Edgecliff teen Jake Delaney wins Australian Open boys’ doubles with Marc Polmans after Facebook message sparks partnership

SOCIAL media has helped Edgecliff teenager Jake Delaney take out the Australian Open boys’ doubles championship with fellow Aussie Marc Polmans.

Social media match sparks winning streak

SOCIAL media has helped Edgecliff teenager Jake Delaney take out the Australian Open tennis boys’ doubles championship with fellow Aussie, Marc Polmans.

The duo came back from a first-set drubbing (6-0) at the hands of their opponents, Hubert Herkacz from Poland and Slovakian Alex Molcan, to win the second set (6-2) and then the deciding tie breaker 10-8, but their partnership almost didn’t happen.

The pair was not playing together until the last minute. Victorian player, Polmans’ partner dropped out the day before a warm up tournament, leaving their fate up to a Facebook message.

Marc Polmans and Jake Delaney are the 2015 Australian Open boys’ doubles champions.

“I was supposed to play doubles with a Korean kid, Duck Hee Lee, and that day, when the acceptances came out, he said he was playing with someone else,” Polmans told tennis.com.au.

“So I messaged Jake on Facebook and asked him if he had a doubles partner for Traralgon and the Australian Open and he said ‘no let’s play’. I thought, that’s great, I’m playing with another Aussie guy.”

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Delaney was a The Scots College Student until year 9 when he took on full-time tennis.

He is completing long-distance education while on tour.

Delaney also performed well in the singles going down in round three to eventual winner Roman Safiullin.

Jake Delaney plays a shot with Marc Polmans behind him. They are the 2015 Australian Open boys’ doubles champions.

The pair drew the number one seed in the first round and narrowly won in a tie breaker.

“It feels pretty good, I think we just toughed out a lot of matches this week, that is what it came down to really,” Delaney told tennis.com.au

“There was some teams that were very good and we just managed to scrape through by a couple of points. I think we just played the big points right, that’s all really.”

While the pair found each other on Facebook for this event, they have a history, having played doubles in under-12s and 14s.

“The same thing happened this year over in Europe. The day before the tournament, he (Polmans) didn’t have a partner, literally the night before. He said ‘mate do you want to play?’ and I said ‘OK sure’ and we made the final of a Grade 1 so I guess it’s our good luck charm just last-minute doubles pairing.

“Maybe we should just leave it as a second-choice pairing and just come out of the blue every once in a while.”