Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate / Sport

Tennis: Young tennis ace calls all the shots

Northern Advocate
16 Jul, 2013 06:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Morningside tennis ace Daniel Hammond may be Whangarei's most talented 9-year-old.

The pint sized primary school pupil regularly beats Northlanders up to the age of 14, but if you are after his secret, then, sorry, you are out of luck.

Hammond's success is simple in his eyes: "I just try to get every ball back and bounce back to the middle."

One would imagine that, as a 9-year-old, taking on someone up to five years older than you would be a scary task.

No way, not to this young star.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The only difference he sees when playing someone older is they tend to hit the ball slightly harder, which isn't really a worry to Hammond who also consistently comes either first or second in his school cross country.

Hammond has recently returned from a trip to Australia with coach Pete Stenberg where he won an armful of trophies in the under-10s category and the doubles.

Hammond's mum Ann said that he was always going to excel at whichever sport he chose.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"His hand-eye co-ordination has always been amazing, even when he was just in the lounge catching a ball from us," she said of Hammond who plays football with Whangarei FC.

"He's always played soccer and has grown up on the sideline watching sport, just give him a ball and he can play that sport basically.

"He's just a natural sportsperson, which is annoying to some people but he just loves it."

Ann said watching her boy transform on court was always an interesting feeling.

Discover more

Tennis: Teen takes a shot at US

06 Aug 05:00 PM

"When he was playing the top seed in Aussie it got intense, it's probably the most intense game I've seen out of him, he was playing his hardest."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sport

Woodman-Wickliffe breaks try-scoring record in Black Ferns win

31 Aug 05:48 PM
Northern Advocate

Taniwha triumph over Magpies in dramatic NPC clash

31 Aug 01:27 AM
Premium
Northern Advocate

Why climate change will see top NZ golf course close for two months

22 Aug 03:31 AM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Woodman-Wickliffe breaks try-scoring record in Black Ferns win
Sport

Woodman-Wickliffe breaks try-scoring record in Black Ferns win

The wing became the first NZ player to score 50 test tries, while young stars shone.

31 Aug 05:48 PM
Taniwha triumph over Magpies in dramatic NPC clash
Northern Advocate

Taniwha triumph over Magpies in dramatic NPC clash

31 Aug 01:27 AM
Premium
Premium
Why climate change will see top NZ golf course close for two months
Northern Advocate

Why climate change will see top NZ golf course close for two months

22 Aug 03:31 AM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP