8 November 2015 | Tennis Queensland

The Queensland Tennis Awards celebrated the performances, achievements and contributions made by members of the Queensland tennis family in 2015.

Fourteen awards were recognised at Queensland’s night of nights for the sport, held at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane on Saturday 7 November 2015.

Local coaches, communities, volunteers, tournaments and players were all celebrated across the evening, rounded off by Queensland’s most prestigious awards, the Wendy Turnbull Medal for Junior Athlete of the Year, Ashley Cooper Medal for Athlete of the Year and finally, the Queensland Club of the Year.

The successes of all finalists for the Wendy Turnbull Medal on the local and international stage in 2015 demonstrates the strength of Queensland’s young players and creates a great hope for the future of Australian tennis at the elite level.

A wonderful example of this, the 2015 Wendy Turnbull medalist, Kimberly Birrell reached a career high Junior Ranking of 18 in the world at the end of last year. She made a successful transition onto the Pro Circuit in 2015, reaching her maiden Pro Tour singles final at the $15,000 event in Mildura, and backing it up with an equally impressive result at the $25,000 event in Brisbane. Birrell was also successful in taking out her first professional doubles title at the 2015 Tweed Coast Tennis International and earned a current and also career high WTA Ranking of 410 in the world, proving why this young player deserved to take home her second medal as Junior Athlete of the Year.

The Ashley Cooper Medal was a battle between the Croatian-born, world No.66 Ajla Tomljanovic, the resurgent world No.74 John Millman and three-time medalist and world No.25 Samantha Stosur, with Stosur again triumphant.

Highlights of her year included winning a WTA title as a wildcard at the Strasbourg Open in France. She encountered four of the WTA’s rising stars on her path to the title, and had to recover from a set down to beat Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in the final. Stosur went on to earn a second WTA title for the year two months later after battling back from the brink to defeat Karin Knapp at the Bad Gastein Ladies Open in Austria. Overall, Sam competed in a total of twenty-five tournaments this year and spearheaded Australia’s campaign in the Fed Cup, to finish the year as World no.25, holding her place as the highest Australian ranked female on the international tour.

The showcase award for the Queensland Tennis Awards was the Queensland Club of the Year. The award recognised four of the most inspirational clubs across Queensland, Barcaldine Lawn Tennis Association, Coolum Tennis Club, Gold Coast Seniors Tennis Club and Redcliffe Tennis Centre, with the latter taking the honours as the final win for the night.

2015 has been Redcliffe’s best year yet as they have seen a huge increase in numbers with nearly 900 active members. Since redeveloping the facility in 2010, Redcliffe Tennis Association now boasts first class facilities including 12 tennis courts, two of which are exhibition courts with grand stand seating. The modern facility enables Redcliffe to run a number of programs including, ANZ Tennis Hot Shots, Cardio Tennis, community days and social events, a high performance program, holiday clinics, adult coaching, programs for players with disability as well as hosting successful tournaments like the Junior Development Series (JDS), Redcliffe Open and the Redcliffe Masters tournament.

Redcliffe pride themselves on their friendly atmosphere and community involvement and have given over 5,000 local children an introduction to tennis through the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots program at their associated local schools. The centre is leading the state for driving participation and getting more people outside and on the tennis court with a racquet in hand. A truly deserving winner and a club to watch in Queensland’s quest to develop the next Grand Slam champion out of our home state.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Queensland Regional Shield
Coolum Tennis Club & Barcaldine Lawn Tennis Club

Most Outstanding 35+ Senior
Mike Ford

Excellence in Officiating
David Best

Coaching Excellence – Club
Ross Orford

Most Outstanding Tournament
Hutchinson Builders Toowoomba International

Eddie Machin Scholarship – Junior Regional Athlete of the Year
Jayden Court & Megan Smith

Geoffrey E. Griffith – Volunteer of the Year
Nathan Costello

Coaching Excellence – ANZ Tennis Hot Shots
Jamie Wareham

Most Outstanding School
Brisbane Boys’ College

Coaching Excellence – Talent Development
Gary Stickler

Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability
Archie Graham

Wendy Turnbull Medal – Junior Athlete of the Year
Kimberly Birrell

Ashley Cooper Medal – Athlete of the Year
Samantha Stosur

Queensland Club of the Year
Redcliffe Tennis Association