Summer Success For Stoupe

Photo Credit: Jannene Meyer (TopSpin Pix)

George Stoupe from Hutt International Boys’ School secured the Number One ranking in Under-14 boys tennis in late 2015. He has strengthened that status over a busy summer.


Stoupe has made two trips to Australia and except for Xmas and Boxing Day has been training or playing the rest of the time.

The Under-14 Nationals were held at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland in January. Stoupe was the top seed, but almost relinquished that standing in the semi-finals against Jamie Garbett. Stoupe recalls what happened.

“I started every match slowly. I think the pressure of Nationals made me nervous. I lost the first set to Jamie 1-6 and was down 3-5, 15-40 in the second. I was a bit lucky to recover and win.”

Earlier Stoupe had dropped a set in earning a difficult victory over his doubles partner and fellow HIBS student William Brownlie. Stoup admits it’s tough playing singles against his close friend.

“We both play a similar style. We like to be aggressive and mix things up at the net. That’s why we made a good team in doubles.”

Stoupe and Brownlie won the doubles title for a third consecutive year beating the Canterbury pair of Garbett and Reece Falck in the final.

In the singles decider Chris Zhang would prove to be fierce opposition. The boys are close friends and the conditions would have a major bearing on the match, Stoupe explains.

“It was really windy which made serving and controlling ground strokes hard. We both started slowly and that made things a bit of a grind. It was hard work, but I was delighted to win.”

Stoupe prevailed 7-6, 7-5 and later added the Under-16  mixed doubles title with Janvhi Clark from Waikato Bays.

Perhaps the highlight and biggest learning experience of the summer for Stoupe was his time in Melbourne. In mid December he competed for New Zealand in the ‘Big December Showdown’ which features 32 leading Australian, Japanese and New Zealand  players. Stoupe with a wildcard finished tenth in the singles and was fifth with the Kiwis in the teams event.

“I was pretty happy with the way I played. I got better as the event went on. The heat was hard to handle. It got up to 35 degrees on some days. The speed of the courts was quicker than any surface I have played on,” Stoupe says.

In January Stoupe returned to Melbourne as a spectator at the Australian Open. He got to watch World Number One Novak Djokovic play.
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Note: Stoupe was a member of the Central team that won the National Teams Event in January. He won all six matches he was involved in.

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