29 October 2020 | Tennis Queensland

Sunshine Coast coach, Emily Burns has won a national coaching scholarship under the Federally funded Females in Tennis initiative.

Emily has been the driving force behind the pioneering Sunshine Coast Girls Squad, which is a model to be rolled out in other parts of Queensland.

Emily and two other female scholarship coaches, Jessica Moore (NSW), and Genevieve Lorbergs (Vic), will be led by the former Australian No. 1, Nicole Pratt, who has been appointed to the new role of Females in Tennis – Coach Lead for Tennis Australia.

Pratt will focus on attracting, developing and retaining female coaches at all levels to grow the number of female coaches by 10% over the next three years.

As one of the few female coaches who has worked consistently on the professional tour, with athletes including Casey Dellacqua, Daria Gavrilova and Storm Sanders, Nicole Pratt is looking forward to taking on the new role.

“I’m passionate about getting more female coaches working with players of all ages and at all levels, and I’m excited about this new opportunity,” Nicole Pratt said.

“At the top level, tennis leads the sporting world in gender equality, with equal prize money at the Grand Slams. But like many other sports, it’s an ongoing challenge to keep girls engaged, particularly when they hit their teenage years.

These new roles are part of the federally funded Females in Tennis initiative announced at the Australian Open in 2019.

“I’d like to congratulate Emily, Jess and Genevieve on their well-deserved coaching scholarships, and I’m proud we are able to offer them this opportunity which will also make them great role models for girls and women playing our sport,” Tennis Australia Chief Executive Officer Craig Tiley said.