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TENNIS
When you're living out of a suitcase for months at a time, nothing quite compares to having a hit back on home soil for Maverick Banes.
"It is always nice to come back to Australia and play with guys you know. It is a bit more fun than travelling on your own for weeks on end," he says.
The world-ranked 373 player is in Wollongong to play in the Australian Futures tournaments at Beaton Park after a busy season competing throughout Europe.
Banes twice won on his preferred surface of clay in Croatia before putting in more solid displays in Belgium and Spain.
"I had a pretty good year this year," Banes, from the Gold Coast said.
"In four months in Europe I ... won a couple of Futures and made a couple of finals.
"I have had a fair few tournaments and some good results."
He returned to Australia in October and has put in mixed displays in tournaments up and down the Australian east coast.
After back-to-back quarter finals appearances in Cairns and Toowoomba, Banes was knocked out in the first round in Traralgon by Australian young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis before heading to Wollongong.
"The last few weeks I haven't done that well but I have had a good couple of weeks training and I got here pretty early.
"It's my first time in Wollongong so it's good to get the first match under the belt and get some confidence leading into what is hopefully a lot of matches over the next two weeks."
Banes coasted through his first round match on Wednesday with a 6-0 6-3 win over Adam Haanappel but concedes he still has a long way to go in a difficult tournament.
"It would be nice to go all the way but it is a pretty strong tournament," Banes said.
"I think the top-eight seeds are all inside 400 so that is fairly strong for a Futures [event]. But you never know. I will just take it one match at a time and hopefully I can keep getting through."
Banes will meet local hope Jarryd Chaplin in round two.
"We played in juniors a lot. We are the same age and we travelled a lot together since when we were 12 to when we were about 17," Banes said.
"He has got me a couple of times and I have had a couple of wins over him so it will be tough."