A team of South Africans have made the long journey to Albury to contest the grass court championship.

Led by retired South African professional Natalie Grandin, the five junior and four senior players will line up in various events. 

Grandin had a career-high doubles ranking of 22, winning the 2011 Korea Open with Vladimira Uhlirova, and also reached the Australian Open quarter-finals and Cincinnatti Masters final that same year.

South African tennis is on the up with the big-serving Kevin Anderson now number six in the world, while Raven Klaasen is ranked 15 in doubles.

However, it’s not Grandin’s first trip to the Border region, having played the circuit of ITF tournaments 20 years ago.

“I actually stayed in the same housing I’m staying in this week,” Grandin said.

“I’ve kept in touch with them all those years, so when (organiser) Phil (Shanahan) talked about friends for life, they are friends for life.

“When I used to play in the Australian Open, I used to meet up with the lady for lunch and dinner because she used to go down to watch.”

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Tournament officials contacted Grandin’s tennis association in Durban and she was more than happy to make it happen.

“The kids enjoy playing tennis and they’re really excited to play here,” Grandin said.

“It’s the first time they’ve all played on grass, we only have hard courts back home, so it’s a totally different experience.

“Hopefully they will all do well.

“We have five kids under 18 and there are four of us that are going to play in the open event.

“It’s more about the experience for the kids.

“They play a few tournaments in South Africa, but they mostly live out in the country in South Africa and they don’t get a lot of court time and exposure.”

An early highlight of the trip to the Border for the South African players was the chance to catch up with Australian tennis legend Margaret Court.

“We met her (on Wednesday) and had a picture and she spoke to them a little bit,” Grandin said.

“I was surprised that some of the kids actually remembered who she was, which was great.

“It was very inspirational.”

The South Africans have entered in next week’s Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships at Wodonga Tennis Centre and will attend the first three days of the Australian Open before returning home.

Heat forced delays to matches on Friday once temperatures hit 40 degrees.