23 December 2016 | Tennis Tasmania

Its been a very busy few weeks for Tasmania’s top tennis players during the recently completed December Showdown in Melbourne. In total an impressive 19 talented juniors tested their mettle against the best from Australasia over three weeks of competition.

The Showdown kicked off with the 14/u & 18/u Australian championships (December 3-8). Impressively Sam Edgar, Sam Whitehead and Georgina Fish won their opening contests over their more highly ranked opponents. Edgar followed up that performance with a hard fought three set loss to 11th seed Enzo Aguard, whilst Fish dropped a highly competitive decision after having multiple set points in the 1st set. In doubles action, Charlotte Ingram and her partner were on quite the journey. Ingram and Canberra product Annerley Poulos stormed through to the final without the loss of a set, defeating the third and second seeds with relative ease. In the final the girls dropped a tense match against the top seeded duo of Olivia Gadecki and Monique Barry. Awesome work Charlotte!!

Next on the agenda was the 12s and 14s Australian teams championships, with 12 Tasmanian youngsters competing against the best teams throughout Australasia. After four jam packed days of tennis in testing conditions it was the 14/u boys team of Sam Edgar, Sam Whitehead and Will Gibson who pulled out some clutch performances under the tutelage of coach James Bolzonello. Gibson was instrumental in the come backs, twice coming through big in the ever important deciding doubles rubber. Awesome work to all 12 Tassie players and managers David Dickson (12/u girls), Larn McShane (12/u girls), James Bolzonello (14/u boys) & Trent Constance (12/u boys).

Lastly, the 12/u and 16/u individual championships were recently completed to wrap up the hugely popular December Showdown. Victoria Fish, Ben Fergusson and Jake Elmer all claimed impressive victories throughout the championships, with Brooke Miller and Arwen Koespamahlawan proving to be very competitive with many lessons learned. Miller was one of the youngest girls competing in the championships at 10 years of age.

As we close the chapter on another action packed year of tennis we here at Project Talent and National Academy Tasmania want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and safe New Year. Keep enjoying your tennis and we look forward to seeing you on the tennis court soon!