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Red Dirt Kids

To ease you into the Australian tennis season—and the 2023 return of OnCourt—we present a preview of one of our favorite stories from our brand new issue, Racquet No. 21.

By Photos by Abigail Varney

1:37 PM EST on January 6, 2023

For this, our latest edition, we sent our resident Australian photographer Abigail Varney—who you may remember from such amazing features as "Big Nick Energy" from Racquet no. 16—to remote Groote Eylandt, off Australia's Northern Territory. Abigail tagged along with two charities, Racquets & Red Dust and Bush Fit Mob, to document the so-called "Barty Effect", as they promote tennis in Australia's indigenous communities. Check out the issue for more, including a great piece on her travels by Courtney Walsh. —The Editors 

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“It’s incredible to see the talent that is out in these communities and the Aboriginal kids who are happy to give it a crack, have a go, to try. They just need the opportunity.”
—Ashleigh Barty"

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Abigail Varney is a portrait and documentary photographer based in Melbourne. Her first book, Rough & Cut, has just been released by Trespasser Books.

This article was featured in Racquet Issue No. 21

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