The Mornington Peninsula tennis coach and former competitor on the professional tour claimed victory in the men’s singles event at the Goulburn Valley AMT Championships at the Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club.
It was only the second time Leeder-Chard, 27, had competed in Shepparton — the first being his maiden tournament all the way back in his junior days.
‘‘This is actually where I played my first tournament, I think I was about nine when I played here and that might have been the last time I was here, so it’s been a while,’’ Leeder-Chard said.
‘‘I loved it, it was really good. I always enjoy playing on grass, it’s totally different to anything else, so it’s always good fun and the tournament that they’ve held has been great so I really enjoyed myself.’’
Leeder-Chard got the better of familiar rival Adam Lasky 6-1, 7-6(6) in Thursday’s final, continuing a rich vein of recent form.
The experienced warrior’s purple patch comes despite spending less time playing tennis and more time teaching it in the past few years, but he felt that in itself improved his capacity to win matches.
‘‘It was tough, we’ve played a number of times before and it’s always been close,’’ Leeder-Chard said.
‘‘Last time we played I think it was (to) six and three with one break in the second set, so pretty similar to this one, but we always have a tough battle and he’s a great player so I’m pretty happy to get over the line.
‘‘I played Warnambool before this, the AMT there, and managed to get over the line there, so I’ve played a lot of tennis in a short period of time.
‘‘I think I only played a couple of tournaments for the whole of last year, so it’s been a lot of tennis back to back, but I’m coping somehow.
‘‘I played on tour for six or seven years in the end but I’ve been coaching for about four years now so I haven’t played this much tennis for a little while.
‘‘I’m not as quick around the court or as mobile, but my tennis IQ has gone up I would say, and that kind of has picked up where I’ve dropped off with my mobility.
‘‘So coaching has definitely helped my game.’’
Leeder-Chard came into the Shepparton tournament as the 11th seed and among his scalps throughout the draw were 17th seed Ben Grumley and 18th seed Josh McPhee.
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