Tennis Australia has announced the launch of their community leadership program for women.

The program, launched at the Australian Open, aims to combat gender inequality in sport leadership, providing more opportunities for women to succeed in sport executive positions.

Tennis Australia head of government, community and stakeholder relations, Vicki Reid, said: “It is a priority for us to provide women with more opportunities to refresh, renew and rebuild the critical skills they need to move into leadership roles, so that our tennis leadership is truly representative of our diverse tennis community.”

The program will last for four months, using face-to-face activities, interactive online projects and mentoring, participants will be able to build and improve their confidence as tennis leaders in the community.

In January 2019 the Women and Girls Plan was launched, with the Federal Government providing a $12 million grant to improve gender equality.

Australian Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, said: “We want to encourage more women and girls to be more active, more often on the court and have fun while they participate.”

“In partnership with Tennis Australia, we are confident our $12 million investment will lead to more women and girls playing, coaching, umpiring and volunteering as well as helping to lead tennis at all levels,” Colbeck said.

The Women and Girls Plan supports Tennis Australia to improve and build on their women in sports initiatives which the leadership program is a part of.

Over 30 women attended the launch of the women leaders in tennis program which showcased the achievements of women in sport.