Every year, on the Victorian Labour Day long weekend, hundreds of tennis players of all ages and abilities flock to Victoria’s South West, for the Warrnambool Lawn Open. The tournament has been running since 1950 and this year attracted 774 players across 54 events. It is a clear illustration of tennis at the local level, where groups of people are playing the sport with friends and family, and everyone’s love for the game is on full show.
In 2020, the event saw a large increase in prize money, with the men’s open singles champion receiving $2500 and the women’s earning $5000, both up from $1000 in 2019. In a very rare case, the women’s champion received more than the men’s due to major sponsor, ‘Entry Education’.
It comes as well, with International Women’s Day taking place on Sunday the 8th of March, celebrating, amongst other areas, the social, cultural and sporting achievements of women.
Support for women, in sport especially, is continuing to grow with women’s footy, through AFLW, as well as cricket, currently experiencing all-time highs.
Fittingly, Sunday night exhibited clear evidence of this when more than 86,000 fans packed out the MCG supporting the Australian women’s cricket side, as they claimed the ODI world cup.
In tennis, all four grand slams offer equal prize money for both men and women, and have so since 2007, yet outside of the majors, the gender pay gap still remains apparent. Hundreds of tennis players, of both genders, spend their year travelling around on the tour in an attempt to boost their ranking and are often satisfied to just break even, when it comes to money.
Therefore, any opportunity for players to earn a solid pay for a week’s work is extremely appreciated and will take some stress off the constant grind that is the tennis tour.
The rise in prize money at this year’s Warrnambool Open saw the event draw some big names, with the Open Women’s final showcasing Zuzana Zlochova and Belinda Woolcock, both ranked inside the WTA top 400.
The men’s field was led by Australian Open doubles semi-finalist Andrew Whittington, who claimed the title for his third time.
30 year-old Zuzana Zlochova of Slovakia took out the Women’s title, and discussed the differences between tour-level events and local tournaments, post-match in a one on one chat.
“I enjoyed it so much more and the people are more relaxed, she said.
“On the pro tour, everyone is trying to be so professional and serious, and not many people are watching, which is a shame.
“I think it was amazing that so many people came out and supported us.”
Just minutes after finishing her match, Zlochova was booking her spot in the local caravan park, to ensure she is back to re-live the experience and defend her title in 2021.
With no time to rest and the tour continuing to move forward, Zuzana will begin to prepare for her upcoming tournament, commencing next Monday.
“Now, we are driving to Melbourne, and then we will go to the last two tournaments of the pro tour in Canberra, she said.
“Then, we will fly back home because we have been away for 8 months already.”
In light of recent tennis tournaments being cancelled due to coronavirus, a large part of the European season will be in doubt, which would be unfortunate for Zluchova, but could allow for a well-deserved break and time to spend with her family.
19th ranked Australian woman Belinda Woolcock was the runner up to Zuzana in the Open final and was just as appreciative of the opportunity and prize money from the event.
In fact, Woolcock’s experience at the Warrnambool Tennis Club began many years before.
“I used to come to Warrnambool as a kid. Mum’s side of the family was from Warrnambool, she said.
“It was my first grass court tournament.”
Woolcock shared a similar view to Zlochova, in that the whole event had such an enjoyable feeling about it, when compared to ITF tour tournaments.
“This is a much nicer experience. Usually, on the pro tours, there’s not many people watching and the atmosphere really isn’t quite there unless it’s a final.
“I really loved how there were so many people entered, there was live music and everyone was just getting around it.
“It is very rare to be able to experience something like this.”
Woolcock spoke further about the financial commitment of sponsors for the tournament, something that has been lacking in the women’s game.
“I think Entry Education did a really good job of promoting the event and helping women in sport, Woolcock stated.
“Especially, given how hard it is already on the tennis tour financially supporting myself without any external support, other than the Kooyong Foundation and Women’s Tennis Foundation.
“Obviously there’s still a lot of out of pocket fees, so prize money like this will really help go towards all my travels.”
It was great to see the high standard of tennis on display in Warrnambool and to realise the fine line that exists between those ranked in the top 400 and those in the top 100.
Hopefully, the events over the long weekend will help to create a better financial support network for the many players trying to make a living out of tennis, and will inspire further changes in the growth of women’s sport.