3 November 2015 | Tennis West

The Bruce Cup has a long and proud tradition with many of Australia finest players beginning their international careers at this event. At the 1948 competition Ken Rosewall played Roy Emerson and met his future wife Wilma McIvor. Bill Gilmore, arguably Australia’s finest tennis official was also a member of the NSW team. Rod Laver, our greatest male tennis player, represented Queensland in 1952. Lew Hoad, Fred Stolle, John Alexander, Phil Dent, Wally Masur, Robyn Ebbern, Jan Lehane and Gail Sherriff all represented their state in the Bruce Cup.

More recently Jason Stoltenberg, Pat Rafter, Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Mark Phillippoussis, Scott Draper, Rachael McQuillian, and Alicia Molik have represented their state and performed with distinction on the international scene. Many current Australian players including junior Wimbledon champions, Luke Saville and Ashley Barty have started their careers at the Bruce Cup.

At the 2015 Bruce Cup the following players represented Western Australia:

GIRLS: Skye Royall, Lauren Nikoloski, Abbi Gibson, Ella Hunt, Shanelle Iaconi, Catherine Rae and Madeline Yeates

BOYS: Max Weir, Ryan McConkey, Luca Katsamakis, Arden DeMelo, Ethan Cook, Brodie Schoolkate and Matthew Burton.

WA had some fantastic results coming third in the overall competition and received the bronze medal. They had some great wins over NSW by only 2 sets, SA by 12 rubbers, ACT by 14 rubbers and had a close match losing by only 2 rubbers to QLD and by 6 rubbers to the VIC team.

In the girl’s national singles championship event, Shanelle, Madeleine and Ella made it through to the 2nd round, Catherine and Abbi made it to the 3rd round and Skye and Lauren went through to the quarterfinals.

In the boys national singles championship event both Brodie and Ryan (withdrew due to illness) were dismissed in the first round, Matthew, Luca and Ethan made it through to the second round and Max got through to the 3rd round.

The Performance Team at Tennis West would like to congratulate the team inclusive of the Tour Leader, Andrea Rundle and Team Managers, Alison Kirk and Brad Ladyman for the fantastic effort and result in Tasmania.