Australia, 8 December 2023 | Leigh Rogers

Coaches play an instrumental role in the development of young tennis players.

The Coaching Excellence – Development Award is presented annually at the Australian Tennis Awards. This award recognises those delivering a quality, comprehensive, holistic coaching program that focuses on the technical, tactical, physical and psychological development of talented athletes primarily 14 years and under.

The 2023 finalists are:

Clint Fyfe (Qld): Fyfe delivers a thriving tennis program at Sunshine Coast Grammar School. The school boasts some of the state’s most promising junior talents, including Connor McEvoy and Aiden Serifovic.

Domenic Marafiote (SA): Marafiote is the director of High Performance Tennis in Adelaide. He coaches several of South Australia’s most promising juniors, including Kristina Tai and Leana Nannapeneni.

Antonie Vermaak (Vic): Vermaak runs the Tony Vermaak Tennis Academy in Melbourne. He is  the coach of Koharu Nishikawa, a promising 14-year-old who represented Australia in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November.

The award winner will be announced at the 2023 Australian Tennis Awards, held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, on Monday 11 December.

> READ: Finalists revealed for the 2023 Australian Tennis Awards

Find your way to play: Visit play.tennis.com.au to get out on court and have some fun!