Ken Hudson remembers the inaugural year of the Launceston International.
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It was 2012 and Mr Hudson and Tony Crosswell volunteered to drive the players of the then all-female tournament to and from the airport and their hotels.
“Seeing we only had the women at that stage the two of us handled it quite nicely,” Mr Hudson said.
The pair taxied all the players and their coaches for the first two years, but the tournament grew immensely when men started competing.
“The men came in in 2015 and it made it a much bigger tournament … so two people couldn’t handle it,” Mr Hudson said.
Fast forward seven years from the tournament’s first serve and both men are still volunteering their driving skills and time for the love of tennis, although this year there are about 15 volunteer drivers.
“So that is airport pick-ups and transfers and to and from courts for practice, so it is fairly busy running people around,” Mr Hudson said.
“Driving is very nice because you meet all the players [and] you tend to go beyond the call of duty some times.”
This year Buckby Motors has once again donated a number of cars to the tournament, but the tournament’s partnership with New Horizons has introduced a bus to the vehicle fleet.
For many years Mr Hudson and his wife Frances played social tennis in the old indoor centre.
“I’ve been involved in tennis all my life,” he said.
“My kids all played so you get in the scene, then you get volunteering in your blood, and you watch all the young people come through and grow up and they’re now helping.”
Mr Hudson said he had witnessed the dedication it took from volunteers and staff to put on such a great event each year.
“People don’t realise the quality of the players that come here, they only know the named players,” he said.
“When you’re on the tennis scene you know the names, like Alex Bolt in this year’s Australian Open played here last year.”
The tournament is held at the Launceston Regional Tennis Centre, with games played every day until February 3.