Taylah Preston with her coach Brad Dyer. Photo: Martin Kennealey
Camera IconTaylah Preston with her coach Brad Dyer. Photo: Martin Kennealey Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Hocking girl acing her way to Europe for tennis tournaments

Tyler BrownWanneroo Times

TAYLAH Preston is currently acing it on European courts.

The 12-year-old Hocking resident is taking part in a series of tournaments as a part of the Tennis Australia 13-and-under European tour.

She has joined a small group of the best players in the country to contest the Bavarian Junior Open in Augsburg, Germany, the Bludenz European Junior Open in Austria and the ETC Cup in Budapest, Hungary.

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She said she was “really excited” for the tour.

“I think it will be a great opportunity to play different players and see the standard over there,” she said.

Preston started playing tennis at the age of four after taking part in a multi-sport program and realising she enjoyed tennis.

At the age of six she was playing Hot Shots tournaments and by seven, she was taking part in junior tournaments.

She now trains two to three hours a day, five to six days a week at Next Step Tennis Academy at Greenwood Tennis Club, with private lessons from coach Brad Dyer in the mornings and squad training in the afternoons.

“I love the competing and matches side of it,” she said.

She said it wasn’t really a hard decision to leave school to support her training because she was interested in distance education before she started.

“I would love to be able to go on the Women’s Tennis Association pro tour and win a grand slam and be number 1 in the world,” she said.