Nine-year-old Lawrence Sun may have been the youngest competitor at the recent Australia Teams Junior Championships but that didn\u2019t stop him clinching a title for the Territory.<\/p>\n
Sun took on older interstate players on his way to taking home not just the Under-12s Championship title, the Junior Singles Tier 2 title and the Junior Doubles Under-18s title on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
Now his dream is to emulate his idol Rafael Nadal and not only compete at the Australian Open but become one of the greatest tennis players of all time.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t the first time the youngster has tasted success this year with his fancy footwork and powerful lobs earning him the Darwin International Tennis Centre under-12s championship.<\/p>\n
For him though when he picked up a racquet three years ago it was about far more than winning titles but getting the chance to play with his brother and biggest supporter Lucas Sun.<\/p>\n
Lawrence won his first competition the same year and has cheered on his older brother, who also attends Haileybury Rendall School, as he won his own slew of titles.<\/p>\n
His words of wisdom for his success far outweigh his young years as he preaches discipline and consistent 10-hour training weeks with a private coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of discipline, avoid injuries and eat good, healthy food,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do get nervous before I play against people who are older than me and have higher rankings, but I stay calm and focus on the next point.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother helps me by training with me and giving me a good challenge when I play against him. I wouldn\u2019t be where I am without his support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucas, 11, picked up the racquet when he was seven as a new challenge to try out a fun new challenge and now competes at the Darwin International Centre.<\/p>\n
This year he won at the 2026 Season 1 Territory Premier and Junior Leagues. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother and I push ourselves to the limit while training,\u201d says Lucas. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy idol is Jannik Sinner because he is calm on court and is one of the youngest people in the world to become number one.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Lawrence he aspires to be like Nadal, a left hander with plenty of grand slam wins to his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s my idol because he is left-handed, won a lot of Grand Slams and has a good temper,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy dream is to become the greatest tennis player of all time. I do want to compete in the Australian Open one day, too.\u201d <\/p>\n
Next stop on the tennis circuit for Lawrence is the U10 Nationals Championship in October. <\/p>\n
He also has aspirations to represent the NT at the Super 10s Australian Open National Camp in Melbourne in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine-year-old Lawrence Sun may have been the youngest competitor at the recent Australia Teams Junior Championships but that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20815,20852,20858,20869,20821,16023,20820,20879,20826,20824,17595,14900,20830,20870,20866,20851,20873,2148,17682,20842,20847,366,4025,20841,20848,20874,20871,20811,20863,20817,20849,16655,20833,20816,20868,20813,14862,20838,1876,5563,219,15683,20839,20695,20844,20875,412,16677,20835,20829,274,20856,20853,20832,20860,5359,20872,20843,20828,20840,20836,20865,341,15735,20846,1364,4082,28,20812,20823,16018,20827,20819,20857,16348,20834,20861,20845,20877,20837,20831,20878,20810,18212,20822,20850,20814,20859,20825,20854,20855,14868,20862,20876,16892,16225,17080,8803,20818,20864,20867],"class_list":["post-55718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-20815","tag-a-fun-new-challenge","tag-a-good-challenge","tag-a-good-temper","tag-a-left-hander","tag-a-lot","tag-a-new-challenge","tag-a-nine-year-old-territory-tennis-prodigy","tag-a-passion","tag-a-private-coach","tag-a-racquet","tag-a-title","tag-all-time","tag-all-time-it","tag-an-ambition","tag-aspirations","tag-biggest-supporter-lucas-sun-lawrence","tag-court","tag-discipline","tag-discipline-and-consistent-10-hour-training-weeks","tag-good","tag-grand-slam","tag-grand-slams","tag-haileybury-rendall-school","tag-healthy-food","tag-higher-rankings","tag-his-brother","tag-his-dream","tag-his-fancy-footwork","tag-his-first-competition","tag-his-idol-rafael-nadal","tag-his-name","tag-his-older-brother","tag-his-own-slew","tag-his-success","tag-his-support","tag-his-way","tag-his-young-years","tag-home","tag-injuries","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-january","tag-junior-leagues","tag-lawrence","tag-lawrence-and-lucas-sun","tag-lucas","tag-melbourne","tag-my-brother","tag-my-dream","tag-my-idol","tag-nadal","tag-national-title-wins","tag-national-titles","tag-next-stop","tag-nine-year-old-lawrence-sun","tag-nt","tag-nt-tennis-prodigy","tag-number-one","tag-october","tag-older-interstate-players","tag-older-rivals","tag-one-day","tag-people","tag-plenty","tag-powerful-lobs","tag-success","tag-sun","tag-tennis","tag-territory-tennis-brothers","tag-the-2026-season-1-territory-premier","tag-the-australian-open","tag-the-chance","tag-the-darwin-international-centre-this-year","tag-the-darwin-international-tennis-centre-under-12s-championship-for","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-gold-coast-now","tag-the-greatest-tennis-player","tag-the-greatest-tennis-players","tag-the-junior-doubles-under-18s-title","tag-the-junior-singles-tier-2-title","tag-the-limit","tag-the-next-point","tag-the-nt","tag-the-racquet","tag-the-recent-australia-teams-junior-championships","tag-the-same-year","tag-the-super-10s-australian-open-national-camp","tag-the-tennis-circuit","tag-the-territory","tag-the-u10-nationals-championship","tag-the-under-12s-championship-title","tag-the-world","tag-the-youngest-competitor","tag-the-youngest-people","tag-the-youngster","tag-this-year","tag-three-years","tag-titles","tag-titles-his-words","tag-training","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}