{"id":9633,"date":"2014-11-25T16:41:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T08:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=9633"},"modified":"2014-11-25T16:41:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T08:41:15","slug":"2014-newcombe-medal-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2014\/11\/25\/2014-newcombe-medal-wrap-up","title":{"rendered":"2014 Newcombe Medal Wrap-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Newcombe<\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios was last night awarded Australia\u2019s top tennis honour, the prestigious Newcombe Medal, at a gala celebration at Crown Palladium in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

In receiving the award the Canberra tennis ace was formally recognised as Australia\u2019s most outstanding tennis player in 2014. He was presented the award by Australian tennis legend John Newcombe, in whose honour the medal is named.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios has enjoyed a breakthrough year on the world tennis circuit. In July he ousted then-world No.1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) from the fourth round at Wimbledon to advance to the quarterfinals of a major for the first time, drawing widespread acclaim from some of the sport\u2019s biggest names including Aussie legend Rod Laver, US champion John McEnroe and current world No.6 Andy Murray (GBR).<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old backed up his Wimbledon campaign with a third round appearance at the US Open, showing he has what it takes to make it on the Grand Slam stage.<\/p>\n

Starting the year at world No.183 Kyrgios collected ATP Challenger titles in Nottingham, Savannah and Sarasota en route to a career-high ranking of No.51 in September. That same month he joined the Australian Davis Cup team in its 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, helping the side to retain its place in the elite World Group.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, currently ranked No.52, was tonight elated to take out his first Newcombe Medal and was already looking ahead to a big future in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t think I was going to win this award tonight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCasey [Dellacqua] has had such a great year and obviously Lleyton [Hewitt] and Sam [Stosur] deserve the award as well but when I heard my name called up there were so many mixed emotions, I didn\u2019t want to cry up there but I was close.<\/p>\n

\u201cNewk has achieved so much in this game, I read the articles [where he speaks] about me and how I have to work harder and I definitely take that into account, I\u2019m doing that every day and I\u2019m just looking to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a title awaits me and I\u2019m going to do everything I can, train hard and hopefully that title comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcombe said Kyrgios was a deserving recipient of the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough decision to make with four very competent players, they were four great choices and that\u2019s good for Australian tennis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick really stood out when we were voting for his win at Wimbledon against Nadal and getting to the quarterfinals, and also winning a couple of Challenger events earlier in the year, but you\u2019re hard to beat when you go on centre court at Wimbledon and you defeat one of the greatest players of all time in four sets and you do it really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are good years ahead for Australian tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyrgios joins three-time winner Sam Stosur (Qld) and 2013 recipient Lleyton Hewitt (SA) on the Newcombe Medal honour roll. The two former winners, as well as the resurgent Casey Dellacqua (WA), were also in the running for the 2014 award.<\/p>\n

The Newcombe Medal is the premier award presented on a night that recognises players, coaches, clubs, communities, volunteers and officials for their service to the sport. The awards ceremony has been held annually since 2010.<\/p>\n

A highlight of the evening\u2019s celebrations was the presentation of the President\u2019s Spirit of Tennis Award to Carol Langsford (NSW) for her outstanding contribution to the sport. Also honoured was Australia\u2019s 1974 Fed Cup team, commemorating the 40th anniversary of its title win.<\/p>\n

South Australia\u2019s Thanasi Kokkinakis was named Male Junior Athlete of the Year, while Destanee Aiava (Vic) was named Female Junior Athlete of the Year.<\/p>\n

The full list of award winners is as follows:<\/p>\n

Newcombe Medal
\nNick Kyrgios \u2013 Canberra, ACT<\/p>\n

President\u2019s Spirit of Tennis Award
\nCarol Langsford \u2013 Collaroy Beach, NSW<\/p>\n

Female Junior Athlete of the Year
\nDestanee Aiava \u2013 Narre Warren, Vic<\/p>\n

Male Junior Athlete of the Year
\nThanasi Kokkinakis \u2013 North Adelaide, SA<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence \u2013 Club
\nCraig Louis \u2013 Gunnedah, NSW<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence \u2013 ANZ Tennis Hot Shots
\nTim Connelly \u2013 Newport, Vic<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence \u2013 Talent Development
\nGraeme Brimblecombe \u2013 Graceville East, Qld<\/p>\n

Coaching Excellence \u2013 High Performance
\nShannon Nettle \u2013 Mordialloc, Victoria<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Club
\nMorningside Tennis Centre (Queensland Catholic Lawn Tennis Association) \u2013 Morningside, Qld<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding School
\nParkes Public School \u2013 Parkes, NSW<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Tennis Community
\nTennis Knox \u2013 Wantirna South, Vic<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Professional Tournament
\nHutchinson Builders Toowoomba International \u2013 Toowoomba, Qld<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Australian Ranking Tournament
\nMcDonald\u2019s Bendigo Classic \u2013 Bendigo, Vic<\/p>\n

Excellence in Officiating
\nTom Sweeney \u2013 Benalla, Vic<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding 35+ Tennis Senior
\nRos Balodis \u2013 Flynn, ACT<\/p>\n

Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability
\nAdam Kellerman \u2013 St Ives, NSW<\/p>\n

Volunteer Achievement Award
\nWendy Hudson \u2013 Laurieton, NSW
\nFor further information on the Newcombe Medal, Australian Tennis Awards please visit tennis.com.au .<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios was last night awarded Australia\u2019s top tennis honour, the prestigious Newcombe Medal, at a gala celebration at Crown Palladium in Melbourne. In receiving the award the Canberra tennis ace was formally recognised as Australia\u2019s most outstanding tennis player in 2014. He was presented the award by Australian tennis legend John Newcombe, in whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633","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\/5812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}