Casey Dellacqua led a development camp with some of the nation’s top female tennis stars in Melbourne last week.
The retired star joined Fed Cup coach Nicole Pratt in leading the group of 10 women, including Storm Sanders.
The camp, which kicked off last Thursday, focused on mental health and player wellbeing, strength and conditioning, nutrition, teamwork and camaraderie, as well as on-court skills, leading into the Australian summer of tennis.
“I’m really excited to be back here at the camp this year,” Dellacqua said. “I was here last year. I’m happy to be back here for a second year. It’s really good for the girls to reconnect after a long year on tour. It’s really good for them to come together and do a lot of stuff on court, but mostly it’s the stuff off-court that matters.
“Australian women’s tennis is in a great position. We are doing a fantastic job, so coming together for a few days like this before January kicks off and another year, I think it’s just really important for the girls to all come together in that respect.”
Sanders was delighted to attend as she prepares for the Australian Open Wildcard Play-off next week.
“It’s great to get girls from all the other States, as well as the girls in Melbourne,” Sanders said. “We’re all kind of travelling throughout the year on different schedules so it’s really nice to come together and do some stuff on-court, but also some off-court as well.”
Among the off-court activities was lawn bowls, which saw plenty of laughs.