Having won the past four open women’s titles, a win in 2022 would see her become the first five-time champion and take the mantle as the greatest player in the tournament’s storied 98-year history.
It is a situation that would rightly put any athlete under pressure, but the 26-year-old is approaching this year’s competition with a sense of calm, with the major goal being to just enjoy herself out on court.
“I won’t be thinking about whether I’m going to win the fifth or not,” Bingham said.
“I will simply go out there and do my best and usually if I can do that I’ll have confidence I will go okay.
“I do know there are some strong women that have entered this year, which is a good thing because we want stronger competition entering our events, so I am just looking forward to playing them if I can.”
Sporting an incredible record on the grass courts at Shepparton Lawn, Bingham revealed some of the factors behind her ability to perform at the annual Easter tournament.
“I moved to Shepparton about three years ago, so now that I play predominantly on grass, I feel I have that advantage over the girls that come up from Melbourne playing mainly on hard court,” she said.
“As a player I am more naturally inclined to come up to the net and serve to the right spots, and I feel that experience has really helped me the last few times I’ve played up here.”
However, the lead-up to this year’s tournament has been a little different for Bingham, as it involved getting married to fellow Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club member Jarrod Bingham.
“It has been a bit more wedding preparation than Easter tennis preparation,” she said.
“It will be a nice way to ease off the wedding and sweat a bit again and chat to people from the club again after what was a very hectic couple of months.”
Although the Easter tournament has delivered many highlights on the court, Bingham said the most special part of the event was its social aspect and being able to share her success with family and friends.
“I really enjoy the Easter tournament because we get lots of friends and family playing and it feels like a really social event,” she said.
“The uniqueness of this tournament is they have so many different grades, so I can play a more serious match in the open, but then when that’s finished I can go watch a D-grade match with one of my friends that doesn’t really play much tennis.
“The best part about Easter is what the club does with the social side of things and the amount of people, and different kinds of people you get there over the weekend.”
As for how the mantle of record-breaking five-time champion would sit with her, Bingham wasn’t sure.
“I don’t really know, to be honest. I don’t really like talking about myself,” she said.
“If it happens, great. Obviously I am going to be happy with an individual accomplishment, but at the same time I’m not going to lose sleep if it doesn’t happen.”
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