Almost 1200 competitors are in town for one of the highlights of the Victorian tennis calendar, with the action off the courts just as important as that which takes place on them.
The beauty of Country Week is that friends old and new can battle it out across the net before catching up afterwards on the events of the past 12 months since they last crossed paths with opponents at the marquee tournament.
Matches will continue into tomorrow as finals across 23 different grades will be held, but the event kicked off on Monday with the awarding of a handful of new Country Week Legends.
Chris Rye, Jenny Reid, Graeme Barned, Greg Tarrant and Yvonne Child were added to the Legends list, joining last year’s inaugural awardees — with the initial group of six now swelling to 11.
Tennis Victoria president Dr Emma Sherry was full of praise for the new Legends.
‘‘I would like to first congratulate Chris, Jenny, Graeme, Greg and Yvonne for everything they have done, not just for themselves and their teams, but for the event as a whole,’’ Sherry said.
‘‘It’s people like this that make this the greatest community sporting event in the world.
‘‘I always look forward to Country Week and think it’s the perfect way to complement the summer of tennis.’’
News photographer Megan Fisher was on hand to capture some of the action at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve earlier this week.
