Meet The New Kids On The Court

Four young Kiwi children have battled it out in front of crowds of thousands at The Road to the ASB Classic – the youth-focused tennis initiative that took place at Auckland’s ASB Classic event, designed to build a solid pipeline of talent in the New Zealand sporting industry – with the winners taking out the inaugural Jaguar Cup.

The Girls and Boy Under 14 Finals took place on centre court in front of hundreds of spectators. An opportunity that usually only comes once a player hits the professional circuit; this is an exceptional feat for the four young players that took part.

In two nail-biting performances, that had the crowds on the edge of their seats, Liam Youn (13) and Una Misic (11) both from Auckland, have beaten all their peers from all around the country including Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Auckland to take out the winning titles.

The new tournament for New Zealand’s junior tennis talent scouted the best young players from around the country in a series of regional tournaments that culminated in the main draw, where the up-and-coming players got to grace the same courts as international superstars like Venus Williams, Coco Gauff, Casper Ruud, Diego Schwartzman and NZ-born Cameron Norrie.

32 young players took part in the main draw over three days at the ASB Classic, each match attracting large crowds of tennis fans, giving every player a taste of what national and international competitions are like.

The Finals drew in strong crowds who watched Liam and Una crowned as the very first Road to ASB Classic winners and presented with the Jaguar Cup.

Liam claimed the title in an extremely competitive match against Sakeri Parnell winning 4-5 5-3 and 10-8 in the super tie break.

Over the moon with the result, Liam Youn said, “I’m really pleased to have won the first ever Jaguar Cup. The competition has been tough throughout the whole Road to ASB Classic tournament, so I’m very happy to have beaten so many great players from around the country.”

Una beat Dallas King Ehau 4-2 4-0. Dallas came out firing to take a 2-0 lead before Una turned the match around to win eight straight games.

Having also won the National U12 Championships in December, Una has had a fantastic few months in her tennis career. She said, “Playing Dallas on Centre Court for the final of The Road to the ASB Classic was very cool. We train together almost every day at the Lavie Academy and to compete against her on our home court was a really special occasion.”

The initiative was a collaboration between tennis sponsor Jaguar and performance tennis organisation the Lavie Academy, in response to prolonged period without major international success for our domestic players. It’s been over a century since New Zealand had a tennis player in the top 10 world ranking, with the closest player, Chris Lewis, reaching #19 almost three decades ago.

Sebastian Lavie, founder and owner of Lavie Tennis Academy is proud of the high standard of tennis that has been played by the young stars.

“We’ve seen an incredible level of tennis from the young players involved in this tournament. I knew we would see a high standard but I’m very impressed with the high caliber and the sportsmanship from all the players.”

“It’s a big ask for the 32 children who had the bravery and courage to compete in the main draw, at our national tournament this week. We have such a promising generation of young players, and this tournament has given them a taste of what national and international competitions are like. We hope that this will inspire our youngsters to chase their dreams and build confidence that they can also reach top levels in tennis.”

Impressed with the dedication and skills of the players, Steve Kenchington CEO of Jaguar Land Rover added: “It’s inspiring to see such young talent performing at a high standard both physically and mentally. This group of young tennis players have trained incredibly hard, and all our Jaguar colleagues from up and down the country have been very impressed with how dedicated they have been throughout the entire process.”

“Perhaps Una Misic and Liam Youn will be the international tennis stars New Zealand unites behind in years to come,” he adds.

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