Codey Gunn from Narre Warren took part in the SSV Bruce Cup trials held at the Pakenham Regional Tennis Centre last week. 82554 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS
THE PAKENHAM Regional Tennis Centre played host to 48 of the state’s top young talent last week in the 2012 trials for the Bruce Cup.
The Bruce Cup is a prestigious national schools tennis championship open to boys and girls aged 12 and under, and is conducted by School Sports Australia in partnership with Tennis Australia. The event attracts Australian ranking points.
The elite 48 –which consists of 24 boys and 24 girls- made it through to the trials from more than 1500 primary school students who competed in the School Sports Victoria (SSV) event. A maximum of seven boys and seven girls will be selected from the trials, and will represent Victoria at the National championships to be held in Perth from 13-20 October.
Victoria has finished runners-up to Queensland for the last three years, and will be looking to make amends in a tournament that has seen some of Australia’s finest-ever players compete since the inaugural playing in 1938.
Rod Laver, arguably the greatest tennis player ever, represented Queensland in the Bruce Cup while Lew Hoad, Jan Lehane, Fred Stolle, John Alexander and Wally Masur all took part.
More recently players such as Jason Stoltenberg, Pat Rafter, Todd Woodbridge, Mark Philippoussis, Rachel McQuillan and Evie Dominokovic have all performed with distinction on the international scene.
