An international wheelchair event in Darwin has been forced to move from a new $16m tennis complex because the show court has been built on a slope.
The Darwin International Tennis Centre is set to stage the Arafura Games later this month, but wheelchair competitors have been relegated to one of its 14 outside courts.
The new centre, in the suburb of Marrara, completed in May last year at a total cost of $16.7m, Construction took a year, but it was not long before a major problem became apparent: the centre court had a 49.5cm slope from one side to the other.
An incline of that size contravenes International Tennis Federation guidelines, meaning no officially-sanctioned events can be played until the slope is levelled.