Google News
Starting in 2010, the Newcombe Medal awards have been presented to the most accomplished Australian players, coaches and other tennis workers from the particular season. Alex de Minaur had won the Junior Athlete of the Year award in 2017 and he went on to make a breakthrough run in the season behind us, finishing just outside the Top 30 and as the second-youngest player in the Top 100 behind Denis Shapovalov. This year's male Junior Athlete of the Year award has been presented to the 17-year-old Rinky Hijikata who has been the most prominent Australian junior at different age groups in the last five years, standing as the 14th best junior in the world after reaching the final in singles and winning the title in doubles at the Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Championships event a few weeks ago.
Sydney native has won the doubles silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires together with Adrian Andreev and he is the only Australian player in the Top 60 if the ITF junior ranking, certainly not the brightest fact for one of the biggest tennis nations.
Rinky has won one Futures match so far and he will try to play more frequently on the Pro Tour in 2019. Just like in 2017, an 18-year-old Destanee Aiava has won the female Junior Athlete of the Year award after another solid season on the WTA Tour, losing ground compared to what she achieved in the previous season but still holding the place in the Top 250 as the sixth-best player born in 2000 after Dayana Yastremska, Claire Liu, Bianca Andreescu, Kaja Juvan and Katarina Zavatska. Destanee had a chance to play in Brisbane and at the Australian Open, reaching three ITF finals and winning the title in Osaka.
After playing in the title match in Cairns in September, Aiava has won just five matches until the end of the season and she will try to bounce back in 2019 and find the old form that had kept her on the course for the place in the Top 100.