World Number 1 doubles player Storm Hunter on her early years at Rockingham Tennis Club ahead of United Cup

The world’s number one ranked women’s doubles tennis player Storm Hunter will come home to Rockingham next week as she prepares for the United Cup, coming full circle with a visit to the local club where she honed her craft. An Olympian and Grand Slam champion, Hunter achieved a career-high doubles ranking of world number one with her doubles partner, Belgian player Elise Mertens, on November 6. Hunter is just the third Australian woman to hold the top spot and the first since 2007. Speaking exclusively to the Sound Telegraph, Hunter — who is now based in Melbourne when she isn’t on tour — said she was looking forward to coming home after a busy year and taking part in her first United Cup. “For me that’s always been a dream, like even when I was playing at Rockingham Tennis Club, every January we’d go up to watch the Hopman Cup,” Hunter said. “This is my first time ever playing in Perth representing Australia and obviously as doubles world number one, it’s very, very special. “And I’m just super excited to play in front of my family and hopefully some of the kids from Rockingham Tennis Club will come up and watch, which will be really nice.” The 29-year-old tennis star was born in Rockhampton, Queensland and moved to Rockingham with her family at the age of six when her father joined the Navy and was posted to Garden Island. Her family settled in Secret Harbour and Hunter attended Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School and Kolbe Catholic College. The move came soon after the young Hunter, then Storm Sanders, took up tennis and she and her brother joined the Rockingham Tennis Club where she continued her lessons. Hunter trained at the club until she was about 11 and said it was where she developed a love for the sport and provided her family support when her dad would be posted away on ships for work for long stretches. “I only have fun memories and happy memories from my time at Rockingham Tennis Club and I think obviously, at such a young age, you don’t know if you’re ever going to make it,” Hunter said. “You have these dreams but you have to enjoy the tennis and that’s what I did at Rockingham.” Verne Klein coached at the club for 32 years and along with his son Jeremy coached Hunter in her early years. Mr Klein said Hunter showed a lot of promise and developed her talent for playing doubles while at the club. “She had really, really good technique,” he said. “And she wasn’t afraid of being up on the net, because a lot of the kids used to get a bit intimidated when they’re on the net and getting the ball hit hard to them, but she was always right up on the net. “She had very supportive parents that were right behind her and they were supportive of the coaching and got behind everything.” Mr Klein said Hunter’s achievements since her time in Rockingham were “absolutely fantastic” and have “really put WA on the map”. She has since gone on to have a successful career, winning her first professional tournament in 2013 and reaching the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles competition at the Tokyo Olympics with Ash Barty as her partner. This year has been a success, making it to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final and rising to world number two in doubles in September 2023, before achieving world number one in November. Hunter will build on this going into the United Cup in Perth at the end of the month, with expectations high but Hunter said the highest expectations would be those she puts on herself. “I think having that expectation, that pressure, is only natural,” Hunter said. “I’m feeling really good, I’m feeling super happy. I know I play my best when I’m happy and relaxed, and just loving playing and competing, so I know I’m in a really good space now. “I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and celebrate the world number one but obviously, when we get to the United Cup, it’s business as usual and back to work. “I think I like that pressure, I kind of thrive in that environment. I just really want to do everyone proud and I know, win or lose, I’m going to compete really well and try to inspire and motivate the next generation of tennis players from WA.” Hunter will team up with fellow West Aussie Matt Ebden, who is currently ranked number 4 in the world for doubles, promising stiff competition for the Cup’s mixed doubles games. “He’s had an amazing year, so we’re both coming in in good form,” she said. “It’s really exciting for me and him to kind of unite together for the United Cup. I feel like it’s the WA locals taking on the world really. “It will be really fun, really special and we’ll get some practice in when I come over this week and get ready.” Hunter said the Australian team — also featuring Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic — will be aiming for the finals in Sydney. “We have a pretty tough group,” she said. “It’s definitely not going to be easy (playing) with the US and Great Britain, but I think we definitely can win. “I think Demon’s (de Minaur) not going to go down without a fight and obviously Matt and I, with our experience in doubles, hopefully we can use that to our advantage.” Following the United Cup, Hunter will head back to Melbourne for the qualifying stages of the Australian Open. Hunter will come home to WA this week and continue her pre-season training before taking a break to spend Christmas with her family in Secret Harbour, then getting back into training ahead of the United Cup, which kicks off in Perth from December 29 to January 7. With a busy training schedule ahead of her at the State Tennis Centre in Burswood, Hunter said other than hoping to spend one afternoon on Rottnest Island, she is unlikely to see much more of her home State during her visit, but she isn’t complaining. “I don’t think we will, hopefully we don’t get a chance, because that means we’re winning,” she said. “That’s kind of the trade-off, I guess. “But honestly, just being home with my family, going to the local beach at Secret Harbour, getting coffees, and just being at home, going around Rockingham catching up with friends — that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.” Hunter will make time to come back to her home club on December 18 to meet the junior players. Arriving straight from training at 4.15pm, Hunter will play social tennis with the club’s youngsters, before holding a Q&A and ending the night with a barbeque, in an event that she hopes will ignite the passion of the next generation of tennis stars. “You never know who you might inspire, there might be the next superstar waiting at Rockingham Tennis Club,” she said. “I want to give back and give them the opportunity to kind of see that it is possible, it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can make it, you can be the best in the world at whatever you want to do.”