ABBY Morrison has only been playing tennis for little more than five years.
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It’s been long enough for the 18-year-old to be classed as one of the best under-19 girls on the Mid-North Coast.
This weekend, the teenager will participate in the Junior Development Series at the Eastport, Westport and Kendall Tennis Clubs.
“I played well last weekend with the Mid-North Coast representative team and hit them alright,” she said.
“I won seven out of my eight matches.”
In Morrison’s earlier years she has progressed to state level, but her tennis had to take a back seat last year.
The 18-year-old labels herself as more of an “offensive” type player who likes to dictate terms from the back of the court.
She occasionally breaks that up by coming in to the net.
The teenager returns after having 12 months off to complete her Higher School Certificate and is in good form.
Now school is over, Morrison wants to see how far she can progress in the sport.
“It’d be a shame if I didn’t at least try,” she said.
“I might be getting a scholarship to America and things like that which would be good. This year is my gap year so I’ll see how far I can take it.”
Morrison felt it was a good opportunity for tennis to start and increase the amount of females playing with the emergence of the W-League and the AFLW.
“Hopefully there’s more of a push from females to play because female numbers have dropped recently.”
Sunday will be the first of eight lower North Coast JDS tournaments with over 70 juniors already registered to play.
The Open men’s and ladies events are new divisions to be added this year which incorporate prize money.
"Hopefully there’s more of a push from females to play because numbers have dropped."
- Abby Morrison
Players will compete over a series of eight tournaments between Forster to Coffs Harbour to gain a spot at the North Coast champion of champions event in August in their respective age groups.
There are age groups as young as eight years through to 18 years plus the open events.
Coach Greg Alchin from Town Beach Tennis Club will oversee Sunday’s tournament with venues throughout the Hastings being used.
North East Tennis Committee member Wendy Hudson said these tournaments provided plenty of opportunities other than match practice.
“They are a great way for juniors to play other players from other clubs and developed their tennis in a competitive format,” she said.
