Blacksmiths Public received 83 racquets to be handed out to students. Barnsley Public was given 30 and Tarro Public was given 24.

The ongoing initiative, founded to “encourage more children to pick up a racquet and learn tennis”, has ensured students in their first year of school at a Tennis Australia partner school receive a brand new tennis racquet, with 80,000 handed out since January, 2015.

A further 30,000 are set to be delivered across 2018, taking the program’s total count into the hundreds of thousands.

Nationwide nearly 385,000 children played Tennis Hot Shots in the past season, making the program one of Australia’s most popular sport participation programs. 

Currently more than 2,650 schools in Australia participate.

Todd Woodbridge, one of Australia’s most successful doubles players to date, praised the initiative and everything it does to support and “inspire more kids to play tennis”.

“[The program] has helped us introduce tennis to kids in schools across the country which is an amazing achievement,” he said. “For them to take a racquet home means that tennis is always within their reach and helps kids to develop healthy habits that keep them fit and active.”

Craig Tiley, chief executive at Tennis Australia, said he was looking forward to seeing “even more racquets in the hands of Australian children”.

“This ongoing initiative shows our continued commitment to increasing tennis participation and ensuring kids are active at school,” Tiley said.

“Schools play a huge role in the development of children, and at Tennis Australia we want to continue to support schools in providing an environment where the health and wellbeing of students is a top priority.”

Tennis Australia is also offering a Tennis Hot Shot of the Year program alongside the donations – any registered Hot Shots player can be nominated, and could win a VIP trip to the Australian Open in 2019.

Nominate a Hot Shot: hotshots.tennis.com.au/win/hot-shot-of-the-year/