Tennis Sydney has just started its socials comp for the season and, as the players get set to thrash the ball, the committee is gearing up to go in search of a new sponsor.

The 13th annual Virginia Slims competition has begun. For those who haven’t already registered though, you will have to make your way to the sidelines because the competition lists are full.

It’s good news for the club as they set about looking for a corporate sponsor to replace the Midnight Shift who were forced to withdraw their support.

Tennis Sydney committee member Ben Alfred said the club had a proud 13-year history of breeding championship players while maintaining a social and supportive atmosphere, but they need financial help to keep the club running in an all-inclusive way.

The committee is working very hard at the moment. The Midnight Shift was previously sponsoring us but obviously after the difficulties they faced with their room upstairs they had to cut back, and we weren’t willing to take our clothes off. Tennis is a dignified sport after all, Alfred said with a laugh.

We’d love to get one of the other hotels on board, somewhere we could host events and give something back to the hotel, but in turn they could offer us some level of sponsorship, which would allow us to keep our membership costs down.

We have a lot of members who are students or have HIV and are living off pensions so if they’re struggling we often say -˜don’t worry about it this week’ but obviously we can’t do that if the price keeps rising.

If you would like to sponsor Tennis Sydney contact Ben Alfred on 0434 822 915. For more information on getting involved with Tennis Sydney, including joining their Sunday social games, head to www.tennissydney.org.au.