Koroit's Max Phillips to compete in December Showdown tennis event

The 15-year-old Koroit native, who trains at Warrnambool's Supergrasse Tennis Complex, won the Tea Tree Gully junior signature 500 series tournament on October 12.

The win qualified him for the iconic December Showdown at Melbourne Park, where he will face the country's best in the 16 and under Australian Junior Tour Masters event from December 11-16.

"I've been dreaming about it ever since I was eight years old," Phillips told The Standard of playing in the December Showdown.

"It's every Aussie junior tennis player's dream to play in it. Because it's such a select few, just the top-24 who've had the best year. It's a really, really great event."

The Emmanuel College year 10 student defeated number-one seed Jacquyn Colalancia 6-2 6-1 in the final of the Tea Tree Gully event to clinch the crown.

He described the feeling as "awesome" and now turns his focus to the December Showdown which he will increase his training load for.

"Right now going into it I'm seeded 14^th. If I could go top-10 I'd be really happy with that," he said.

Phillips has trained at Supergrasse Tennis since he was seven when he had his first lesson.

The entire time he has trained under coach Joe Hakimi, who he said had "helped me so much".

The teenager sees his relentlessness on court and volleying as strengths of his game.

"I can get to a lot of shots which I think puts a lot of opponents off, knowing that they have to hit the ball a lot harder than normal to get anything past me," he said.

"Then probably also my coming into the net, volleys, that's probably another big skill of mine."

Looking ahead, Phillips has high ambitions for his tennis career and hopes to make it to a stage where he can earn a living off it.

In the meantime, he has made a significant decision to help increase his his chances of achieving that goal.

"I'm actually changing schools next year because I got a sports scholarship at Caulfield Grammar," he said.

"I'm going to go up there and I'm going to be boarding there next year, so that's really going to help with time management and everything.

"It'll be a shame to leave here because I know that Joe's the best coach possible, so it's a shame that I have to leave but it's just what needs to be done."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: