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Qualification Achieved, Bring On The
Main Draw, says Vucic
Ilijia Vucic became the first Monte
Carlo Tennis Academy (MCTA) player
to qualify for the main draw of a
junior Grand Slam tournament on
Sunday, and then set his sights on
‘doing some damage’ in the main draw
of the Australian Open.
 Ilija
overcame a rain-affected day on
Saturday to exact revenge on
Croatia’s Dennis Zmak, the current
World junior No.76, who had beaten
him in the Optus Nottinghill
International a week earlier. Ilija
beat Zmak 6-4, 6-2, and then
dispatched World junior No.114
Andrzej Kapas of Poland in a 7-5,
6-7, 7-5 marathon to earn his place
in the main draw which starts on
Monday. Both players were ranked
more than 50 places above the No.166
ranked Ilija.
“I am so happy,” said Ilija,
afterwards.
“It’s really exciting to be here and
I’m really happy to be at least a
small part of this tournament. I
have been working really hard for
this and I do not want to stop now.”
For MCTA coach Antony Hampson,
Ilija’s qualification was the reward
for all the hard work put in by the
academy in recent months.
“It was incredibly satisfying to see
him win today, and now we hope he
can do some damage in the main
draw,” said Hampson.
“This is what this year is all about
for Ilija – to see him play at this
level, to get into main draws at
Grand Slams. I really want to see
him relax now and have a real crack
at some of the main draw players.”
And Antony was happy with the way
that the 16-year-old Vucic had
handled difficult circumstances to
prevail.
“It’s been difficult conditions –
either really hot weather, rain, or
wind, and the way he dealt with the
circumstances and a difficult match
today, was fantastic. It’s something
that all of us at the Academy are
over the moon with. At the end of
last year we all, as an academy,
worked very hard, and Ilija improved
a lot. He didn’t have the best of
starts to this trip, he’s still
growing so it’s been tough, but he’s
dug deep and this means a lot to the
Academy.”
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