A Tired Old Lady…

This is the great White City Tennis southern stand in Rushcutters Bay. It was constructed in 1922 for the NSW Championships until the Olympic Tennis Stadium and Tennis Centre were built at Homebush. It was also home to the Australian Tennis Museum between 1983 and 2005 before it too was moved to Sydney Olympic Park.

White City has hosted many incredible tennis matches including some of Australia’s Davis Cup matches during the glory years of the 50s, 60s and 70s, in particular finals against the USA. It also hosted the 1954 final when a record crowd of 25,578 people watched the USA defeat Australia. The record still stands today! In recent time it played host to the exciting Davis Cup final in 1977 when Australia defeated Italy to win the cup.

Today the stadium’s grandstands have fallen into disrepair. Much of the old stands are now closed off for safety reasons. Over the past 20 years there have been plans spoken for a redevelopment. When you walk the old corridors and under neath the stands you sense the nostalgia. It was here in these old corridors, through the old arched entrances and into the arena where you can imagine the thousands of cheering fans cheering on their favourite tennis players. The centre court is now a hard court with the original grass centre now residing at former tennis professional, John Alexander’s house.

IMAGE CREDIT:  Woollahra Municipal Council