WA Tennis: We Long for the Glory Days — But Were the Real Glory Days More Recent Than We Think?

There is something powerful about nostalgia.

In sport, we constantly look backwards.

We remember packed clubhouses, strong pennant competitions, great rivalries, tournaments that meant something and Saturday mornings when the sporting pages of the newspaper told you exactly who had won, who had lost and who was emerging as the next big name in Western Australian tennis.

When discussion turns to the current state of WA tennis, one comment continues to come up:

“We need to get back to the way tennis used to be promoted.”

And there is plenty of truth in that.

For those who grew up around WA tennis during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the sport enjoyed tremendous coverage.

Names such as Gary Stocks, Russell Reid, Arthur Marshall and Andrea Mitchell became synonymous with telling the stories of WA sport and WA tennis.

• Tournament results mattered.
• State League mattered.
• Club tennis mattered.
• The leading players became familiar names.

 

You could open the newspaper and read about a local tournament, a State League battle, a promising junior or one of WA’s leading players.

For many of us, those were wonderful days.

But what if the period of greatest sustained publicity for Western Australian tennis wasn’t actually the 1970s, 80s or 90s?

What if it was much more recent?

The forgotten boom years: 2021–2023

Between 2021 and 2023, WA tennis embarked on an aggressive attempt to put the local game back into the public conversation.

During that period, WA tennis achieved extensive newspaper coverage, with more than 100 newspaper stories and articles promoting players, tournaments, clubs, competitions and the sport generally.

But newspaper coverage was only part of the strategy.

State League was deliberately treated as a product worth promoting.

Approximately 32 State League matches were broadcast through Tennis West’s streaming platform, including a regular Match of the Round with commentary.

Think about that for a moment.

• Local club players were not simply playing a Saturday competition.
• Their matches were being streamed.
• Their names were being discussed.
• Their clubs were being promoted.
• The competition was being presented as something worth watching.

 

That matters.

Because if the governing body doesn’t believe its premier competition is important enough to promote, why should the wider sporting public?

WA tennis was advertised on mainstream radio

WA tennis was also promoted through 6PR radio advertising throughout the summer.

Importantly, the campaign wasn’t simply promoting the Australian Open.

It promoted Western Australian tennis.

• WA players.
• WA clubs.
• WA competitions.
• WA tennis stories.

 

There was an understanding that Tennis West’s responsibility was not simply to amplify Tennis Australia’s national campaigns.

Its job was to promote tennis in Western Australia.

There is a significant difference.

State League had depth

At the same time, the State League competition featured eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams.

That created greater club representation, more opportunities for players and more meaningful competition.

State League should be the shopfront of WA club tennis.

It should be where aspiring juniors can watch leading players.

• Where club members support their team.
• Where rivalries develop.
• Where sponsors gain exposure.
• Where clubs build identity.

 

And where young players begin imagining themselves playing State League one day.

The strength of the competition matters because the health of State League tells us something about the health of the broader competitive tennis ecosystem.

Bringing back tournaments with history

There was also a deliberate effort to reconnect WA tennis with its history.

Traditional tournament names such as Champion of Champions and the State Closed Championships were brought back into the conversation.

• These weren’t simply titles on tournament software.
• They meant something.
• Winning a State Closed Championship should mean something.
• Being Champion of Champions should mean something.
• Sport builds tradition through names, trophies, honour boards, records and stories.
• When we continually rename, restructure or remove competitions, we risk losing the historical connection between generations.
• The player competing today should know who won that same championship 20 years ago.

 

That is how sporting culture is created.

Give tournaments back to the clubs

Another important philosophy was recognising that Tennis West did not need to run everything itself.

Clubs should have opportunities to host tournaments.

More tournaments mean more competitive opportunities.

More competitive opportunities mean greater participation.

Hosting tournaments can also create revenue for clubs, activate volunteers, bring people through clubhouses and provide additional reasons for members to remain connected with their club.

For decades WA tennis had a thriving tournament calendar.

There were events virtually every weekend.

Players travelled across Perth and regional WA competing.

• Adults played.
• Juniors played.
• Veterans played.
• Open players played.

 

Different generations mixed at tournaments.

That tournament ecosystem helped create a tennis community.

Once those opportunities disappear, rebuilding them becomes incredibly difficult.

So what happened?

This is the uncomfortable question.

If WA tennis demonstrated between 2021 and 2023 that local tennis could receive substantial newspaper exposure…

If State League could be streamed professionally…

If matches could have commentary…

• If radio advertising could promote WA tennis…
• If traditional tournaments could be revived…
• If clubs could be encouraged to stage events…
• Then why has so much of that momentum disappeared?
• It cannot simply be argued that newspapers no longer cover local sport.
• They did.
• It cannot simply be argued that people won’t watch State League.
• Matches were streamed.
• It cannot simply be argued that WA tennis cannot afford publicity.
• Mainstream promotional campaigns were undertaken.

 

The evidence is that when somebody makes promoting WA tennis a priority, it can be done.

Leadership priorities matter

The decline of competitive tennis cannot be blamed on one individual or reduced to one simple cause.

Changes in society, competing sports, US college pathways, cost pressures, court access, changing recreational habits and the growth of alternative racquet sports all play a part.

But governing bodies exist to respond to challenges — not simply observe them.

And that is where the current leadership of WA tennis deserves scrutiny.

The Tennis West Board, Chief Executive and marketing leadership should be answering some fundamental questions.

• Where is the strategy to make WA tennis visible?
• Where is the consistent promotion of State League?
• Where is the investment in storytelling around WA players?
• Where is the media strategy?
• Where are the radio campaigns?
• Where is the tournament strategy?
• Where is the rebuilding of meaningful adult competition?
• Where is the connection with the history of the sport?
• Where is the plan to make Western Australian tennis relevant within the broader WA sporting landscape?

 

These aren’t unreasonable questions.

They are precisely the questions a sporting organisation should expect its members to ask.

You cannot grow what nobody sees

There is an old marketing principle that applies perfectly to sport:

Visibility creates relevance.

• A child cannot aspire to play State League if they don’t know State League exists.
• A sports fan cannot follow WA’s best tennis players if nobody tells their stories.
• A sponsor cannot see value in tennis if competitions receive little exposure.
• A club cannot build excitement around its State League team if the competition itself isn’t being promoted.

And the wider public cannot become interested in WA tennis if WA tennis continually speaks only to people who are already inside the tennis bubble.

• Marketing isn’t an optional extra.
• It is part of participation development.
• It is part of membership development.
• It is part of sponsorship.
• It is part of player development.

 

And ultimately it is part of building a sporting culture.

Tennis knowledge matters

There is another issue that should not be ignored.

• Sporting administration requires professional skills.
• Governance matters.
• Finance matters.
• Human resources matter.
• Strategy matters.

 

But so does understanding the sport you are administering.

You need people who understand why club championships matter.

• Why State League matters.
• Why adult tournaments matter.
• Why rankings matter.
• Why traditional events matter.
• Why club volunteers matter.
• Why telling the stories of local champions matters.

 

And above all, you need leadership with an appetite to put tennis onto the Western Australian sporting map.

Administration without passion eventually becomes administration for administration’s sake.

The decline should concern everyone

WA tennis has faced serious concerns around adult participation, club membership, competitive pathways and the strength and visibility of its premier competitions.

It would be simplistic to suggest publicity alone explains every decline.

But it would be equally foolish to pretend there is no connection between visibility, relevance, participation and opportunity.

• When the sport disappears from newspapers…
• When it disappears from radio…
• When State League becomes less visible…
• When tournaments disappear…
• When competitive opportunities reduce…
• When fewer stories are told about local players…

 

The sport gradually becomes less visible to the broader community.

And eventually that lack of visibility becomes normal.

It shouldn’t.

Perhaps we don’t need to go back to the 1980s

Maybe that is the great irony.

Whenever people talk about rebuilding WA tennis, they often say:

“We need to get back to the old days.”

Perhaps we don’t need to go back that far.

We should absolutely learn from the magnificent era of the 1970s, 80s and 90s when writers such as Gary Stocks, Russell Reid, Arthur Marshall and Andrea Mitchell helped make WA tennis part of the sporting conversation.

But we should also remember something much more recent.

Between 2021 and 2023, WA tennis showed that the sport could still generate publicity.

It showed State League could be broadcast.

It showed WA tennis could be promoted on mainstream radio.

It showed tournaments with history could be revived.

It showed clubs could be given greater opportunities.

And it showed that WA tennis could compete for attention in a crowded sporting marketplace.

The infrastructure existed.

The audience existed.

The stories existed.

The players existed.

What is required is the will to promote them.

That ultimately brings us to the question Tennis West’s leadership should be required to answer:

If WA tennis could achieve that level of exposure only a few years ago, why can’t it do it now?

Western Australian tennis does not need another strategy document telling people how important growth is.

It needs leadership prepared to make tennis visible again.

Because the greatest threat facing WA tennis may not be another sport.

It may simply be becoming irrelevant to the people who no longer know what they are missing.