Alexander Crnokrak aiming to go one better at Gold Coast Junior International tennis tournament

A LOSS to fellow Australian Ken Cavrak in the final of the Queensland Junior Championships is fuelling Alexander Crnokrak’s charge at this week’s Gold Coast Junior International.

A LOSS to fellow Australian Ken Cavrak in the final of the Queensland Junior Championships is fuelling the charge of Varsity Lakes’ Alexander Crnokrak at this week’s Gold Coast Junior International.

Fresh off 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Cavrak at Tennyson on Sunday, Crnokrak yesterday opened his campaign at the ITF Grade 4 event at Burleigh Waters’ Albert Junior Tennis Centre with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Northern Territory’s Peter Politis.

COAST LEGEND GETTING DOWN TO WORK

The 18-year-old, who reached the second round of the Australian Open Juniors in January, was forced to go through qualifying at both tournaments after missing the entry deadline.

Varsity Lakes’ Alexander Crnokrak in action at the Gold Coast Junior International at Burleigh Waters. Picture: Mike Batterham

However, with three comfortable wins under his belt, he believes he can challenge the likes of Cavrak (third seed), Malaysia’s Christian Didier (second seed) and Dane Sweeny (top seed) for a breakthrough title on his home turf.

‘WE’VE RUN OUT OF MONEY’, COACH TOLD’

“I’ve played heaps of matches so I have a lot of confidence going into this week,” Crnokrak, who will take on China’s Jin Gu in the second round today, said.

“Last week in Brisbane … I made the final and I had a pretty good week. I’ve made the finals in one of these (Grade 4) tournaments before so I knew I could do it, it just had to work out, which it did so that was good.

CONCEPT ON FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS

“I haven’t played many junior tournaments this year, I’ve been playing more Futures tournaments. There’s four Futures tournaments coming up (from September), so I’ll play them.

“Hopefully I can get an ATP ranking and get as close to the top 100 as I can.”

Crnokrak, who splits his training between Burleigh Waters and the national academy in Brisbane, is also playing doubles this week with Japan’s Hiroki Fujita.

With a career-high combined junior ITF ranking of 231, he adds to the growing list of Gold Coast talent able to nominate for the Bulletin’s Local Sports Star awards.

PLAYERS IN FIRING LINE AT UNITED

The Bulletin is on the lookout for kids who love their sport, great teams and the awesome coaches and volunteers who make it all possible.

With awards up for grabs at local, state and national levels, we’re recognising and celebrating the exceptional talents of our sporting community.

For more information on the awards, visit localsportsstars.com.au/goldcoastbulletin.