An unexpected win for emerging tennis talent
Daniel Groom from Guilford Young College, is Australia’s newest under eighteen schoolboy tennis champion, after winning the prestigious Pizzey Cup tournament in New South Wales on May 8.
But the eighteen year old said he didn’t expect to win, after a heel injury kept him off the courts two weeks prior to the championship event.
“I didn’t train for two weeks, and had to pull out of a tournament before (the event). A day or two before I left, I was still unsure if I was going to go, but I got cleared by the physio. He said it wasn’t going to get worse, it was just going to be really sore.”
Daniel, who typically plays his best game on a hardcourt, said the grass courts at the tournament worked to his advantage.
“If it had of been on a hard court instead of grass, I probably wouldn’t have lasted three days because of my injury, so it probably was a good thing.
“We don’t have any grass courts down in Tasmania, they play a lot quicker, they skid a lot there are a lot of things you have to change about your game, so obviously it was tough earlier in the week,” he said.
Daniel said he hopes to continue to train and one day make it as a professional.
“After I complete school this year, I would like to gain a scholarship in America through my tennis and study while training full time.
“After that I’ll try and make it professionally, and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll still have my degree.”
Daniel was also named in the Australian merit tennis team at the end of the tournament.