WA tennis sensation and University of Tennessee scholarship student Scott Jones (Piara Waters) will represent Australia at the upcoming World University Games to be held in Napoli, Italy from 3 July.
The Napoli 2019 Summer Universiade marks the game’s 30th year of competition with the multidisciplinary sporting event second only to the Olympic Games in athletic significance and participation numbers.
Joined by fellow Australians Kody Pearson (NSW), Aleksa Cveticanin (QLD) and Kaitlin Staines (NSW), Jones will travel to Italy on July 1 to represent Australia at the World University Games.
Competing in the men’s and women’s singles and doubles events, the Australians will also put forward a pair to compete in the mixed doubles competition.
The team will be led by former Stanford University and University of Colorado assistant coach, All American and former professional circuit player David Hodge (QLD) who states Jones was an obvious inclusion in the Australian team.
“Scott has considerable experience representing Australia internationally at all levels and was an obvious selection based on his form for The University of Tennessee and his enthusiasm to don the green and gold”.
“As a former top 100 Junior ITF player and 18U National Champion, Scott has continued to hone his skills in Knoxville under former ATP top 30 player Chris Woodruff, earning a top 100 ITA ranking and helping his team to a #13 end of season ranking.”
No stranger to representing Australia, Jones played the qualifying rounds of the World Junior Teams event in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In addition, Jones was included in three international junior tours as a National Academy athlete, playing tournaments across Italy, Austria, Slovenia Belgium and the Netherlands including a weeklong training camp at Roland Garros. Jones says it’s always such a privilege to play for your country.
“Being selected to represent Australia at the World University Games in Italy is amazing,”
“It’s not something I was expecting, so to get the call up, and be given the opportunity to the wear the green and gold again; it’s really something else,”
“The event is very similar to the Olympics, people from all over the world come together to compete in a variety of sports,”
“I grew up competing against and travelling with Kody, Aleksa and Kaitlin so it’s really exciting to come together to represent Australia,” Jones said.
In 2016, Jones returned to Australia from his first semester at the University of Tennessee to compete in the Australian 18/U National Championships where he claimed his first ever National title. Delaying his return to the US, Jones then debuted in his first Grand Slam appearance, playing the first qualifying round of the 2017 Australian Open.
“My win at the National Championships in 2016 had been a long time coming, it was great to finally get the win,”
“Going on to play qualifying at the Australian Open was something else,”
“It was surreal, walking in to the locker room and there’s Federer and Wawrinka and then Nadal walks in,”
“There’s so much to take in. The preparation these top tier players put in is truly something else,
“It’s a big step up from juniors that’s for sure. The professionalism blows you away,” Jones said.
The right handed player, who joined the National Academy at aged 10 and completed his final three years of schooling through SIDE (Schools of Isolated and Distance Education) ahead of accepting a college scholarship to the University of Tennessee, says tennis has always been a huge part of his life.
“My passion and motivation for the sport was born from my parents love of the game and from hitting balls down at the club before I even started lessons,”
“I started with group lessons and progressed to private lessons before being invited to join the academy at age 10,”
“I owe a lot to the National Academy team for all of their hard work during this time,”
“We eventually started to see the results of everyone’s efforts towards the tail end of juniors when I secured a tennis scholarship at the University of Tennessee and won the 18 and under National Championships,”
“I’m heading into my final year at College now and will look to play more Futures and ITF tournaments as I transition to graduate,”
“College provides a really great opportunity to springboard to the professional circuit and I’m really looking forward to playing as much as I can and seeing where I end up,” Jones said.
National Academy Head Coach Mr Andrew Roberts who worked with Jones during his time at the Academy says Jones is a natural team player who will be an asset to the representative team.
“Scott has always enjoyed the team aspects of our sport. He is a reliable competitor who consistently plays his best tennis while competing in a team format,”
“Scott is well deserving of the opportunity to represent Australia in the upcoming World University Games and we wish him all the best,” Mr Roberts said.
The international university sports and cultural event is staged every two years and draws thousands of the world’s most talented student athletes from across the globe.
Tennis featured at the inaugural 1959 Turnin games and through the collaboration of FISU (International University Sports Federation) and the ITF, continues to develop and deliver tournaments of the highest level.
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