Gold Coast tennis star Emerson Jones sets sights on US Open after Wimbledon success

Tennis young gun Emerson Jones has returned to her Gold Coast home after making the junior finals at Wimbledon – but she won’t be resting on her laurels.

After a stunning fight to the Wimbledon Junior finals, Emerson Jones has returned to the comfort of her Gold Coast home and she’s already got her eyes set on her next move.

The 16-year-old from Coomera Waters was the first Australian since Ash Barty to make it to the girls final after beating American Iva Jovica in the semi-final.

Thanks to her jaw dropping work, Jones became the seventh Australian to progress to the Wimbledon girls’ singles final in the Open era and the first to make it to this stage in 13 years.

Recounting her performance in London last week, Jones said walking the grassy courts of Wimbledon for the first time was really special.

“It was really great playing on court one too. That was pretty special because obviously I hadn’t been on the big courts of Wimbledon before, and I didn’t get to see them last year either,” she said.

Gold Coast tennis star Emerson Jones returns from Wimbledon. Picture: Nigel Hallett

”So being able to play there this year, that was pretty special, like the atmosphere, crowd, the court, yeah. So that was really great.

“I played pretty well all week, I was just pretty solid, playing the way I needed to. I think grass (courts) suit me well, my games suit grass pretty well.”

Sadly, there was no time for sightseeing as she made her way through the tournament.

“Last year I did get to have a look around but not this year sadly. I was at the courts all day, every day,” Jones explained.

“I was getting on a 9.30pm bus back to the hotel every night because I would have the doubles competition in the afternoon.”

But she said the opportunity to play plenty of matches was worth missing the sightseeing.

“I played a lot of matches and I got to play singles into the finals and then I made the doubles semi-final – that was like nine matches that week. Plus, I had a tournament before that so it was pretty busy,” she said.

“But it was great honestly, I was pretty shocked that I made the final as well.”

She flew back into Brisbane on Tuesday night, but is giving herself only one week off before she’s back on court.

“I’m going to have a week off now and just put the rack down for a week to fully recover, and then I’ll train until I think US Open juniors and the lead in tournament before that,” she said.

Training for Wimbledon was no small feat, but hitting the courts with Barty beforehand may have helped.

“I went from straight to clay to grass, and there’s two different game styles on those two surfaces. So it was a quick change to grass,” Jones said.

“But my (tennis) academy, because I trained in Brisbane, they got a grass court ready, like before I came back from French Open, and then I just trained on that every day.

“I hit with Ash Barty a couple of times. We both got ready for the tournament because she played the (invitational competition) over there.”

Barty gave the young gun some crucial tips ahead of the grass court competition.

“She said obviously staying low on the grass is probably the main thing,” Jones explained.

The US Open Junior Tennis Championships will kick off from September 1, later this year.