The tournament is being staged in Sunraysia for the fifth year at the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club as part of Tennis Australia’s Pro Tour, featuring the prominent and emerging stars of international and Australian tennis.

The event is the only grass event held on the tour, with players relishing the opportunity to play on some of Australia’s best grass courts.

George Schmidt, of Mildura, has been a member of the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club for 40 years.

Mr Schmidt has been a courtesy car driver at the event for “the last couple of years”, driving the players around Mildura for the week-long tournament.

“I don’t mind driving, you meet a lot of people and it’s not a bad thing to do,” Schmidt said.

“It certainly gives the players the experience of the grass, when I talk to them in the cars there is not a great number of them that have played on grass around the world,” he said.

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