Helen Worland takes the court

Local tennis star Helen Worland will depart Australia for Mallorca, Spain, next week to compete as part of the Australian team at the 2023 ITF Masters Tour World Championships.

For 73-year-old Helen, this will be the 20th time she has been selected to represent Australia in a career stretching back more than half a century.

Helen first began playing tennis around age seven: “It was just something everybody did,” she said of her childhood growing up in Canberra.

As a promising player at 16, she made the move to Melbourne, where she was coached by Keith Rogers, who also trained former world number one Margaret Court.

“So I had the best of coaching and it was gym work, which wasn't heard of in those days – gym work and running and everything that went with it.”

Helen made it to the second round of the Australian Open singles three times and was a doubles quarter-finalist in 1969.

In 1970, at just 19 years of age, Helen competed at Wimbledon, making a doubles main draw appearance as well as the third qualifying round in the singles. She went on to compete on the European professional circuit.

But even after 50 years of high-level competitive tennis, Helen said it is still a thrill to represent your country playing the game you love.

“It's not very different… it's always such a privilege to wear the Australian uniform and do your best against other countries,” Helen said.

“And it's great to go over there and actually meet up with players that you knew from when you were 19 and 20… there are quite a few playing still.”

The 2023 ITF Masters Tour World Team Championships get underway on October 8. “I just enjoy tennis and I put my name down to be selected for the overseas team and so far I've been lucky.”

Good luck, Helen!