FOR Nicolas Tremblay, Wednesday’s hot weather would have made him believe he hadn’t left Darwin for Warrnambool’s beachside lawn tennis tournament.
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The last two days however, have not been the same for the 12-year-old, whose mother is originally from Warrnambool.
For Tremblay, the idea of seeing his mother’s hometown enticed him to travel to the south-west for the Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Club’s Junior and AMT Open.
“This is my first year coming down to Warrnambool,” he said.
“I wanted to come down here and have a go at the tournament and because mum was originally from here, I wanted to see where she grew up.
“We have been staying at mum’s friends place the last few days, and we had Christmas with her family.
“It has been really good for her and also me.”
The rising star, who idolises Swiss legend Roger Federer, has been playing for eight years.
“I started at these tennis squads on Saturday mornings for fitness,” he said.
“I then began to like it, so I kept going back and then it just became something I really enjoyed.”
Tremblay has had a successful start to the junior main draw. Ranked as the third seed he has had two very different matches.
His first match was a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 win over Baxter Errey, while his second round win was a close encounter against Hanival Kahsay which concluded 7-6(5), 7-5. “I have been playing pretty well,” he said.
“My serving has been on and off, but other areas of my game are allowing me to win games.”
Tremblay is focusing round by round and trying not to get ahead of himself, but said he is confident in his game.