Canberra, ACT, 27 April 2023 | tennis.com.au

The future looks bright for Renee Alame, who has just captured her third national junior singles title.

Alame won the 14 and under girls’ singles title at the Australian Junior Claycourt Championships, held at the Canberra Tennis Centre last week.

“It feels absolutely amazing, there are no words to describe,” the 13-year-old from New South Wales said after her victory.

“It’s been an amazing week in Canberra. I love the city, it’s like my second home. Every time I come here, it’s just good vibes all round. The clay courts are amazing.”

Alame won the 12/u girls’ singles title at last year’s Australian Claycourt Championships, then proved she was an all-court threat by claiming the 14/u girls’ singles title at the 2022 Australian Hardcourt Championships.

The promising talent secured her latest national title with a hard-fought 1-6 7-5 6-2 victory against Western Australia’s Sara Nikolic in an absorbing final battle.

“It was a crazy match. Sometimes in a match you don’t know what’s going to happen, and I truly mean that,” Alame said.

“(Nikolic) was two points away from winning the match. It was hard to find the belief, but I just thought to myself – in the end after the match, after it’s all said and done you will be so proud of yourself. So, I found the courage and got there.”

Canberra local Oscar Andrews claimed the 14/u boys’ singles title, while Western Australia’s Sehun Park and Queensland’s Tori Russell won the 12/u singles titles. It is the first national singles title for each.

“It was a fantastic week of tennis at the Australian Junior Claycourt Championships, with Canberra showcasing some of the best clay-court facilities in the country,” Tournament Director Emily Smith said.

“National tournaments such as this are integral to benchmarking against peers, and providing opportunities for our best players in the country to compete at a high level, and on all the Grand Slam surfaces.

“It was great to see some new junior national champions crowned after high-quality match play all week, and congratulations to Renee Alame who won her third national title in a thrilling final against Sara Nikolic.”

Canberra will now host a junior ITF tournament, kicking off an action-packed calendar of international 18/u events around the country. These provide valuable international competition and ranking point opportunities for both Australian and international players.

The next national junior event, the Australian Junior Teams Championships, takes place on the Gold Coast from 23 June – 2 July, followed by the Australian Junior Hardcourt Championships in October.

The junior season culminates with the Australian Junior Masters at the December Showdown at Melbourne Park.

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