Winner of Hot Shots Tennis competition Lelani Kipping enjoy US Open, shares pizza with Alex De Minaur
After winning a national competition with her poem about Alex De Minaur and pepperoni pizza, a 9-year-old from Townsville got to live out her dream, by sitting down with the Aussie superstar himself and enjoying a slice at the US Open.
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After winning a national competition with her poem about Alex De Minaur and pepperoni pizza, 9-year-old Lelani Kipping from Townsville got to live out her dream, by sitting down with the Aussie superstar himself and enjoying a slice at the US Open.
Lelani and her family have returned from the family trip of a lifetime after she won a national competition run by Tennis Australia as part of their ‘Hot Shots’ junior tennis program.
The competition asked kids to write in 25 words or less who they wanted to win the US Open this year and why.
Lelani found out in early August that she was the winner and was very excited about going to America.
“I want to see the biggest toy shop in the world and watch the tennis,” she said at the time.
She and her family took off to the states on the trip worth $25,000, which included Centre Court tickets, flights, accommodation, and a behind the scenes tour on Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the event.
The family met Aussie tennis stars Alex De Minaur, Ajla Tomljanovic and coach Nicole Pratt.
Lelani said she had a great time on the holiday.
“We got to have pepperoni pizza with Alex which was really cool. Pepperoni is my favourite type of pizza,” she said.
Her sister Kyla, a fellow Hot Shots participant, said she loved meeting the players she looked up to.
“They were both really nice and it was really good to meet someone I’ve been wanting to meet for half my life,” she said.
“We went to the US Open, we watched some tennis, some practice matches and some real games. We also got the Grand Centre Court seats. We got to meet and greet famous tennis players and we got some ice cream.”
Lelani’s winning poem:
US Open, Twenty-Four,
Aussie winner, Alex de Minaur.
He burns through shoes with his speed,
Pepperoni Pizza is all he needs.
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Originally published as Winner of Hot Shots Tennis competition Lelani Kipping enjoy US Open, shares pizza with Alex De Minaur
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