Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athlete Luke Saville has achieved a career best: finishing runner-up in the junior boys’ final of the Australian Open grand slam, after a gallant loss of 6–0 6–3 to the Czech Republic’s Jiří Veselý on 30 January.

The 17-year-old Saville put up a good fight, taking the lead 3–1 in the second set but, under increasing pressure, had his serve broken twice by Veselý who went on to claim the junior boys’ singles title in straight sets. Saville had 26 errors to 19, and five double faults to one in the match It was still a superb journey for the unseeded Saville: winning three consecutive matches against higher ranked junior players — including seeded number two Dominic Thiem from Austria, Serbia’s Nikola Milojevic (13) and Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena (6) — on his way to the junior boys’ final.

He also has also made a remarkable comeback from a neck injury, which had sidelined him for several months.

‘It was actually a good experience,’ Saville said. ‘I have to try and cherish that kind of experience and take it away with me and build on it. Unfortunately it wasn't the right score line from my end, but it was a great experience.

‘[I'm going to] try and build on this because I made the final last week and I can't forget it's been a pretty good start to the year. Two finals and I've played a lot of good matches.

‘[It's] not the best way to finish a tournament but I think there's a lot of positive things to come out of the last couple of weeks.’

Luke Saville holds a scholarship with the AIS Pro Tour Program. A key aim of the program is to support the training and development of Australia’s best young tennis talent in making the transition to elite competition.

The AIS Tennis program, in partnership with Tennis Australia, supports the development of talented athletes by providing access to leading coaching and sport science expertise and world-class training facilities, including clay courts modelled on the French Open surface.