By Todd Larkham
Some great results for ACT players at the Wodonga Grasscourt Championships was the highlight of this month in athlete development. In the 12/U girls singles, 11 year old Ashleigh Simes had the biggest win of her tennis career, taking out the 12/U girls singles. Ashleigh defeated several higher ranked players and with the ranking points she gained will push her into the top 10 in Australia in her birth year. Well done Ashleigh!! Also on the girls side in the 14/u event, ACT players Tallulah Farrow and Annerly Poulos dominated the draw, with Tallulah winning her first 14/U event by defeating Annerly in the singles final. Annerly turned the tables in the doubles with her interstate partner when they defeated Tallulah and fellow ACT player Martina Ujdur in the final. Tallulah also had a good run in the AMT womens singles consolation, winning several matches and making it all the way to the final.
In the 16/U event, local player Alexander De Jong took out the 16/u boys singles comfortably and also pushed the No.4 seed in the AMT mens singles to the limit. After holding a match point, Alex lost the match 7-6 in the third set, however displayed some fine grass court tennis along the way. In the 16/U girls singles ACT player Millie Scutt reached the final and completed an outstanding tournament by also reaching the final of the 16/U girls doubles with fellow ACT player Jacinta Pang.
On the weekend of March 1 and 2, ACT hosted a joint ACT/NSW Talent Development Camp. Players in their 10th and 11th birth year were invited from the ACT, South-West and South-East NSW regions for 2 days of intensive tennis and physical training. The focus of the camp was consistency, movement and competitiveness. 38 kids and their parents attended the camp which was held at the AIS and the National Sports Club. Thanks very much to ACT coaches Brett Lennard, Frank Calabria, Alun Jones, David Briggs, David Fisher and Todd Larkham for delivering the camp.
On the international scene, ACT and Canberra Velocity player Alison Bai had a major breakthrough when she made the final of the $15,000 Mildura Pro tour event. Alison defeated many higher ranked players before going down to Korea’s Su Jang in the final. Alison’s ranking should move approximately 50 spots to 430 in the world on next weeks rankings. Meanwhile Canberra’s Nick Kyrgios is back on the training court after suffering an elbow injury. Nick spent a week in Canberra training with the ACT National Academy before heading back to the Melbourne and should be back on the court within the next 3 weeks. Also back on the court this month was ACT’s Jake Eames. Jake missed several years with injury and was during this time did plenty of coaching at the National Sports Club. He made a successful return to the pro tour, picking up 3 world ranking points when he made the quarter-finals of the Happy Valley Pro Tour event. Jake is now a full-time pro player and we wish him all the best for 2014 and look forward to watching him represent the Canberra Velocity later in 2014!
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