The surroundings will be familiar but the stakes are about to change for these three Colac tennis players.
Lewis O’Brien, 15, his sister Beth O’Brien, 13, and Luke Garner, 12, are the city’s hope in Colac Lawn Tennis Club’s junior championships, starting today.
The tournament attracts some of Australia’s brightest junior tennis prospects.
Beth and Luke will compete in the tournament for the first time, while Lewis enters the 16-and-under draw ranked third having earned points at other tournaments.
Lewis has attracted attention in Western District tennis circles recently having won a prestigious school-age competition and reached doubles semi-finals in a national points tournament, both at Warrnambool.
He also spent last year training with a south-west academy squad, involving three-hour sessions every fortnight.
The talented right-hander said that coming off his busiest tennis season, he was more confident about his hometown competition than his previous two attempts.
“I’m more consistent, I’m serving better and I think I can just keep matching it with players in these tournaments better,” Lewis said.
Lewis, who also plays and umpires football, said he was serious about his tennis, but not near the level of many of his rivals who lived and breathed the sport.
He has come across boys his age who train five hours a day and are home schooled to fit in with their tennis schedule.
“I’d like to take it as far as I can but I don’t train that much, they train every day of the week,” Lewis said.
Beth and Luke said they were nervous about Colac’s three-day tournament but looked forward to the experience.
All three players are members of Colac’s Tennis Squad.

READY: Colac tennis players, from left, Luke Garner and siblings Beth and Lewis O’Brien will compete in Colac Lawn Tennis Club’s junior tournament from today.