In-form Wanganui tennis ace Kyle Butters will be rubbing shoulders with some of the world's most talented up-and-comers in Australia over the next few weeks.
The 16-year-old Kiwi national under-18 singles champion has been chosen for the New Zealand men's team to compete in the Australian Tennis League tournament atMelbourne Park where he will be up against senior Davis Cup players.
His Wanganui-based father, David, said these players failed to qualify for the Australian Open, so his son was expecting extremely strong competition and was looking forward to the experience.
"He also has the Australian Junior Open to play, which features about 60 of the best under-18s in the world. It's a grand slam tournament that runs at the same time at the Aussie open," Butters senior said.
"The beauty of that is he's still only 16, so has another year in that grade. As a warm-up to that, Kyle will play a grade 1 ITF (International Federation) match next week. Those two fixtures have ITF rating points up for grabs, while the ATL tournament is prize money only, although if he wants to go to university next year he can't accept money.
"This is awesome, he's up against players from all over, including the Pacific Islands, China, Japan and up to four teams from Australia."
Meanwhile, fellow Wanganui Tennis Club members Emma Hayman and Karen Cranston also step up to the big time.
Former Wanganui women's singles champion Cranston will play for New Zealand at a veterans' tournament in Australia before packing to travel to the World Masters competition in Florida in April.
