2 May 2014 | Tennis ACT

By Todd Larkham

The highlight of athlete development this month is Nick Kyrgios’ achievements on the ATP Challenger circuit. Nick achieved the rare feat on winning back to back ATP Challenger Titles. The first teenager to do so since Grigor Dimitrov in 2010, who is now ranked 14 in the world. He started with taking out the title at the Sarasota Open, a $US$100,000 dollar event played in Florida on green clay. This win was then backed up with a 2^nd title this week being the $US50,000 Sarasota Open, also on green clay.  For his efforts Nick collected a total of  $US$22,000 along with a massive 180 world ranking points. This has taken Nick from 230 in the world to a career high of 142.

This achievement is made even better by the fact that clay court titles at Challenger or ATP level are so rarely won by Australians. The last Aussie to achieve back to back Challenger Titles wins was Peter Luczak, nearly 7 years ago.  Our current top 100 male players (Hewitt, Tomic, Matosevic and Ebden) all regard clay as their worst surface.

Nick’s junior development in the National Academy ACT (ages 10-17) meant he spent approximately 50% of his weekly training over this period on the clay courts at Lyneham. Such a big part of playing well on clay is being able to move and balance on the surface, as well as create your own power off slower paced balls, both skills Nick developed over many years at Lyneham.  This week Nick has done these 2 things exceptionally well and looks as comfortable as the Europeans or South Americans on the surface.

Nick’s efforts should make him the front runner to receive the Australian main draw wildcard at the French Open and Nick’s efforts this week are testament to his hard work and competitiveness – well done!

US College Tennis is a great option for elite tennis players once they complete Year 12 in Australia.  There are several ACT players on tennis scholarships and currently playing in Division 1 and 2  in the NCAA Collegiate Tennis League. Leading the charge are former National Academy scholarship holders Todd Volmari , Jake Wynan and Andrew Zedde. Both boys had excellent junior results in Australia with Volmari reaching 4 x National 14/u Title finals and winning the 16/U Nationals.  Currently, in his third season, he is in superb form playing at the No.1 and 2 positions for the Loyola Marymount University Lions in the Division 1 Western Conference.  Volmari’s win loss ratio is currently 24-6 this season and his team is ranked 70^th in the country.

Across the country at University of Louisiana La Fayette, Jake Wynan also has an outstanding win loss record in singles and doubles playing at the No.2 singles position and the No.1 doubles position. This week the team won their conference (Sun Belt Conference) for the first time in 10 years when they defeated the team from South Alabaman University in the final 5 rubbers to 2. Jake and his brother Jarred, who is also on scholarship at the University, both won their singles matches, with Jake backing up to clinch a crucial doubles match as well.

Also having an outstanding year is former ACT National Academy Scholarship holder Andrew Zedde. Andrew is in his 2^nd year at US College, now at the University of Idaho. His team also took out their conference (Western Athletic Conference), with Andrew playing an important role in the teams success and being named as the conferences best player for the 2014 season!

We look forward to welcoming back all these players from College in the coming months as they return to see their families during the US summer break.

In the local junior scene National Academy scholarship holders  Dimi Morogiannis, Tallulah Farrow and Annerly Poulos have recently competed in the Victorian State Junior Championships held in Melbourne. Tallulah and Annerly played in the 14/u event and both performed admirably at an event that is in effect a National Title – with 13 year old Tallulah reaching the round of 16 and 11 year old Annerly reaching the consolation semi-finals.  Tallulah then backed up her good form, by reaching the final of the 16/U event at the Ballarat Junior Open and the final (washed out) of the 14/u event at the Newcastle Junior Open. The points gained should see Tallulah get close to the top 10 in her birth year when the next Autstralian rankings are released!

Meanwhile in local pro tour events, University of Canberra student and Canberra Velocity team member James Frawley reached the main draw in both events, narrowly losing to Wimbledon and Australian Open Junior Champion Luke Saville in 3 sets in his first main draw match of a pro tour event.

Congratulations to local players Lejla Hajdar and Charlie Snow, who have both been selected to go to the Gold Coast in May (along with their coaches Adrian Zarebski and Brett Lennard) for the National Talent Development Camp. Lejla and Charlie were identified as being the best players in their birth year in Canberra based on their recent results in local tournaments and the Super 10’s competition.