{"id":19711,"date":"2024-06-14T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T09:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=19711"},"modified":"2024-06-14T17:02:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T09:02:30","slug":"train-with-taylah-preston-have-fun-but-work-hard-as-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2024\/06\/14\/train-with-taylah-preston-have-fun-but-work-hard-as-well","title":{"rendered":"Train with Taylah Preston: “Have Fun But Work Hard As Well”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Promising Perth teen Taylah Preston shares an insight into her practice routine in our “Train with the Pros” series.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 18-year-old from Perth has recorded a number of impressive results this year, helping her rise to a career-high singles ranking of world No.134.<\/p>\n

A maiden Grand Slam main-draw appearance at Australian Open 2024 was a major highlight, as well as becoming the first Aussie teen to score a singles win on debut in the Billie Jean King Cup competition since Ash Barty.<\/p>\n

Preston opens up on her some of her favourite tennis memories and her practice routines in our\u00a0Train with the Pros<\/em><\/a>\u00a0series.<\/p>\n

You made your Australian Open main-draw debut earlier this year, can you remember your first experience of the tournament as a fan?<\/h5>\n

I came to the tournament to play Super 10s when I was nine and I remember it being the coolest thing ever. Dasha (Daria Saville) came and did a Q&A with us, which I thought that was pretty cool. Obviously, the Aussie Open is a very special event for Australians.<\/p>\n

During that first experience, did you imagine you\u2019d be back at the tournament less than 10 years later playing in the main draw?<\/h5>\n

I don\u2019t know if I would have thought about that when I was nine. I mean, obviously, my dream was always to play in the Australian Open, but I think if I knew at nine that I\u2019d be able to do that, I\u2019d be pretty happy.<\/p>\n

What are your goals for the 2024 season?<\/h5>\n

Definitely to improve my ranking and to play at all four of the Grand Slams, I think that would be awesome.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite time of day to practice?<\/h5>\n

When I\u2019m back home I like to practice nice and early, but it doesn\u2019t really bother me too much.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite part of your game to work on?<\/h5>\n

I think everything can always be worked on. My serve is something I\u2019m always trying to get better and tweak in ways so that I can improve it.<\/p>\n

Do you have a least favourite part of your game to work on?<\/h5>\n

Not really, no.<\/p>\n

Can you recall the first opportunity you had to practise with a professional player?<\/h5>\n

I hit with Storm (Hunter) when I was about 13 in Perth. I was super excited and the fact that Storm was hitting with me was, for me, really cool. She\u2019s such a nice person.<\/p>\n

Is there any player on tour you\u2019d love to have the opportunity to hit with?<\/h5>\n

Not really, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone in particular. It\u2019s always great to practice with any of the top players and really helps.<\/p>\n

Are there any particular practice sessions that you\u2019ve had that stand out as most memorable?<\/h5>\n

I got to practice with Marketa Vondrousova in January. She\u2019s the reigning Wimbledon champion, so that was pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone from tennis history you\u2019d love to have the chance to hit with?<\/h5>\n

It would be cool to practice with Roger Federer, just to see how clean he hits the ball that close.<\/p>\n

What advice would you share with an aspiring player on how to get the most out of a training session?<\/h5>\n

I\u2019d say have fun, but work hard as well. You need to be able to do that if you want to have a good session and improve.<\/p>\n

Finally, if you had five minutes remaining in a practice session and could do anything you wish, what would you choose?<\/h5>\n

Not running (laughs). Maybe I\u2019d finish with some slices, that\u2019s something I need to work on.<\/p>\n

> READ MORE: From our \u201cTrain with the pros\u201d series<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Promising Perth teen Taylah Preston shares an insight into her practice routine in our “Train with the Pros” series. The 18-year-old from Perth has recorded a number of impressive results this year, helping her rise to a career-high singles ranking of world No.134. A maiden Grand Slam main-draw appearance at Australian Open 2024 was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":19712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}