From studying Carlos Alcaraz, to working on court with Alex de Minaur, 14-year-old Ethan Domingo is implementing those lessons as he works towards his own professional tennis goals.
In our series profiling Australia’s most promising junior players, we caught up with Domingo at the Australian Teams Championships in June and learned about his inspirations, what it’s like to represent his state, his biggest achievements so far, and how he’s honing his game.
Tennis.com.au: So firstly, how did you get into tennis?
Ethan Domingo: My dad used to play, so he took me down to the local club and I just started doing some red ball lessons and I just fell in love with the sport and I just kept playing after that.
How much of an inspiration has your dad been for you?
He's helped me a lot through my tennis journey and he's always trying to push me to get better and stuff.
Who's your favourite player?
My favourite player right now is Carlos Alcaraz. He's just so inspiring with his work ethic at such a young age and how much he's achieving right now.
Is it something that you try to implement in your own game?
Oh, yeah. I do try to do some of his things in his game, that I try to put in my game to make myself better.
What does it mean to be selected for New South Wales for a tournament like this and represent your state, playing in a team environment?
I'm honoured to be selected for NSW and play for my state, and it's a really good team environment to play this event with everyone.
How does this tournament sort of help your game? Like what sort of lessons do you learn from playing it?
With having a coach on the side so you can… like, if I'm struggling in the match, he can tell me some things and I'll just figure it out the way I go and it will help me a lot.
What do you enjoy about tennis?
I enjoy just competing with my peers and just loving the game and just enjoying it.
You've got a fair few achievements under your belt. If you had to pick your favourite one, what would it be?
I'd say winning the end-of-year Masters and I was selected for an Alex de Minaur scholarship and I was able to go overseas with Alex and spend time with him on the clay and just develop my game more.
Talk us through that experience – what did it mean to you to go from there and what did you learn through the De Minaur Tour and being able to spend time with Alex?
I just learned how, like, disciplined Alex was and how I can put that [lesson into practice]. When I train, like, a hundred per cent in every training session, [even] if I'm not feeling well, and I can just put in a hundred per cent, and every day I'll just keep getting better.
What's the best piece of advice that you've received on the court?
I'd say: Don't let today's session make tomorrow's tennis day bad.
And what's your long-term tennis goal?
It's to become world No.1 and win a Grand Slam.