EIGHT-year-old Lara Walker was having a ball when she won this year's Rod Laver Queensland Junior Championship under 10 title.
EIGHT-year-old Lara Walker was having a ball when she won this year's Rod Laver Queensland Junior Championship under 10 title.
EIGHT-year-old Lara Walker was having a ball when she won this year's Rod Laver Queensland Junior Championship under 10 title.
Now, the pint-sized tennis ace is a smash hit at her Redland Bay tennis club, where she is looking forward to competing against kids twice her age.
The Rod Laver tournament, played at the Tennyson tennis courts during the June-July school holidays, is Queensland's largest junior event and this year attracted more than 600 competitors.
Lara, a Year 2 student at Calvary Christian College, was able to win the tournament despite being the youngest competitor and about two years younger than most of the other players.
After winning the final match, a defiant Lara came off the court and said she was ready to start training for next year's tournament.
Coach Frayne Bloor, from Redland Bay Tennis Club, said Lara had to play seven matches to win the tournament.
"This means she is the best player in Queensland aged under 10, even though she is only just eight," Frayne said.
"She's definitely a couple of years ahead of her time."
The competition was tough, with teams travelling from Hong Kong, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne.
For eight days, Lara battled it out on court in preliminary matches at Wavell Heights before winning a spot in the finals, which were played at Tennyson.
Winning the prize was the culmination of three years of practice with Frayne.
Lara plays in the pro-set competition, the highest level at the Redland Bay Tennis Club, where she pits her skills against boys and girls aged up to 17.
Dad Danny Walker said Lara started tennis when she was five, when her high level of coordination skills was first noted.
"She had amazing coordination even when she was two and was catching tennis balls from a great distance and throwing and catching Frisbees," he said.
"We thought tennis was perfect for a little girl who loved sport and was really capable and she has a ball."
The Rod Laver tournament is one of 12 competitions Lara has won in the past two years.