More Aussie medals for former South Coaster Allen

ALLEN Hooper and his wife, former Herald editor, Linda, enjoyed a great week at the Australian Teams Tennis Tournament recently. There were around 700 players aged 35 years and over, including a few in their late 80s!

“The opening ceremony was quite an eye-opener with flag-bearers from all states and even New Zealand and Japan,” writes Linda. “The presentation dinner was spectacular – held at the Hobart City Hall, which is steeped in history.”

When the Hoopers arrived in Australia in late 1999, the first thing they did was join the Mooloolaba Tennis Club. From day one, Allen played in the Division 1 team which comprises four men and two women.

In 2010, one of the women in his team encouraged him to enter a seniors’ tennis tournament. This annual tournament is run by the International Tennis Federation and attracts players from all over Queensland and even overseas.

Allen surprised everyone by making the singles final in his age group 60-65, which unfortunately was rained out. He also won the doubles.

“It was actually quite funny,” writes Linda, “I went to watch the semi-final and there was a group of players watching behind me. I heard one of them say; ‘Well, who is this Hooper fellow – we’ve never heard of him!’  Apparently, many of them travel on the seniors’ tournament circuit regularly so they all know each other.”

In 2011, Allen won both the singles and the doubles at a Queensland tournament in Nambour and won the singles again in 2012. He either won or reached the final in several other tournaments that year and continued into 2013.

In mid-January this year Allen took part in the annual Australian Seniors’ Teams’ Tennis Tournament, held in and around Hobart, after being chosen for the Queensland doubles team in the 60-69 category. Six players were chosen and they played eight matches against teams from other states over a five-day period. Although they lost a few sets, they won all their matches and beat New South Wales in the final 5 sets to 3.

Even though he has not played many tournaments and has not ventured further afield than Queensland for the Seniors’ Tennis circuit, Allen is already ranked 18th in Australia in his age group.