Young ace holds court

A young Busselton tennis player will head to the Eastern States this weekend to represent WA in a national competition.

Mitchell Fraser will be part of a team of eight boys and girls from across WA taking part in the Foundation Cup’s interstate challenge in Sydney.

The 12-year-old earned the honour after competing in the Darcy Slater Cup in Bunbury, where a total of 85 boys were vying for four spots.

Mitchell said this was his proudest achievement to date and hoped to do his best to help WA achieve a great result while making new friends at the tournament.

This is his second State representation, after travelling to Adelaide in July where he took part in two Australian ranked tournaments on a Tennis West Scholarship.

Mitchell said he had a fantastic time and described it as the “greatest experience of his life”.

Mitchell first started playing tennis at age 4, after his parents bought him a table tennis bat and ball. By the time he was six, he had been chosen to take part in a talent ID weekend held by Tennis West and invited to Perth for tennis development training.

Mitchell said he enjoyed tennis for the competitiveness and the “winning feeling”.

Mitchell is currently ranked fifth in WA for his age group and is the number one player in country WA. Impressively, he ranks 1809 Australia-wide for all men playing tennis regardless of age.

While his immediate goal is to make the South West Academy of Sports team once he turns 13, Mitchell also hopes to make it into the top 1000 ranking nationally where he can apply to receive sponsorship.

Mitchell said he would like to thank his coach Luke Andrews for his support and encouragement and new fitness and hitting partner Josh Grace for keeping it fun.

But mostly, he said he has his mum and dad to thank for allowing him to play and for all their support and encouragement in following his dreams.