STAFF REPORTS
Local tennis sensation, 9-year-old Sydney Colleen, has been working hard and playing hard for two years in USTA tournaments.
She started playing tennis three years ago in pee-wee classes and, when she turned seven, she got a little more serious.
Colleen played in the girls 10-year-old division and won many USTA tournaments despite playing against girls sometimes two years her senior. Then, at only eight years old, she won first place in her first-ever age-12 division tournament and became a Champ division player.
That was an unexpected but huge accomplishment. Over the past several months, Colleen has been training hard and playing in tournaments, trying to earn enough points to make it to the next division.
During this time she won two consolation brackets and made it to the semifinals in the main draw once. But she still needed to win three consecutive matches in a tournament to reach the girls 12 Super Champ division.
This past weekend, Colleen participated in a USTA Georgetown CMZ tournament in the girls 12 Champ division. She needed to make it to the finals to achieve her goal.
It was a challenge for her because her opponents were usually 11 and 12-year-old girls who are bigger and have been playing tennis and competing much longer. But that didn’t seem to slow down Colleen, despite playing a grueling three-set second match, she won the three matches needed and advanced to the finals in Georgetown.
She will now be competing in the USTA Super Champ girls 12 division. We look for great things in the future from Colleen, who is currently ranked No. 6 in Texas and No. 43 nationally for fourth-grade girls.
