Simmons wins state championships

Ipswich Grammar School student Ryan Simmons shows his winning style at this week’s Prince Ipswich Futures tournament at Leichhardt.

Rob Williams

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ONE of Ipswich’s most promising young male tennis players won the recent Queensland State Age Championships in Rockhampton.

Ryan Simmons defeated his doubles partner Robert Stirling in the under-16 final of the biggest juniors event in the state last week.

Simmons had lost to Stirling in each of their three previous duels. But the Brassall junior comprehensively defeated his good friend 9-3 in the one set match to claim the state title.

“It’s probably the biggest win of my career so far,” Ryan said.

Ryan, 15, dominated the hard-court match from the back of the court, regularly hitting the ball too deep for his opponent to send back with any force.

“I was just trying to hit the ball as deep as I could,” Ryan said.

“I’ve been trying to come to the net a lot more lately actually as I tend to just stay on the baseline.

“It’s something I have to continue to work on.”

Ryan said he had no reservations playing an opponent who is a good friend.

“He knows my game and what I’m going to do but I didn’t really think too much about,” Ryan said. “It was just good to beat him for the first time.”

Ryan was seeded eight coming into the tournament and had to beat several higher-ranked opponents.

The talented teen has been playing in the Ipswich Futures junior tournament at George Alder courts this week.

He will then play an open age tournament in Warwick as he searches for better competition.

Ryan’s father Glen said because most of the major national tournaments are held outside south-east Queensland, it was difficult for his son to consistently enter them.

“It costs a lot of money to send him away to those events but there are some bigger tournaments he will enter next year that will be the next step for him,” Glen said.

Ryan is also performing well for Ipswich Grammar School (IGS) in the Greater Public Schools (GPS) competition.

IGS has not won a GPS tennis tournament in decades but are a legitimate chance this year, being undefeated after five rounds.

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