SA tennis young guns to watch, including Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz, Edward Winter, Alex Despoja
Ash Barty has stepped away from the court, but there is a crop of young SA talent that could soon take the grand slam stage for Australia. See our list of local tennis young guns to watch.
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Just last week, Australian tennis icon and world no. 1 Ash Barty made the decision to retire from the sport.
With an incredible three Grland Slams singles titles to her name, Barty was a competitor thousands of junior players around the nation aspired to be like.
Among them are South Australian twins Chloe and Madison Schwarz.
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At the age of 18, the two Seaside Tennis Club stars have been awarded scholarships to attend NCAA division one college Western Carolina University in America in August.
Much like Barty did, the Schwarz sisters have climbed the junior ranks in Australia and competed in the Australian Open Junior Championship just last January.
“Moving to a division one college has been a goal of ours for a while now, due to the amazing facilities and programs in the USA and to be able to do that and not have to worry much financially is amazing,” Chloe said.
“We’re both really looking forward to improving ourselves tactically and physically and just seeing where our tennis takes us.”
The sisters started their budding careers at Port Adelaide under coach Kevin Swanson but moved to Seaside at the age of 10 as they quickly improved.
Under coach Joel Kerley, they have continued their rapid development and have been able to set sights on what they want to achieve.
“Both clubs have been great for us in terms of development and there’s been a great atmosphere at Seaside since we got there. Everyone shares the same goal of improving,” Chloe said.
“We want to be able to make a career out of tennis, to be able to play around the world and especially in the Australian Open in front of that massive home crowd.
“We’re quite nervous about heading over to college, away from family and friends, but we’re excited to see where this journey takes us over the coming years.”
With Australia’s most recent grand slam champion stepping away from the sport, we’ve listed the South Australian youngsters who could next take out a title for the country.
CHLOE AND MADISON SCHWARZ (Seaside Tennis Club)
The twin Schwarz sisters have both excelled individually in recent years and have been awarded scholarships to attend and represent NCAA division one college Western Carolina from this August.
Both sisters competed in Traralgon during the 60k lead-in event for the Australian Open in January, and also took part in the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Their games are set to develop remarkably in college, and it would not be surprising to see SA’s talented tennis twins on the professional world stage in the future.
ALEX DESPOJA (Seaside Tennis Club) (Brisbane 2023-)
Despoja exploded onto the scene in 2019 when he followed in Todd Woodbridge and Alex de Minaur’s footsteps to win the under-14 boys’ national title.
Since then, the now 16-year-old has been a headliner in Australian junior tennis.
Despoja was another to have competed at the Australian Open junior events, taking part in doubles and singles matches.
The rising star also received the Tennis SA Carter, Altman and Penfold award for U16 boys last week.
CHARLOTTE KEMPENAERS-POCZ (Seacliff Tennis Club)
Kempenaers-Pocz continued her rise to the top of junior tennis in style this year, reaching both the doubles and singles semi-finals at the Australian Open Junior Championships.
The 17-year-old is currently competing in Canberra after having qualified for a 60k event and will undoubtedly continue to perform strongly at events around the country and overseas.
She currently ranks world no. 38 for juniors.
CAITLIN BAKER (Seacliff Tennis Club)
A star junior and senior player for Seacliff’s State League teams, Baker has had a strong 2021-22 season.
The 16-year-old reached a career high world junior ranking in the top 2,000 in January after dominant wins in singles and doubles.
As a marker of her success, Baker won Tennis SA’s Junior State League Player of the Year (female) award this month.
ELIM YAN (Seacliff Tennis Club)
Yan has also been an important part of her club’s State League team, and has competed overseas and at the Australian Open juniors in 2022.
On top of her early success this year, Yan became South Australian Junior International champion late last year, defeating Western Australia’s Lily Fairclough.
Yan was awarded Tennis SA’s Carter, Altman and Penfold Award for U16 girls last week.
EDWARD WINTER (Glenlea Tennis Club) (Coromandel Valley Tennis Club)
Seventeen-year-old Winter has had an astounding 2022, taking part in the Adelaide International as a wildcard in doubles with Aleksander Vukic, reaching the quarterfinal, and also defeated former world No. 6 Gilles Simon in the first round of Australian Open qualifying.
The rising star also took out the South Australian Junior International championship in singles last year.
Winter will undoubtedly be one to look out for as he continues to develop his game.
SARAH MILDREN (Glenlea Tennis Club)
At only 13 years of age, Mildren has experienced significant development in recent seasons.
She played an important part in Glenlea’s SA State League three-peat this year, defeating Seacliff’s Kate Brzostek 6-0 6-1 in her singles match at the grand finals.
Mildren was also awarded with the Carter, Altman and Penfold Award for U12 girls last year.
HEMANG GAUR (East Adelaide Payneham Tennis Club)
Seventeen-year-old Gaur has been a star for EAP in 2021-2022.
After competing in the Adelaide Junior International and making the quarterfinals, Gaur recently took out the State League singles grand final against Seaside’s Billy Williams.
This helped EAP to its first Tennis SA Junior State League premiership.
HENRY LAMCHINNIAH (Trinity Gardens Tennis Club)
Another competitor in the Australian Open Junior Championships, Lamchinniah is gradually making a name for himself in Australian junior tennis.
The 16-year-old currently holds an ITF world junior ranking of 308 after impressing at national and international level.
He was also awarded the Carter, Altman and Penfold Award for U16 boys this year, splitting the Tennis Sa award with Alex Despoja.
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