Lucky Canberra local Caillie Warwick was thrilled when she won a trip to Shanghai to meet world No.1 and six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
Caillie, a Sacred Heart Primary School student who plays tennis at Weston Creek Tennis Club, flew to China to hit with Djokovic at the Shanghai Rolex Masters after winning a Tennis Australia ANZ Tennis Hot Shots competition.
“I feel so lucky to be the winner of this huge prize,” Caillie said before the trip.
Caillie was joined in Shanghai by fellow ANZ Tennis Hot Shots competition winner Aston Monteleone (Shepparton, Victoria).
Caillie’s mother Michelle said the two were the happiest eight-year-olds in the world.
“The two have formed a close bond after this experience that few will understand,” said Michelle. “In fact after a number of hours they were behaving like brother and sister and have connected on Skype since coming home.”
Michelle said Djokovic was patient and genuine with Caillie and Aston.
“I had a great time having a hit with Aston and Caillie from ANZ Tennis Hot Shots!” Djokovic said on Twitter.
Caillie and Aston were also lucky enough to toss the coin for the match between world No.2 Andy Murray and world No.24 Steve Johnson on centre court.
“Tennis was also going to be a game for life for me,” said Michelle, “but I can safely say that it is all but guaranteed into the next generation in our family also.”
In 2014, ANZ announced its sponsorship of Tennis Australia’s fast-growing children’s starter program, ANZ Tennis Hot Shots.
The development program is specifically designed for primary school-aged children between five to 12-years-of-age and is one of Australia’s most popular sports participation programs with a record of 213,883 participants nationwide in 2015/2016.
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