Yarrawonga

Yarrawonga Lawn Tennis Club · Victoria, on the Murray River

Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia · Members club

No. 19, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

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No. 19, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

Among the world's greatest grass clubs

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A country town club that turns its football oval into thirty extra grass courts each Easter.

Location: Alexandra Park, Yarrawonga, Victoria
Founded: 25 May 1889
Grass courts: 23 permanent; about 30 more on the oval each Easter
On the grass: The Easter Tournament, held since 1899
Visitors: Anyone may enter the Easter Tournament
Other courts: 4 plexipave
Season: Members
Address: Piper Street, Shire of Moira, Yarrawonga, Victoria, 3730, Australia

Why it is special

Yarrawonga was formed at a public meeting on 25 May 1889. Its first two courts were at Athletic Park; at Alexandra Park it laid six grass courts beside the oval and grew to more than twenty, in a town of fewer than nine thousand people, a ratio no metropolitan club could match.

The Easter Tournament has run since 1899 and is the competitive proving ground for generations of players who would never otherwise have played on grass. In 2019 it drew 1,428 players to 2,006 matches over four days on 53 grass courts, thirty of them marked out on the football oval. The club’s first secretary, J. R. Rennie, served it for more than half a century, and the pavilion bears his name.

Yarrawonga is the spectacular example of the regional Victorian clubs. They do not play grass tennis as a heritage act. They play on grass because it is what tennis has always meant in their part of Australia, and they see no reason to change.

About the club

Yarrawonga Lawn Tennis Club in Victoria has 23 grass courts, which the club describes as top class, together with four plexipave courts.

It presents itself as a family-friendly members club. With grass courts outnumbering hard courts by a wide margin, it ranks among the larger lawn facilities in the state.