Queensland Tennis Centre, known during its development as the Tennyson Tennis Centre, is a tennis venue in Tennyson, Brisbane, Australia. It is a A$82 million state-of-the-art tennis facility opened on 2 January 2009.
It was designed by internationally recognised stadium designers HOK Sport Venue Event and The Mirvac Group's in-house architectural practice, HPA Pty Ltd and constructed by Mirvac as part of the Tennyson Riverside development.
The main court was designed to incorporate a PTFE glass fibre fabric roof. This tensile membrane allows diffused light through into the arena reducing the need for artificial lighting. The light weight of the fabric also reduced the amount of steel required and saved on building costs. Brisbane based company Taiyo Membrane Corporation supplied and installed this roof along with other smaller outdoor structures at this venue.
It has twenty three International Tennis Federation standard tennis courts, including the centre court and two showcase courts, representing all playing surfaces (hardcourt, clay and grass).
The centre court, Pat Rafter Arena, named in honour of the Australian tennis hero Patrick Rafter, has a seating capacity of 5,500 (with an extra temporary seating of 1500 bringing total capacity to 7,000).
Since January 2009 the Queensland Tennis Centre has been the host centre for combined men and women's international tennis tournament entitled the 'Brisbane International', a combination of the former Next Generation Adelaide International event in Adelaide and the Mondial Gold Coast Women's championships.
Famous quotes containing the words tennis and/or centre:
“I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it’s hard to think of doing something else where you know you’ll never be the best. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you’re the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it’s not all there is to life and I’m ready to explore the alternatives.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
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—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)