Madison guns for Australian Open after hitting top 200

Warragul tennis gun Madison Ashley has ranked in the top 200 tennis players in Australia and the top 8 in Victoria for her age after big wins in Open Women’s competition.

The 16-year-old now has big plans to make the Australian Open Junior competition next year.

A series of wins at Williamstown secured her a qualification spot at a Platinum Australian Money Tournament, which is the highest level of competition for tennis athletes outside of APT events.

And at an Australia Day tournament in Rye, Madison narrowly missed the championship after losing in the Open Women’s Singles final.

The year 11 student recently began playing in the Open competitions and has shown she’s more than capable against top level competitors.

“You can come up against any age group so it’s tricky to adapt to the different plays, the older players are more slicey and the younger ones are more competitive, you’ve got to fight for every point,” Madison said.

Juggling school and study requirements at St. Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, Madison’s schedule is jam-packed. She travels to Harkaway Tennis Club five to six times a week for training.

“It’s an hour there and an hour back so it’s a lot of hours and I do strengthening conditioning offside so there’s quite a few hours to put into it.

“I’ve trained for a long time and I’m finally seeing results,” she said.

And when she’s not at Melbourne, Madison is at the local courts training with her Dad. She first started her tennis journey when she was nine years old, watching her sister play at the Warragul Tennis Club.

“I played a lot with my sister because I didn’t like watching from the sidelines, I just wanted to be out there myself.

“I just started hitting with her and got better and better because she was older and hit better and harder, so she improved me a lot,” Madison said.

Quickly making her way through divisions, Madison now hopes to play at the Australian Open Junior competition and has even bigger goals beyond that.

“Long term goals would be on tour, playing Grand Slams, and travelling the world really,” she said.