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Speaker 1: Well, joining me on the line to talk about the

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Speaker 1: fact that Darwin's hosting the World Tennis Tour Junior ITF tournament,

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Speaker 1: which is being touted as a game changer for local tennis,

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Speaker 1: attracting more than one hundred and ten junior athletes to

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory from across the globe. On the line

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Speaker 1: right now is NT Tennis Assistant Tournament Director Grace Henderson.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Grace, good morning.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Really good? Grace, tell us a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about this tournament and who's involved.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've got the first of many tournaments this

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Speaker 2: tert season with the Junior if. The first lead up

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Speaker 2: is the J thirty, So that's the amount of points

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Speaker 2: it's up for grabs for all the players that are contributing.

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Speaker 2: And then tomorrow we have the start qualifiers of our

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Speaker 2: next tournament, the JA sixties, a little bit of a

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Speaker 2: higher caliber, more points up for grabs there, and involved

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Speaker 2: is Tennis NT as well as the ITF and referees

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Speaker 2: and on finals for the EJC on Sunday, We've got

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Speaker 2: our team here ready for a barbiete music and a

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Speaker 2: bit of a social event as well as the finals

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Speaker 2: with the ball kids, chair umpires and referees just to

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Speaker 2: kind of make the event more inviting. And it's free

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Speaker 2: for public to come and watch.

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Speaker 1: How wonderful. Now there's people from all over the place

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Speaker 1: here for these events as well, isn't there.

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Speaker 2: Yes. So we've got Singapore, China, Taiwan. We've got the

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Speaker 2: number one seed in the women's drills from Japan and

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Speaker 2: she's doing really well. Love to see her play. And

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Speaker 2: then we've got all of our other seated our first

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Speaker 2: and second and Boys and Girls is from Australia. So

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Speaker 2: it's really interesting to see all this talent, local talent

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Speaker 2: as well as international talent all at the one place here.

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Speaker 2: It's nothing in courts at DITC. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And has it been held in the Northern Territory before.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it has for the past few years. We're very

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Speaker 2: lucky to have the facility that we have and be

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Speaker 2: able to have so many matches and so many people

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Speaker 2: come to this one place and enjoy our dry season.

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Speaker 2: Despite the little bit of rain we had the other day,

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Speaker 2: which is quite interesting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, did that hold things up a bit? What happened?

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Speaker 2: We had to postpone a little bit to wait for

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Speaker 2: the courts to dry, Yeah, but we still powered through

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Speaker 2: and yeah, very lucky.

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Speaker 1: So how many people do you reckon you've got here

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Speaker 1: for these for these events.

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Speaker 2: So for the first one, we've had one hundred and

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Speaker 2: twelve sign in, but the second one, as it's a

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Speaker 2: bit of a high color of the J sixty, we

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Speaker 2: could potentially have more. So we don't know until the

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Speaker 2: end of signing today, which is at six pm. Then

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Speaker 2: we'll know for sure how many players it's got.

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Speaker 1: So talk us through how the qualifying rounds sort of

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Speaker 1: begun and what it involves or how it works.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the qualifying event, there's people from different rankings

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Speaker 2: that get wild cuts or get straightaway are put into

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Speaker 2: the mainor, which is thirty two draw, and then there's

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Speaker 2: eight spots available for the qualifiers, and if they win

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Speaker 2: the qualifying event, they get put into the main or.

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Speaker 2: So kind of like your Australian Open or your Big

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Speaker 2: Grand Slams and things like that. How they have lead

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Speaker 2: in winter spots to go into the main draw. So

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Speaker 2: this is kind of a taste of what the Big

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Speaker 2: Grand Slam would be like. So this is where the

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Speaker 2: junior players get their practice and kind of like their

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Speaker 2: crucial first before they get to have a shot at

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Speaker 2: one of the Grand Slams.

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Speaker 1: How cool. Now do we have any Territorians playing in

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Speaker 1: this particular event.

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Speaker 2: We do. Unfortunately they haven't made it through, yeah, but

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Speaker 2: they will try it again at the day sixty. So

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Speaker 2: we've had three boys and three girls of our local

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Speaker 2: talent here.

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Speaker 1: Good on them. I think it's wonderful for them to,

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Speaker 1: you know, to be part of it as well.

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Speaker 2: Now, oh, yeah, for sure, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I understand. The finals are then on Sunday.

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Speaker 2: That's correct, Yeah, from eleven thirty and so.

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Speaker 1: Can anyone head along, you know? Can we all go

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Speaker 1: and watch if we want to?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, open for everyone. There will be music, barbecue,

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Speaker 2: cafe will be open if you need a coffee boost

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Speaker 2: at eleven thirty in the morning, like myself. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: open for everyone. Just come in have a watch. We've

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Speaker 2: got our show call. All the matches were running on

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Speaker 2: our center courts. There's lots of seats, yep, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: come and join the center. Sounds such a wonderful event

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Speaker 2: operating talent.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh, it sounds fantastic, and it does sound like

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Speaker 1: it's a really valuable one as well in terms of

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Speaker 1: you know that exposure for some of our younger athletes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I completely agree. Not only do they get to

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Speaker 2: because being in Darwin with a small pool of players

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Speaker 2: that end up playing each other, having that little bit

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Speaker 2: of taste of what it's like not only around Austraighta,

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Speaker 2: but around the world, they really get to see an

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Speaker 2: aspy to that type of level. And not even on

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Speaker 2: the court, even ask the court. When you're watching their

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Speaker 2: players through the warm ups and their worn downs and

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Speaker 2: like that sort of routine, it's really interesting to see

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Speaker 2: and kind of set that standard.

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Speaker 1: Well, good stuff. Well, Grace Henderson, Anti Tennis Assistant Tournament

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Speaker 1: direct so lovely to speak with you this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you Sunday. Yeah, it sounds good. Good on you, Grace.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,