Several changes have been implemented in Dunedin club tennis to optimise the strong student presence in the early and late parts of the season.
With many talented players absent from the city from early November to late February, a subsidiary competition with reduced numbers will be played during that period.
The major championship will run for five weeks and then resume in late February for a further five weeks, followed by a grand final.
In contrast to the past season, teams will be single sex.
Another change is that the competition will run on Tuesday nights indoors starting tonight until daylight saving, and then move outdoors.
The feature of the men's rosters is the return from England of Nathan Carter, who will play for Eastern Harbour, and the return of Oliver Cuthill from a scholarship in the United States.
Cuthill joins an already strong Mornington-Roslyn club which will field two senior men's teams of split strength.
Other new students include Nick Dalziel, from North Otago, who will also turn out for Mornington-Roslyn, and Alan de Zwart, formerly of Canterbury, who will play for Harbour.
The women's competition has been weakened by the continuing drop-out rate with former Otago titleholders Emma Johns, Amy Rapley, Jessie Watson and Daria Korobanova not named in any teams.
Only four women's teams, down from six last year, will contest the premier championship.