Lisa Newman has reason to smile after being named the Grade One Pennant female player of the year after her undefeated season.
By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills tennis revelation Lisa Newman capped off an unbelievable season in Victorian Grade One Pennant by being presented with the section’s female player of the year award at the Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club recently.
Newman, 20, was unbeaten in singles and doubles competition during the home and away season for Caulfield Recreation Tennis Club, and lost her first match in either form in the pennant finals in August, when she and partner Melissa Douglas fell to their Dingley opposition in their doubles encounter.
On the same day, the talented youngster racked up her seventh singles’ triumph of the season, but unfortunately it was not enough to take her team to victory, and Caulfield Recreation was bundled out in the semi-finals.
It did not spoil an otherwise unforgettable season.
“It was probably the best tennis that I’ve played,” Newman said. “I felt pretty honoured – it’s a pretty prestigious award. I sort of knew (that I was going to receive it), because I hadn’t been beaten.
“Another girl had done pretty well as well, though, so I wasn’t sure. It was a little bit of a surprise.”
The accolades have kept on coming since, with news Newman will be stepping up to the pinnacle of pennant competition next season – State Grade.
“It’s been my biggest goal (to reach State Grade), so it’s pretty exciting to finally get there,” she said. “It’ll be good to see how I’ll go against those girls – I’ve looked up to them.”
The move means switching clubs to Royal South Yarra, and getting on the court for more practice time.
“It will be challenging. The competition will be very tough up there,” Newman said. “I’ll probably have to hit a little bit more often than I do at the moment, and I’ll need to improve my consistency and variety.”
Newman first picked up a racquet as a six-year-old at Endeavour Hills Tennis Club, where she is now an assistant coach, and rocketed through the ranks until she was forced to seek loftier heights at another club.
That led her on the path to Caulfield Recreation and her sensational winter of tennis in 2006.
Newman’s achievements are even more noteworthy considering a sickness in 2004 temporarily halted her ascent in the sport.
“I got pretty sick, and I couldn’t play for a whole year. Since then, I’ve enjoyed it more,” she said.
Newman said the doctors termed her illness as postviral fatigue syndrome, which had similar symptoms to chronic fatigue syndrome.
“It took a while to get back in the groove and get my fitness and all that coming together. Probably last year it all started coming back,” she said.
Sporting a dominant serve and killer forehand, Newman credits experience and enjoyment for her improvement.
“I’ve always enjoyed it. It was probably just gradually getting more mature on the court, (and having) more experience,” she said.
“I had a couple of older people in my team that gave me a few pointers here and there and helped me out.”
Unlike most tennis players with her competence, Newman limits her tournament schedule to the odd country competition.
“Now that I’m at university, I have different priorities,” the Bachelor of Food Science and Nutrition student at Deakin University Burwood said. “I’ve just finished my first year. I love it; it’s really good. You can apply it to daily life, and it’s good learning about different foods.
“I’d like to hopefully become a dietician.”
Despite Newman’s competitive nature and skills on the court, she has a different inspiration for continuing to strike groundstrokes.
“There is always the challenge there; I like competition,” she said. “But it’s probably the social thing. You meet so many different people, and make such good friends.”
