a big year for Beach Tennis WA, which hosted the country’s first International Tennis Federation Beach Tennis World Tour at City Beach in October.

Ms Menezes said creating Australia’s first dedicated beach tennis club facility was a dream come true.

Ms Menezes said beach tennis was a game for all ages and abilities, with nearly 400 members from ages 5 to 79 signed up to play in Perth.

“We have lots of couples and lots of families that come to play with us,” she said.

“It is a very sociable sport; it fits everybody and we are very keen to bring it here.

“With the new club we are going to offer memberships, family memberships, lessons and a shop with equipment.”

Mr Maia discovered the sport while working as a co-ordinator at the Paralympics in Brazil in 2016.

There are more than 300 professional tournaments across the world and he said his vision was to bring a professional circuit world tour and more international players to Perth.

“We like to reach milestones: we were the first association, we ran the first ITF and now we have the first club, so I want to see what is next. I want to see something new, something big and bring a big event to Perth,” he said.