Highlights galore at 100th Shepparton Annual Easter Tennis Tournament

The action felt like it never really stopped throughout the four-day carnival — and with a record level of 655 registered entries this year, it may well not have.

Despite this surge of participation and flash storms blanketing the Shepparton area on Easter Monday afternoon, things went off without a hitch.

Sam Thompson took out the open men’s singles title over Adam Lasky, prevailing in a battle that exemplified the high standard of play that thrilled observers all tournament.

Thompson was hardly a stranger to getting his hand (or racquet, perhaps) raised in victory at Shepparton’s highest-profile tennis showing, with Monday’s win marking his third singles title at the Easter showcase.

Though there were plenty of winners, none stood out quite like Shepparton’s Eliza Bingham.

Bingham collected the open women’s singles title in a three-set nail-biter, unseating 2023 champion and fellow local Olivia Quigley.

Much like Thompson later in the day, etching Bingham’s name on the winners’ list was hardly new to her — after all, this was her record-equalling sixth triumph in the Easter women’s singles.

She was far from done there.

By the time play wrapped up on Monday, Bingham had completed a magnificent trio of title wins, scooping the open women’s doubles alongside 2005 singles champion Josie New and teaming with husband Jarrod to claim the open mixed doubles.

Malcolm Thiel beamed at the completion of four action-packed days.

“It all turned out well. The weather was such a glorious four days, almost from dawn to dusk,” Thiel said.

“The rain on the Monday afternoon interrupted a couple of finals, but we finished them all — 1130 matches in total, which is quite amazing.

“The open matches are best of three sets, which can be time-consuming, and some of the kids were playing round-robin games.

“The Easter event tries to cater to everybody’s standards, with the under-10 comps to veterans’ events, all the way up to our open divisions.

“The level of entries in both open singles were really good."

Of course, nobody could touch Thompson or Bingham when all was said and done, and Thiel had to pay tribute to the champions’ calibre.

“Sam is an exceptional player who’s never really dabbled much in professional tennis, but his hand-eye co-ordination is terrific,” Thiel said.

“He gave it up for a few years, but he’s won our last two events, and he’s keen to play a bit more tennis around the world.

“Eliza’s a very talented player and that shone through many years ago when she started here.

“She’s a terrific talent who’s still comparatively pretty young.

“I’d have to go through the history books, but I don’t know if anyone else has done the triple treat before, and it’s significant to do that at the centenary edition.”

Those history books will be pretty easy to find, too.

Saturday afternoon brought formalities and festivities off the court to officially herald the tournament’s century, featuring numerous guest speakers and former open champions.

In addition, the club unveiled a tribute marking all former winners of the open divisions, capped with the release of a book covering the archives of Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club.