BY JEORGE, HE’S DONE IT: Jeorge Collins wins Australian Foundation Cup

Collins, who was competing in team featuring three other regional tennis players, competed in the tournament, held at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, from January 14 to 17. 

And he was lucky to be competing in the tournament, after suffering an injury at a pre-tournament on the border of NSW and Victoria.

“He got injured during a tournament at Albury and Wodonga in the lead up to the Foundation Cup,” Jeorge’s father Martin explained.

“He could barely hold a racquet before the tournament, but the nurse did a great job to strap him up.”

Collins and his teammates – Vitorio Sardinha of Gunnedah, Ella Brown of Thurgoona and Amelia Johnson of Banora Point – won the tournament by topping a group featuring teams from Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

Each team was required to play three matches in each tie, a boys singles, a girl singles and a mixed doubles match.

In the NSW team, the players who missed out on playing a singles match would feature in the mixed doubles.

In all of the six matches that Collins played in, he won every single one of them. 

Collins said the tournament was a great experience.

“I haven’t seen much of the other players, being all regional ones. Most of the highest level ones are based in the capital cities, but you do get good players from the country,” he said.

“Some of the Northern Territory players I knew, because their players were mainly from Darwin.

“It was a great experience.” 

He said he was surprised to find out he was named the winner of the John Fitzgerald Award (the boys’ best and fairest award).

“I thought it would’ve been my teammate,” he said.

“He was also undefeated and he wasn’t carrying an injury like me.” 

The Australian Foundation Cup gave children aged 13 and under from across rural and regional Australia the opportunity to participate in competitive tennis at the highest level.

Collins’ victory in July’s NSW Junior Country Championships at Forster paved the way for his selection in the Foundation Cup side.

Collins’ recent tournaments include the Tennis World Canberra Junior Open and NSW State Championships Gold JT in October, as well as featuring in Bathurst High School’s Astley Cup team in 2018. 

He started playing tennis for about nine years ago, not long after watching one his favourite players – Roger Federer – during the Australian Open. 

Now 13-years-old, he’s been playing tennis for seven years now. 

Originally from the Northern Beaches, he moved to Bathurst when he was nine-years-old and that’s when he started competitive tennis.