​Friendship, positivity, support and confidence from early results all contributed to Queen Margaret College’s success in winning the national Secondary School Tennis Title. The team did not know what to expect when going into the three-day event at Wilding Park in Christchurch during Summer Tournament Week.

Day one would see them take on home team, St Margaret’s College. QMC would win the rubber 4-2. The tournament involves squads of four with all players being on court at the same time. This meant the team had to battle on against the support the Christchurch school received.

The day-one win strengthened Queen Margaret’s conviction to take the tournament. The team’s next opponents were the highly regarded Saint Kentigern College (Auckland). The team faced a number of tense moments but held their composure to record an important 4-2 win.

The win was made more impressive as they travelled to Christchurch without a coach, as team coach David Knight was in Malaysia with the New Zealand under 14 boys’ team.

The team are grateful to Alice Bolton, the school’s sports prefect. Alice, herself, is a tennis player but due to a sports injury had to sit out this event. Her being in Christchurch was important as she provided support to the team and was a gopher fetching stuff for the squad. Alice also acted as an intermediary with contacting David online, to clarify strategies on how to structure the team’s combinations in each of the ties.

The final day saw QMC play Auckland’s St Cuthbert’s College. They would win the rubber 5-1 and take the tournament as the event’s only unbeaten school.

The team knew they had won when Maria Galatescu scored the winner in her singles’ game. They had won enough matches so that no other school could bridge the gap even if QMC did lose their rubber against St Cuthbert’s.

Maria would sum it up as “we all wanted to do our best. We knew we weren’t the top seeds, but we willed each other to do well. Beating St Margaret’s in the first round gave us confidence to push on for the rest of the tournament.”

Squad members: Alice Bolton, Mia Campbell, Maria Galatescu, Emma Roberts and Faith Saidgrove have known each other since they were 10 and 11 years old. Mixing either at school or in tennis circles.

Maria has had a busy year with tennis, having played internationally ranking junior tournaments in Thailand and Malaysia, as well as competitions in New Zealand. Her ranking was as high as 411 globally, however she has slipped to the mid-500s, which is in part due to not being able to enter higher ranking events.

The Covid years limited Maria’s access to international competitions. “It was like everything was put on hold. I’m determined to enter more events and improve my seeding.”

Maria admits she was teased about playing tennis when she first started. “People were wondering what I was doing playing the game. I wasn’t gifted. But with more training the more natural it got.”

“It was my dad who brought me into tennis. He saw the potential in me.” From early days, Maria developed a passion for the sport and a desire to get better. She harbours ambitions to play at Wimbledon and even the US Open. With these dreams Maria acknowledges there is a lot of hard work ahead of her. Next steps include investigating scholarship opportunities in the USA.

When asked how she balanced school with tennis: “I try to clear my schoolwork first, so that I can then enjoy some free time or be able to focus on my training properly”. She is grateful to her school for giving her the flexibility to travel and pursue her sporting goals. “My teachers check in on me, giving me guidance to keep me ahead of task”.
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With the win in Christchurch, Maria added thanks to Gretchen Campbell for accompanying the team down south and helping with transport and cooking, and the school’s Sports Director Nadine Stembridge for organising all the travel details.

​While most teenagers spent their summer at the beach, George Stoupe from Hutt International Boys’ School was hitting tennis balls with some of the best players in the world.
 
The 17-year old was a part of a Tennis New Zealand contingent training and on standby to support talent at the ASB Classic in New Zealand.
 
“I got to hit with Fabio Fognini, Taylor Fritz and met David Ferrer,” Stoupe reveals.
 
“We were staying about ten minutes away from Stanley Street and if somebody needed a hitting partner we got a call. Typically you would spend between 30 to 45 minutes on court. Fabio was really relaxed, but others were pretty intense which was nerve-racking,” Stoupe continued.
 
Stoupe’s nerves would soon be amplified further. Being in the right place at the right time earned him a late wildcard into the main draw of the doubles. Stoupe and Kiwi partner Ajeet Rai would appear on centre court against Austin Krajicek and Artem Sitak, more than a decade their senior.
 
“It was a huge surprise to get a wildcard and play on centre court. I’ve never played in front of a crowd that size before. It was a fun and invaluable learning experience. The crowd was great. Because we were the underdogs they really got behind us,” Stoupe enthused.
 
The rookies lost bravely 6-3, 6-2, but a taste of the top is strengthening Stoupe’s ambitions in 2019. 

On February 26 he will compete in two grade one ITF tournaments in Thailand and Malaysia in an attempt to boost his junior world ranking of 226. Grade one tournaments are the highest ranking tournaments outside junior Grand Slams and strong performances in South East Asia will open up all sorts of possibilities.
 
“It’ll be some of the toughest competition I have faced and the heat and humidity will be a major challenge,” he says.
 
If I can perform well I will have a chance of making junior Grand Slams and being recognised by US colleges. I would like to get a scholarship to the States next year and have already had some offers.”
 
Stoupe has positioned himself for further advancement after a successful 2018. He started the year by winning the New Zealand Under-16 singles and doubles titles. In July there was an international breakthrough when he won an ITF Junior Doubles championship in Brisbane and a month later he tasted single and doubles glory in an equivalent event in Hamilton.

In December, Stoupe accomplished a rare feet by winning the National Under-18 singles title without dropping a set in Auckland. Stoupe’s triumph means he has captured national honours at every age group. In the decider Stoupe beat Isaac Becroft from Wellington College who is now on scholarship at Mississippi State University.
 
“I must have played Issac about 20 times. I’ve won the last few, but he’s had some good results too. We get along fine off the court, but on the court we are competitive. I was really happy the way I played in December,” Stoupe reflected.

Stoupe was named Tennis New Zealand Junior Male Player of the Year and is currently the number one ranked under-18 player in the country. On the ITF tour he has fashioned a 44-19 win/loss record in singles and 51-18 in doubles.

“I played terribly. I didn’t strike the ball at all well,” Trae Innes complains when reflecting on his performance at the Super 8 tennis tournament in Papamoa this week.

Despite the personal frustration of Innes, Hamilton Boys’ High School managed to win the Super 8 title for the first time since 2012 earning a place at Nationals later in the month.

The humble Innes was quick to praise his teammates.

“I’ve been to four Super 8 tournaments and this one felt the best. It was really competitive and our team played awesome,” he acclaims.

The Super 8 tournament is contested over six matches (four singles and two doubles) per tie. The format is the same at Nationals.

The Hamilton team was: Innes, Anton Shepp, Liam Barry, Jordan Taylor and a reserve.

Hamilton defeated Palmerston North Boys’ High School and Tauranga Boys’ College B in pool play before eliminating Napier Boys’ High School 4-2 in the semi-final.

The final was contested on a hardcourt against the top Tauranga Boys’ College outfit. 

Tauranga boasts two players ranked inside the top ten nationally in their age group.

Shepp is Hamilton’s highest ranked player, standing sixth in the National U16 age group. Sheep was vital in Hamilton’s success.

“Anton is a great baseline player. He hits the ball hard and has a big serve. We got up 3-1 and managed to win on a countback. A lot of that was due to Anton,” Innes stresses.

Taylor only dropped one match all week despite being seeded third in the Hamilton team.

“The countback goes on who wins the most sets then games. It was close. Our goal was to make Nationals and we did that by winning Super 8 so we are delighted,” Innes says.

Innes competes regionally for Waikato. He describes his own game as being “baseline driven.” He started playing competitively when he was eight following encouragement from a tennis coach who observed Innes playing casually and was impressed with his superior ability.

Innes is a Year 13. In the winter he plays rugby as a halfback or first-five.

Scots College, Wellington are the defending National champions. The National Secondary School champions are being held at Trust Power Wilding Park, Christchurch from March 19-22.

“Everything has got better,” George Stoupe enthuses when reflecting on his summer of tennis.

The Year 12 student at Hutt International Boys’ School is the top ranked Under-16 player in New Zealand and in January won the National singles and doubles titles in that age group.

“My serve and forehand still needs a lot of work, but everything has got bigger which has given me more confidence,” Stoupe reflects.

In a rematch of the National Under-14 final, played on the same court, Stoupe rallied from losing the first set 4-6 to overcome his doubles partner Chris Zhang 6-2, 6-1.

“It was a close first set.  A couple of the big points went his way and suddenly the set was gone. I played real solid tennis in the next two sets. I mixed things up more and was able to out rally Chris,” Stoupe explains.

Less than an hour later Stoupe and Zhang had to combine in the doubles final.

“That wasn’t ideal, but Chris and I are good mates. He took his loss well and we managed to beat a younger pair in straight sets which was a great result.”

Stoupe has boosted his singles world ranking to 400, despite limited international competition. Stoupe has competed in three ITF tournaments in Wellington, Christchurch and lastly Auckland. ITF tournaments are graded 1-5 with a Grade 1 tournament being the highest ranked tournament. Grade 3 is the highest ranked event played in New Zealand. Stoupe was twice a semi-finalist in Grade 3 tournaments.
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“My goal is to get enough points to compete in the junior Grand Slams next year. That will allow me to test myself against the best players in the world,” Stoupe reveals.

Stoupe more than tested New Zealand’s top ranked Under-18 player Finn Reynolds at the Under-18 Nationals. Stoupe was up 6-0 and 4-3 against the US based talent before losing in three sets.

“I got a bit nervous because I surprised myself by being so far ahead. When I tightened up and started thinking about the result things went wrong.”

Stoupe will take a short break from competitive play before seeking some international tournaments later in the year.  Stoupe managed to achieve a merit endorsement in his NCEA Level 1 exams, but will seek a recount for excellence given he was only two credits short of that rank.
 
Note: A highlight for George last year was his selection to play for New Zealand at number one in the New Zealand Junior Davis Cup Team that competed in India in April 2017. The team finished 9th out of 16 teams in the Australasia qualifier for the World Group. The top four countries advanced to the World Group. New Zealand lost to eventual champions Japan in pool play.