Father and son create family history on the tennis court

FATHER and son tennis duo Brendon and Hunter Moore created family history by winning at the prestigious Sawtell Seaside Open on the Mid North Coast.

The tournament is one of Australia’s top tier national events, with Brendon claiming the open men’s singles for a record eighth time. He also teamed with Byron Bay’s Louis Clark to win the open men’s doubles.

His son Hunter added to the family’s success by winning his junior Australian title in the under-10 boys singles. It was the first time a father and son combination had achieved the feat at Sawtell.

Moore grew up playing in Lismore and now runs a coaching business at Terranora Lakes. He first won the open men’s event at Sawtell as a 20-year-old in 2007 before playing tour events around the world.

“It is a very cool feeling knowing I first won the event 18 years ago and now I’ve done it with my son also winning his first event,” Moore said.

“It is quite a special memory which we will both hang on to.

“Hunter has won a few tournaments now and he’s into everything when it comes to tennis.

“My youngest Archie is four and he’s just started weekly lessons now, too.

“Sawtell is always a big one that I take our team away to; it has a lot of prestige and it’s one of the money tournaments that everyone really wants to win.”

Moore has coached several promising juniors on the Tweed in recent years while also enjoying a career renaissance on the court.

He has captained the Australian master’s team in the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour, been the top ranked over-35s player in the world, and won gold medals in team events in Turkey and across Europe.

“It’s great fun playing in Europe, they’ve got the facilities and a lot of the guys on the tour still play for a living,” Moore said.

“I get over there when I can and try and play at home whenever we take our team away to tournaments.”