Australia’s Ethan Domingo and Siyeon Sim of Korea, among 16 elite juniors from 11 countries participating, claimed AO Asia-Pacific Elite 14/u trophies.
Melbourne, Australia, 24 January 2025 | Sean A’Hearn
Australian Ethan Domingo and Korea’s Siyeon Sim were crowned the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Elite 14/U champions on Friday at Melbourne Park.
Staged by Tennis Australia in association with the Asian Tennis Federation and the Oceania Tennis Federation, this is the fourth instalment of the tournament. It sees 16 elite juniors from 11 countries participating at the event.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for the players to see themselves on the big stage here in Melbourne playing with officials, ballkids and serve clocks, with their names on big scoreboards – some of those things for the first time,” said tournament director David Boyes.
“It’s an almost identical experience to our AO junior players, and given what we have seen this week, I am sure it will not be long until we see these amazing players back again.”
In congratulating the winners, Boyes was not only impressed with the high level of tennis but the manner in which they participated.
“All our players conducted themselves very well and I saw plenty of friendships being forged,” he said.
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tim Watts was again on hand to present the winners with their trophies.
“We are happy to support the program, not only for the individual careers of these fine young athletes but also for the development of the tournament across the Asia-Pacific,” Watts said.
Domingo was impressive throughout the tournament, only dropping one set en route to the title.
With dreams of becoming world No.1 and winning Grand Slam titles, there is no shortage of ambition for the 14-year-old.
Domingo has credited Rafael Nadal’s ‘fighting spirit’ with inspiring his own game and hopes to continue pushing himself to keep improving for the rest of the year.
Like Domingo, Sim had a similarly dominant run to the title, only dropping one set along the way.
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