A FEDERATION Cup or Davis Cup tennis tie being played in Bathurst - while the odds of that happening may seem as long as seeing Pat Rafter come out of retirement to win Wimbledon, from this June it is actually a possibility.
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That is when the Bathurst Tennis Centre's new clubhouse is expected to open, a facility which makes the venue eligible to hold tennis tournaments ranked at a high level than ever before.
And while Bathurst Tennis Centre manager Andrew Mitton knows securing a Fed or Davis Cup tie for the city would be a coup of epic proportions, he said it is something he will be able to aim for.
"At the moment we run national level junior tournaments up to a gold level. There are three tiers - bronze, silver and gold," Mitton explained.
"We are now aiming at platinum, futures, ITF tournaments to the extent that we could have a Federation or Davis Cup standard event.
"This facility now caters for all those levels and has all the requirements needed to get that standard of tournament into a regional town."
The new $800,000 facility - the funding having come from the Bathurst Tennis Centre ($100,000), Bathurst Regional Council ($500,000) and the NSW Government's Stronger Communities Fund ($200,000) - will be a marked improvement on the current clubhouse.
It was opened in 1978, and was actually a converted house.
"This building will be a top-three design in the state as it stands, other venues will now be trying to catch up and improve standards, but we are looking to stay one step ahead," Mitton said.
"We've got the lighting, the number of courts, now we'll have the facility. All we need now is to upgrade the playing surfaces.
"It will be chalk and cheese between the two buildings - massively.
"It's fantastic to see a regional town can have such a high-level venue and now we've got the requirements to bring high-level tournaments here.
"They are after a regional push and Bathurst is a perfect location and the right sized town."
Staging big tournaments at the Bathurst Tennis Centre has long been a passion for Mitton, with the venue already hosting more now than it did when he first took on the centre manager role.
"Between regional and national events we will have at least 12-13 events this year and every year at the moment. We had about four when we first came into the [current] building and have grown it pretty high," he said.
"We used to have one national tournament and now we've got four - so we're growing."
