It may not be Wimbledon, Roland Garros or Rod Laver Arena but one Monash club continues to serve up a level of success the envy of any club in the country.
Earlier this week, Oakleigh Tennis Club was named the Most Outstanding Tennis Club or Venue at Australian tennis's night of nights – the 2025 Newcombe Medal.
Every year, the awards celebrate the performances, achievements and contributions made by members of the Australian tennis community. Oakleigh's success comes after claiming Tennis Victoria's Most Outstanding Club or Centre award in May.
Oakleigh's win, at both state and national level, is just recognition of the club's commitment to delivering high quality tennis programs to the community.
Oakleigh Tennis Club president, Donald Smith said the club was still buzzing in the wake of Monday night's awards.
"Yes, there was a lot of excitement," he said. "We were pretty excited when we won the state award, but this is another level.
"We're just over the moon at the moment. We hope we can use it to go to governments, state and federal, (for funding opportunities to further promote tennis participation) and we can say 'we know what we are doing, you know it's in safe hands'."
Established in 1879, generations of dedicated volunteers have helped keep the club growing and in a financially healthy state. Donald said the national award was as much about their efforts as it was the current generation.
"We're just standing on their shoulders, writing our own chapter of the club's history," he said.
Oakleigh Tennis Club departed its previous Park Road home in 2019 to make way for the Oakleigh Recreation Centre expansion and redevelopment. It merged with North Oakleigh Tennis Club and took up residence on eight synthetic grass courts at the revamped Caloola Reserve, part of the Oakleigh Sports Hub.
The club hasn't looked back.
It's membership now hovers around the 600 mark and its diverse community includes juniors, families, weekend and week-night competition players and midweek social players.
"It hasn't been below 500 in ages and our peak, a couple of years ago, was 672," Donald said. "Oakleigh Tennis Club has always had as its No.1 goal to increase tennis participation to anyone interested, by making it as accessible and affordable as we possibly can."
Donald was also quick to praise the club's highly regarded past and present coaching teams, David McNamara Tennis (1993-2018) and the Victorian Tennis Academy (VTA) (since 2019).
"Both the club and coaches are always looking for ways to help each other to be better and succeed," he said.
Oakleigh has also embraced the Book-A-Court system, Tennis Australia's online court booking system, which has allowed it to not only maximise participation, but has helped the club to be financially sustainable for the long term.
ENJOY A SUMMER OF TENNIS
Feel like joining the Australian Open spirit this summer?
Get out and have a hit by booking a court online at one of our local community clubs, no membership required:
* Notting Hill Pinewood Tennis Club
* Wheelers Hill Tennis Club
* Oakleigh Tennis Club
* Monash Tennis Centre/ Glenvale Tennis Club
* Essex Heights Tennis Club
* Tally Ho Tennis Club
tennis.com.au/book/court-hire/
