Looking back on a career filled with grand slam appearances and years spent on the road as a tennis professional, Jessica Moore loves getting back to the grassroots of the sport.
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Moore hosted a series of masterclass sessions at the Fosterville Gold Tennis Centre, providing an insight into her journey from amateur to a professional player as well as teaching participants on-court skills.
Moore grew up in Williams in Western Australia, a small town south-west of Perth where her earliest memories of tennis were playing at the local club with her brother.
“That’s what you do when you live in the country, it’s all about sport,” Moore said.
Moore has experience playing at all four tennis grand slams (Wimbledon, Australian, US and French Opens) with a career high rank of 132 (singles) and 67 (doubles).
Amidst a busy schedule in the lead-up to the Australian Open, Moore found time to come to Bendigo to work with tennis juniors.
“As a player it feels good to be able to give back,” Moore said.
“I love coming out to country communities to work with kids and give them the opportunity to learn about the sport.”
Bendigo is a place where Moore has played at numerous times at ITF sanctioned Pro Tour events and other tournaments.
Moore held two masterclasses one for intermediate age players (11-13) and the second for advanced players (14-18).
“The morning sessions with the younger kids focused on teaching them about rally situations on the court,” Moore said.
“It’s all about making them aware of where they should be hitting the ball on the court during rallies.
During the session Moore also discussed the different strategies which must be applied when playing doubles and the importance of just getting out there and having some fun.
Tennis Australia club professional coach Stephen Storer said participants enjoyed Moore’s discussion around her journey to becoming a professional player.
“For the children to listen to Jess about her experience playing at grand slams, it’s really inspiring,” Storer said.
“They learnt from Jess that it’s a very long road and it takes a lot of commitment to make it as a professional tennis player.”
Storer said the masterclass helped engage junior players within tennis “and ensured people continued to participate in the sport to improve their playing ability”.
Moore finished the 2018 season at 69 in the doubles world ranking with fellow Australian Adamczak.
The pair’s most recent win was at the Guangzhou Open in China where they defeated Danka Kovinić and Vera Lapko.
“It was a really good year for me and hopefully we can consolidate that and stay within the top 70,” Moore said.
The pair are currently preparing to play in the first grand slam of 2019, the Australian Open which starts in mid-January.
“It’s my favourite tournament of the year because we get to play in front of family and friends,” Moore said.
“We travel around the world for most of the year and it’s really nice to come home and have the support from the Australian crowd.”
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