Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin’s early years at Kogarah’s Parkside Tennis Courts and Kim Warwick Tennis Academy
Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin are two of Australia’s most exciting tennis talents. Read how their local tennis clubs in Sydney helped to shape their love of the sport.
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Two of Australia’s most exciting tennis talents’ incredible careers all started at local clubs on the opposite side of Sydney.
On Saturday, both Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin will be cheered on by fans at Melbourne Park as the two born and bred Sydney-siders bid for a fourth-round berth of their home slam.
NewsLocal caught up with those running Popyrin and de Minaur’s childhood tennis courts to hear about what they have given back to their communities and how they are inspiring a whole new generation of Aussie kids to pick up a tennis racket.
Spending the early years of his life in the south Sydney suburb of Carss Park, de Minaur first started playing tennis at Kogarah Bay’s Parkside Tennis Courts.
Graeme Wardrop, who now runs the Parkside Tennis Court, never coached de Minaur but said the entire team at Parkside Tennis Courts are very proud of his achievements, both on and off the courts.
“He is a local boy and started out our courts,” Mr Wardrop said. “And now he’s a credit to tennis and we are all so proud of him.”
Mr Wardrop also recalled a visit de Minaur made to the Parkside Tennis Court a few years ago.
“While here he hit with every kid I had there coaching and took photos with all our players and bystanders — he left a lasting impression on us all,” he said.
Similar words of praise were given for Alexei Popyrin, who first took up a tennis racket at the Kim Warwick Tennis Academy in Hornsby.
Mr Warwick coached Popyrin for five years and has mentored him throughout much of his career.
He said he was very proud of how Popyrin managed to bounce back from a difficult year on the courts in 2022.
“When you think you’re top fifty (in the world) and don’t perform up to expectations, it’s very easy to get depressed,” he said.
“But he’s been able to keep going … and now it looks like he feels as though he belongs among the very best, which is fantastic.”
Popyrin has also made return visits to the tennis court where his love for the game all began — once also with de Minaur when he was 15-years-old.
“He came from Hornsby,” Mr Warwick said. “He’s a local boy and he’s helping other kids see it is possible to realise your dream.”
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