One of Australia's top under-14 tennis players devastated to have home courts in disrepair

Rising Brunswick tennis star Alifaye Gidgup said she first picked up a racket at the age of three.

By four she was a regular at the Brunswick Tennis Club practising weekly to improve her game, before competing in her first tournaments at age seven.

Since then the South West tennis prodigy has managed to rack up numerous championships across the South West and across the State even earning a spot in Darwin’s National Indigenous Tennis Carnival in 2022 where she came home fifth in the under-14 category.

Her success and dedication at the carnival scored Alifaye a coverted spot in the Australian Open 2023 Ballkid squad.

But the 14-year-old who dreams of playing at Wimbledon has been struggling to keep her game up as her local tennis courts have been unplayable since last year.

The Brunswick Tennis Club ripped up its old courts last November, expecting to lay down new ones no later than this February.

But the Shire of Harvey took control of the project in December and progress ground to a halt with cost estimates rocketing soon after. It might be that the three courts are redeveloped, not four.

The construction saw the club losing its 2023 season and it is now expecting to miss this year’s as well.

“Me and my dad used to be down here training all the time,” Alifaye said.

“There was one week where we came down here every day and were just hitting the ball for a good two hours.

“Now have to travel to Burekup or Bunbury just to get a hit in. So, I haven’t been able to train as much which has really impacted my performance.”

Alifaye said she and others were initially excited about the court upgrades, but has been left devastated by the delays.

“I’m just annoyed thinking that this would be done by now,” she said.

“It’s at the point where I’m thinking is this going to happen or is it not since it’s been almost a year.”

The shire has approved a motion to investigate whether to build three or four courts, following an hour-long council debate.