13 September 2012 | Tennis Victoria

The Women’s grade five Grand Final between Doveton and Kooyong Lawn wasn’t your average game of tennis.

In an unusual event, the Kooyong team was made up of not one but two sets of twins. Coincidentally, both sets were born within a week of each other.

Elle and Paris Dagres, and Madeleine and Alexandra Bailey, are all fifteen years old and played the majority of the 2012 season together. They formed a formidable combination along with their fifth player, Ifeoma Donnellan, to reach the Grand Final.

Alexandra said although they had the occasional argument, there were some definite advantages of playing alongside her twin sister.

“It’s really good playing with someone you’re really close with because you’re not afraid to tell them anything, so she can tell me things I’m doing wrong and I can tell her things she’s doing wrong,” said Alexandra.

“It’s just easier playing together, we can communicate better … it’s easier to talk to each other,” added Madeleine.

When asked who the better player was, Madeleine quickly responded with: “Oh me, definitely, I beat her on the weekend”.

Much like their appearance, the two were hard to separate in their match, with Madeleine scraping home 7-5 in a tiebreaker.

The girls’ mother Marcia said the twin factor had its ups and downs.

“Sometimes they can think the same thing and they can both go for the ball or both miss the ball,” said Marcia.

“But most of the time, they do work together,” she added.

On the day, Doveton ended the fairy tale run, defeating the twin team four rubbers to two.

Photo (left to right): Paris Dagres, Alexandra Bailey, Elle Dagres, Madeleine Bailey & Ifeoma Donnellan