LAST week was a busy week for tennis both locally and internationally.
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Locally Newcastle hosted the Medibank NSW Country Closed Championships.
The senior championships were conducted over the weekend with the Central Coast's Troy Lockwood and Tamworth's Emelyn Star taking out the country singles titles.
Newcastle players were prominent in the championships with Tara Hamilton and Brandon Parry winning the open mixed title, while Trudi Musgrave teamed up with Emelyn Star to win the open women's doubles.
Emma Pollock came out of semi-retirement to make the women's open final.
The junior championships was conducted the following week as a Tennis Australia silver OJT event.
Despite rain washing out a number of finals on the last day, with 464 entries and 196 competitors, the championships was a great success.
Newcastle unearthed a new star in Glendale's Eliza Rainey.
Eliza played strong tennis to be an uncompleted finalist in the 11 and under girls singles.
She is a dedicated young player who is already part of the Hunter Academy of Sport tennis squad and the Lake Macquarie Tennis Centre elite junior training program.
Other Novocastrians to shine were Rhys Searant, 13 and under boys singles uncompleted finalist and semi-finalist in the 14 and under boys singles; Jack Maddocks, 17 and 18 and under boys singles uncompleted finalist and winner 18 and under boys doubles with Brandon Parry; Joel Herbert, 17 and under boys singles uncompleted finalist.
Zoe Barton was a 15 and under girls singles uncompleted finalist.
Most outstanding effort must go to 14-year-old Maddison Blick and Blake Denison to win the 18 and under mixed doubles title.
In other junior tennis news, Luke Saville has been making headlines overseas.
After my spray of week regarding the dismal state of Australia international tennis it was good to see Luke Saville make the final of the Wimbledon junior boys tournament.
But considering he won the event last year, you have to question Saville's progress in the past 12 months.
Saville is a very talented player and let's hope he can develop his game and make an impact on the senior tour.
