It is with great pleasure that we introduce our Men’s Premier League team for season 2016. Our team is made up of a variety of player; current ATP professionals, retired former professionals, and up & coming juniors.
The season kicks off on Friday the 18th of November with a night match (start time 6.30pm) at Dingley Tennis Club. Our team will have a tough start against the reigning premiers Grace Park Hawthorn. The five-match home and away season will continue the same weekend with a match up against Dingley TC in Ballarat on Sunday the 2oth.
A reminder that the club will be hosting a Super Round on Sunday December the 4th when all Men’s and Women’s matches will be at the club. Will give you more information as the date gets closer.
The match format is two doubles matches and four singles matches, thus 4 to 6 players generally play each match. Due to many of the players having tournament commitments, we have a large squad to choose from. These include the below;
2016 MCC Glen Iris Valley Men’s Premier League Team
Blake Mott
Blake started to play tennis when he was six and says his parents and coaches have had the greatest influence on his career to date. He was born in Thirroul, New South Wales, and is currently 20 years of age. His world ranking has reached a high of 335 on the ATP tour and is currently coached by Peter Luczak. He had a great junior career holding National titles and representing Australia at the World Junior Championships and Junior Davis Cup. It is great to have Blake as part of the MCC Glen Iris Valley Premier League team for 2016. You can view his Tennis Australia Profile Here
Blake Mott
Matt Reid
Matt Reid will make his debut for the MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club this Friday night in the men’s Premier League competition. The 26 year year old has moved his world doubles ranking more than 100 places in 2016 to currently sit number 78 on the ATP tour. While mainly focusing on doubles in the second half of 2016, Matt is still a formidable singles player with a career high ranking of 183 in 2014.
Matt has been a regular in the Australian Davis Cup team as a hitting partner and is well respected team member. It will be great to have him part of our Men’s Premier League team for this season and seasons to come.
Matt Reid
Aaron Addison
Aaron started tennis at the age of six and grew up in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He is currently ranked around 950 in the world for both singles and doubles after turning professional in 2015. His favorite surface is Hard Court and has competed in world ranking events in Thailand, China, Portugal, Greece and various places around Australia in 2016.
Aaron Addison
Lucas Vuradin
Lucas is currently one of Australia’s up and coming juniors with an Australian ranking of 63 at age 17. He competed in last year’s Australian Open Junior event and is currently making the transition to the ITF – ATP men’s tour. In 2016 Lucas has competed in a handful of Pro Tour events as he looks to transition into professional ranks.
Lucas Vuradin
Paul Kramberger
Paul, aged 27, is currently ranked 64 in Australia and has been a regular on the Pro Tour circuit here in Australia. Paul has held a world ranking in both singles and doubles after first achieving this in 2012. This will be Paul’s first season at the club but has been a regular player at our AMT Event in January each year.
Paul Kramberger
Peter Luczak
Pete is probably the highest profile player in our 2016 Men’s team after representing Australia in the Davis Cup and achieving a career high world ranking of 64. During his playing career Peter progressed to the 3rd round of the Australia Open twice (2003 and 2006) and achieve a top 100 doubles ranking in 2010.
Before turning professional Peter attended Fresno State University in the USA. During his time at Fresno, he set a record for the most career singles wins. He went 27–0 in senior season at Fresno State before being upset in first round of NCAA Tournament.
Now Peter is coaching under the Tennis Australia umbrella working with some of Australia’s best players, including our number one player Blake Mott.
Peter Luczak
Jo Sirianni
Jo has had a long and distinguished tennis career which has seen his rise to a career high of 138 in the world in 2008. During his time on tour he competed in every Grand Slam event and was a constant during the Australian Open summer of tennis.
Since retiring from international tennis Jo has stayed in tennis playing team tennis in Europe, coaching on the WTA tour and now working with Australian Davis Cup player Sam Groth.
Jo has a wealth of tennis experience and it will be great to have him as part of our club and also give our junior players the opportunity to learn first hand what it takes to be a professional player
Jo Sirianni
Daniel Ferretti (Captain)
The skipper for 2016, Daniel is another player who has achieved a world ranking in both singles and doubles on the ATP tour. Unfortunately, injury cut his tour career short, but it is great to see him still on the court competing at the highest club tennis level.
Daniel Ferretti
Chase Ferguson
Chase is one of our junior players starting to make the transition into senior ranks. He is a past National junior champion and is currently ranked 74 in Australia. Throughout his early years Chase trained at MCC Glen Iris with Head Coach Kane Dewhurst and attended St. Kevin’s College. Now Chase is working hard on his game with Pete Lumsden at Discovery Tennis.
Chase was selected to represent Australia in the Longines Rising Star challenge at the French Open as a12-year-oldd. You can view the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0saq-JBaIqY
Chase Ferguson
Michael Shepheard
Michael has made great advances in his game over the past few years since relocating to Melbourne from Darwin. He is currently ranked 106 in Australia, which is number 1 in Victoria for his birth year. Michael is another of our junior players who has won a National title and is currently being coached by Ryan Palfrey at Vida Tennis Essendon. His recent results on making the finals of an ITF junior event in New Zealand will see his ranking move into the top 100 in Australia.
Michael with coach Ryan Palfrey who will also play as an emergency
Stefan Skadarka
Stefan achieved his first ATP singles point in 2016 at age 17 and is currently ranked 112 in Australia. He has a great junior career and is currently making the transition to senior ranks being supported by coach Marc Sophoulis. The talented left hander is yet another junior player we are happy to have in our team for this year and years to come.
Stefan Skadarka
Michael Logarzo
Michael was instrumental in developing the MCC Premier League teams before the Glen Iris Valley TC / MCC Tennis Section merger. Michael is a former professional player with a career high doubles ranking of 250. He had a highly decorated junior career winning multiple National titles and representing Australia a number of time. Michael also grew up playing in the Waverley & District Tennis Association and training in junior squads with Peter Luczak.
Now Michael works with a number of talented junior and senior players including Zoe Hives from our women’s team.
Michael Logarzo
Chanchai Sookton – Eng
Chanchai, aged 20, has been an MCC player right through his junior days and is currently ranked 157 in Australia. He is currently transitioning onto the Pro Tour and has a world doubles ranking of 1300.
Chanchai Sookton-Eng
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