TORI SPELLS TROUBLE FOR RIVALS ON COURT
MEET Tori Russell.
She is only nine, she loves tennis, she’s incredibly talented, yet incredibly humble, and she has just earned herself a hat-trick of Orange Ball tournament titles.
After dropping just two games during all four of her matches, Russell claimed her third and most recent victory at the penultimate Gold Coast Region Orange Ball tournament of the 2019 circuit at KDV Sport on Sunday afternoon.
Russell takes to the courts at Runaway Bay’s Pro-One Tennis Academy four times a week, training hard under one of the Gold Coast’s top coaches, Shayne Tabb.
“She’s passionate, dedicated, loves to compete, but most importantly she has the on-court and off-court qualities of a tennis player which we are most proud of. She’s exciting,” Tabb said.
But it’s not just an exciting time for the future of tennis, as Russell’s talent extends beyond the court, on to the golf course and then into the swimming pool, having already achieved some very impressive competitive results in both.
And right beside Russell every step of her journey is little sister Kira.
Only seven, Kira also had a successful Sunday in finishing the day as the girls singles consolation winner.
And right beside Tori at the presentation on Sunday was Ava Garner (Gold Coast Seniors Tennis) and Jinyu Yan (Pro-One Tennis), with the girls taking out the silver and gold medals respectively.
In the boys draw, Tennis Plus’s Kevin Luo claimed his first Orange Ball tournament title, closely followed by Jack Wilson (Platinum Tennis) and Liam O’Nuallain (Somerset College).
The tournament was an exciting experience for all 51 tiny tennis talents under 10 who took to the courts at KDV among some of Queensland’s best players who also assembled for the 2019 KDV Winter Slam.
With the Winter Slam continuing on to next weekend, the tournament has attracted some big-hitting names in Australian junior tennis, including Australia’s No.1 ranked under-18 players in Olivia Gadecki and Dane Sweeny, also both Queenslanders of course.