The 106th bi-annual Diplomatic-Australian Tennis Tournament was held in Canberra in March. 

In addition to local Canberrans, over 20 diplomatic missions were involved, and a number of Ambassadors and High Commissioners hosted matches at their Embassy and Residence courts.

The current Chair of the Organising Committee – comprised of Australian and Diplomatic Corps representatives – is the Belgian Ambassador, H.E. Michel Goffin.

There were noteworthy performances by representatives from Argentina (Dario Polski), Belgium (Meagen Baldwin), Mongolia (Hantulga Galaazagraa), The Netherlands (Yousra Chaabane), Sweden (His Excellency Pontus Melander), and the US (Brian Gallo and Hamish Wilman), and by Australian participants (Maxim Wiggins, Natasha Banfield, Puneet Gurnani, Karen Hosking, Christopher Distaso, Roger Phillips, Nancy Mahina-Newman, Steph Bayley-Nelson, Linda Bedard and Leigh Ferguson). 

The social tennis weekend has usually been held twice yearly since the first event in November 1965. Of the 106 tournaments held to date, the United States has hosted 29 finals; Sweden 27; France 23; and Italy 15. On this occasion, H.E. Ambassador Pontus Melander hosted the finals in the Swedish Embassy grounds.  

WINNERS

The Swedish Embassy Cup – Mixed Advanced Doubles: Natasha Banfield and Maxim Wiggins

The Germany Embassy Cup – Mixed Intermediate Doubles: Karen Hosking and Christopher Distaso

The Malaysian Ambassador’s Cup – Women’s Intermediate Doubles: Linda Bedard and Leigh Ferguson

The European Union Cup – Men’s Intermediate Doubles: Brian Gallo and Roger Phillips 

The American Ambassador’s Trophy – Men’s Advanced Doubles: Puneet Gurnani and Maxim Wiggins

The Indonesian Ambassador’s Cup – Women’s Advanced Doubles: Nancy Mahina-Newman and Steph Bayley-Nelson

The Diplomatic Australian Tennis Tournament has been sponsored by the Rolfe family through Canberra BMW and Phillip Mazda for over 10 years.