17 December 2010 | Tennis Victoria

Brigitte Beck captured her first national title at the Optus 14s Australian Championships, cementing her spot at the top of the Victorian rankings for girls in her birth year.

Classed as her biggest achievement to date, Brigitte’s consistency over the week has shown how much she has grown and matured.

“I thought it was a really good tournament. It was my last 14/u nationals so I really wanted to do well. It feels really good to be a national champion,” said Brigitte.

Brigitte defeated the No.1 seed, Lyann Hoang (Queensland) convincingly in the semifinal, 6-2 6-0, and then went on to play fellow Victorian, close friend and training partner, Annabelle Andrinopoulos in the final, which she also won convincingly, 6-0 6-4.

Growing up, Brigitte played many sports, but it wasn’t until she reached 11 years of age that tennis started to take over.

“She had an opportunity to go with a group of tennis players to Nick Bollettieri’s in Florida where she spent two weeks training in very hot and humid conditions and she came through that with flying colours,” said Ingrid Beck, Brigitte’s mother.

“That was also her first exposure playing against players from other countries and she thought that she matched them very well.”

Brigitte is a member of the National Academy Melbourne, has lessons with her private coach, John McCurdy, and plays tournaments and competitions on weekends when time permits.

Whilst Brigitte’s tennis future is bright, she is realistic to understand the long road ahead to get onto the professional tour and tries to stay focussed on the ‘now’ and not look too far forward.

“She sees a mental coach once or twice a term and they set out goals for her. Together they work on what goals are achievable and within reach and each time they just raise the bar a bit further,” said Ingrid.

Ingrid credits National Academy Melbourne coach Mark Hllawaty with having the biggest influence on Brigitte’s game in recent years.

“He’s travelled with her and he’s worked with her constantly over the last few years and he’s a very good mentor for her,” said Ingrid.

For now, Brigitte is going to compete in the Optus 16s Australian Championship and the Australian Open Juniors qualifying before hopefully competing in ITF junior events in 2011.