Fourteen-year-old WA player Jake Dembo has taken to the grass over in London for the Wimbledon Junior Championships 14 & U Singles event after taking out the title at the Australian U14 Boys’ 2022 Junior Wimbledon event earlier this year.
After a breakthrough six months at state and national level, the under-14 Australian number one is set to test himself against the world’s best and Dembo faces Jordan’s Malek Alqurneg today.
Dembo said he could not wait to play on the hallowed grass of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and one day hoped to play in the senior tournament.
“I’m sure it would mean a lot just getting there, knowing you’ve trained pretty much every day your whole life, just to step on one of those courts. It’d be a pretty proud moment,” he said.
“There’s quite a bit of grass here in Perth, so I’m pretty experienced on it.”
Dembo has worked hard under the tutelage of coach Rhys McDougall for almost eight years. McDougall said Dembo’s ability to pick up the finer details of the game had always stood out in compared to his peers and even his elders and his-court decision-making was also advanced for his age.
There are four Junior events at The Championships: Boys’ Singles, Girls’ Singles, Boys’ Doubles and Girls’ Doubles. In 2022, they start with the Boys’ and Girls’ Singles on Saturday 2 July, and play throughout the second week with finals taking place over Finals weekend.
Junior players come from all over the world to compete in the Junior Championships. Players are aged between 14 and 18 and receive ranking points that count towards their international junior ranking.
It has been a busy year for the Mt Lawley Tennis Club prodigy and is already focused on adding more accomplishments to his burgeoning resume.
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