MIA Open Championships… Into the 1930s

This is the second in a series of historical articles written by Lorraine Maxwell who has been tirelessly digging back through the MIA Open archives. Thankyou Lorraine!

In the 1930’s players from around the region participated in the tournament. Tennis was a sporting and social event with articles in the paper describing the dance, band and venue after the tournament had concluded.

In 1932 the courts moved further down the street, to where the old ambulance station is towards McDonalds. There were 6 courts plus other around the town.

Jack Shannon won the Men’s Singles in 1933 & 1934, his deadly accuracy and sound play meant that he was able to come back from a 4-0 deficit to finally win 9-7 in an early round, then win the final easily.

jack-shannon-serving-1930s
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1920 MIA Championships – Where it all began…

This is the first in a series of historical articles written by Lorraine Maxwell who has been tirelessly digging back through the MIA Open archives. Thankyou Lorraine!

The first MIA Championship was held in November 1920.

It was either in response to local players going to Country Week in Sydney and then organising the event OR needing to have a tournament to qualify for Country Week.1

Whichever way it happened it was an association of local tennis court owners who met in a school near the old cheese factory in Bagtown and decided to run this championship.

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Entries for the 100th MIA Open Bronze AMT Now Open!

Griffith’s longest running sporting event turns 100!

UPDATE: Program now available!

Come and join us for this historical milestone – there will be plenty of tennis for those of us who like to spectate, events for those of us who play for fun, and AMT points events for those of us taking it seriously!

For AMT Points Events (Open, U12, U14) register with Tennis Australia – entries close Wed 2 Jun 11:59 PM (GMT +10:00):
https://tournaments.tennis.com.au/tournament/6A9908BC-A66C-4ADC-977B-1F698BB8C251

For all other events, register at – entries close Sat 5 Jun 11:59 PM (GMT +10:00):
http://www.92computing.com.au/griffithentry.htm