SOUTH Mandurah Tennis Club players Rachel Mellor and Haruka Smythe will come up against the best junior tennis players in the country when they take part in the Bruce Cup.
A School Sport championship, the Bruce Cup sees the best 12-year-old boys and girls represent their state or territory as part of a team and individually in a week long competition.
This year’s event will be held in Darwin from August 16-24.
Mellor and Smythe, both friends at Frederick Irwin Anglican School said they are both excited and nervous about the championship.
Mellor, ranked second in the Western Australia in her age group, gained automatic selection into the competition due to her ranking.
“The top two in the state automatically get picked so I didn’t have to go to the trials,” Mellor said.
“It’s my first Bruce Cup, I don’t know what to expect.”
Smythe had to go the long way to earn her spot in the seven girls selected in the team.
“I was a bit nervous but just had fun at the tryouts,” she said.
“It’s very exciting.”
Smythe said she took up tennis two and a half years ago because her older sister wanted to play.
“We both came down and started playing,” she said.
The players said they expected Queensland to be the hardest competition at the Bruce Cup.
“They have a lot more experience,” Mellor said.
Mellor said the Queensland players compete in tournaments every weekend compared to WA players who only have tournaments in the school holidays.
Smythe said she would just give it her best go.
The players’ coach Lesley Hunt said players who had gone on to win Wimbledon had played their representative matches for their state in the Bruce Cup.
“The fact that these girls are going from the same club, a very small club, is fantastic,” she said.