Adam Walton’s childhood introduction to tennis will take some beating. Australia’s newest top-100 player – he rose to No.95 this week, after being ranked outside 400 in January last year – grew up in Home Hill, a rural town located about 100 kilometres south of Townsville and almost 1300 kilometres north of Brisbane.
Adam Walton developed on Home Hill’s unique tennis courts, located inside a gated horse racetrack. Credit: Home Hill Tennis Association Walton and his older brother, Jack, honed their games from a young age on the town’s 12 hard courts, which happen to be smack bang in the middle of the Burdekin Race Club. It is Home Hill’s answer to baseball’s Field of Dreams , the Kevin Costner hit movie from 1989.
“There are cricket fields and tennis courts inside the racetrack, and we’d go down for our morning lesson and literally wait for horses to ride past to open the gate to drive in,” Walton told this masthead from Paris. “You’d have to drive in slowly to make sure the horses on the other side of the track didn’t get spooked, then as soon as you got through the gate, you’d have to close it quickly. It’s pretty cool.
“I’ll never forget those days. It’s a special town, and I’ll always be grateful for my upbringing there.” Home Hill Tennis Association’s secretary, Kate Casswell, who has been part of the club for almost four decades, witnessed Walton’s early steps in the sport and remains one of his biggest fans.
Casswell was wit.
