Brisbane, Australia, 14 October 2022 | Leigh Rogers
Hayden Jones is one of Australia’s leading junior players.
The 16-year-old from the Gold Coast achieved a career-high world junior ranking of No.50 in August and is currently one of only four 2006-born players ranked inside the world’s top 60.
Jones has represented Australia in the Junior Davis Cup competition and was an orange boy for the Australian Davis Cup team in Germany last month.
In our series profiling Tennis Australia’s National Tennis Academy athletes, Jones reveals he is following a different sporting path to his accomplished parents …
Tell us about your start in tennis?
I think I was six years old, almost seven. I used to go up on the local courts (on the Gold Coast) and play cricket, just block some balls around. And then John Dutton, the resident coach, invited me over to join a tennis squad. I didn’t really like it at first, to be honest, but then kind of stuck with it and got better.
Why didn’t you initially enjoy tennis?
It was just a bit boring, to be honest. I just remember the sessions felt long, but later I got into it.
Did anyone in your family play tennis?
No one played tennis. My mum, Loretta Harrop, went to the Olympics for triathlon. She won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. My dad, Brad Jones, was a pretty good footballer and won the 1999 Grogan Medal in the QAFL.
Have your parents been supportive of your tennis journey?
Yeah, they have. I always did other sports like swimming and stuff like that. But when I turned 13, Mum was like ‘You can choose what you want to do now’, and I chose tennis.
Why did you choose tennis?
I always liked the other sports, but I just felt tennis was better for me. I just like the idea of hitting. It just feels good, you know? It feels right.
What has been your proudest moment so far on the tennis court?
Definitely representing Australia in the Junior Davis Cup competition. We went over to India earlier this year for the qualifying competition and qualified for the finals in November.
How does it feel to represent your country at such a young age?
It’s so cool and just feels really good. Tennis isn’t really a team sport, so to come together and play as a team is pretty fun. I enjoyed it a lot.
You played in the Australian Open 2022 junior competition and made the third round. Tell us about that experience.
That was definitely up there as well as one of my favourite experiences. I was lucky enough…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis.com.au – Tennis Australia…