Young tennis star a real all-rounder

YOUNG AND TALENTED: Daniel Hammond is Whangarei's own tennis champ. The 10-year-old won the championship title in his age group at the 2014 North Island Primary/Intermediate School Tennis Finals. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Morningside Primary has their own tennis star and he may be the best for his age in the North Island.

The small but talented Daniel Hammond recently won the 2014 North Island Primary/Intermediate School Boys Year 6 and under final.

Daniel, 10, has been playing tennis since he was five and he's not unfamiliar with winning tournaments. His mum Anne Hammond said there were too many to count.

"He usually plays against people older than him but he won the local competition and then the regionals and then that's when he won the North Islands - they don't have a national competition for his age group," she said.

Yesterday Morningside Primary School held a special prizegiving for Daniel because when the school holds their end of year prizegiving next Friday Daniel will be playing tennis in the Waikato Christmas Junior Open.

The talented young sportsman attributed much of his success on the court to his parents' help.

"I feel really lucky," he said. "My parents put so much money into getting me to everything."

His said his secret to success was a combination of hard work and strategy.

"I practise four to five times a week for about an hour and a half. When I play I look where to hit it and try to find out what my opponent's weakness is and hit it as hard as you can."

Daniel said his long term plan was to become one of the top 50 tennis players in the world.

Coach Wendy Sykes presented Daniel with his trophies and said she was "very proud" of him.

"He's worked very hard," she said.

"He's spent lots and lots and lots of hours on the court already at a very young age and we never have to make him get on the court, he's doing what he loves as far as I can tell."

He received his trophy for winning the North Island finals and another trophy for winning the Year 7/8 Northland boys singles champs - where he won against boys that were one or two years older than him.

But sport wasn't the only thing Daniel succeeded in. He was also presented with an award from the Sir Peter Blake Foundation for leadership and the Scott Baker Memorial Award for academic achievement.