For more than a century, WA State League Tennis has been the pinnacle of club tennis in Western Australia. It was the competition where the state’s best players represented their clubs with pride, rivalries flourished, and spectators packed the sidelines to watch elite local tennis.
But the numbers tell a confronting story.
Back in the 1990s, the State League competition featured eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams, with six players per team. That meant almost 100 of Western Australia’s best players competing at the highest club level every week.
Fast forward to 2026, and the competition has been reduced to just six men’s teams and five women’s teams, with only four players per team. Today, fewer than 45 players compete in what was once the state’s premier club competition.
So what happened?
Many point to talented juniors accepting US college scholarships, and there is no doubt that pathway has taken many of our best young players overseas. Equally significant has been the decline in elite player-coaches based in Western Australia. For decades, these coaches inspired the next generation, attracted crowds, lifted standards, and gave aspiring players someone to measure themselves against. As that depth has diminished, so too has the quality and profile of the competition.
But there is another issue that cannot be ignored.
The governing body has steadily lost their ability to promote, market and elevate elite club tennis. Great competitions don’t survive on history alone. They need storytelling, media coverage, sponsorship, digital engagement, and a clear vision that inspires players, clubs and fans alike.
When a sport stops celebrating its own elite domestic competition, people stop noticing it exists.
State League should be a showcase of Western Australian tennis. It should be something juniors aspire to play, clubs proudly invest in, sponsors want to support, and the wider tennis community follows every weekend.
The decline of State League isn’t just about fewer teams. It’s a reflection of broader challenges facing tennis in WA.
The good news? This isn’t irreversible.
With stronger leadership, genuine engagement with clubs, better promotion, and a commitment to rebuilding pathways from junior tennis through to elite club competition, State League can once again become one of the great sporting competitions in Western Australia.
The question is… does the tennis community have the appetite to demand that revival?
6 Responses
wrong question! the question is what has happened to Slazenger cup & Herbert Edwards Cup and Mursell Shield
Confronting to see it laid out with the numbers, eight men’s and eight women’s teams down to six and five, and squads shrinking from six players to four. I played State League in the ’90s and the standard and atmosphere were night and day compared to now. Losing the elite player-coaches based here has hurt just as much as the college scholarship exodus. If clubs and Tennis West don’t actively market this competition as something worth aspiring to, it’ll keep fading quietly. Good piece — hope it sparks some accountability.
This is the article WA tennis has needed for years. I still remember entering the State Hardcourts and State Closed and it actually meaning something to be on that draw sheet. Reading that the ’73 WA Open had Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong playing at Kings Park makes the current state of the WA Open even sadder. Junior pathways matter, but so many of us who aged out of juniors decades ago have had nowhere meaningful to keep competing. Rebuilding a proper adult circuit, Hardcourts, Spring, Metro, State Closed, a real WA Open, shouldn’t be a radical idea, it’s just remembering what worked.
The biggest concern for me isn’t simply the number of teams, it’s the loss of visibility around the competition. Where are the player profiles, match previews, results, interviews and promotion? If State League is meant to be the pinnacle of club tennis in WA, it needs to be treated and promoted like it.
State League used to be something young players genuinely aspired to play. You knew the leading players, the clubs had rivalries and there was a real sense of occasion around the competition. I would love to see Tennis West, the clubs and the tennis community sit down together and develop a proper plan to rebuild its profile.
As a parent, I think juniors need to see a pathway beyond junior tournaments. They should be watching State League players at their local clubs and thinking, “I want to play there one day.” Keeping elite tennis connected to clubs is incredibly important for the next generation.