Such was her incredible SA
dominance, Louise Stacey lost just two matches from 1987-2002 and was ranked No.1 in SA for the entire period of 15 years.
In January 1983 in the nation’s capital, in the same tournament that the favourite, Todd Woodbridge lost the boys Australian Under-12 tennis championships, Louise Stacey won the National Under-12 girls singles.
It was the upset of the tournament.
In the few days before the final, she’d been coached by ACT Coaching Director, Rob Kilderry, and she said afterwards that without his coaching and playing instructions she would not have won the final.
This says a lot about Loise Stacey’s hunger and coachability – and of course of her potential.
Just four years later, the South Australian became the youngest person to ever win an Australian Open Hardcourt singles title. It was a victory against a much more established player.
Her performance was described this way in the Sydney newspapers: “The 15-year-old fought back courageously after the losing the first set 0-6 to fellow South Australian Jane Morro, winning the second set 7-6 and finishing the match 6-2 in the third set.”
To come from 0-6 down in the first set of a national final to win the match and the title revealed her sheer tenacity.
She joined the International Tennis Federation tour in 1987, playing singles and doubles and winning tournaments in the US, UK, Germany, NZ and Australia, mostly on hard courts.
She played in all four Grand Slams including five Australian Opens and of the Wimbledon experience, she said, “Wimbledon was special. To tennis players, it is what Olympic Games are to most people”.
That year she achieved her highest world singles ranking of 222 and in doubles a world ranking of 113. Throughout, she was sharing the court with greats such as Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati.
Such was her SA dominance, she lost just two matches from 1987-2002 and was ranked No.1 in SA for the entire period of 15 years.
After taking up the head coaching role of the junior program of her Western Youth Club in 1993, her senior professional career ended in 1994.
Louise Stacey has been inducted into the Tennis SA Legends Club and has since moved to Queensland to establish a tennis coaching school.
