For Australian tennis champion Judy Dalton, the success of Zoe Hives so far at the Australian Open is more than a matter of national pride.
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The president of the Fed Cup Foundation and lifetime advocate for the rights of women in tennis says it’s an exciting and gratifying time for Hives. The 22-year-old right-hander from Kingston won her first Grand Slam main card match on Monday, defeating the United States player Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Dalton says the foundation has supported Ms Hives for the past two years, and she was a guest at their breakfast on Tuesday morning.
“The foundation has established a scholarship, and we helped Zoe with a small amount last year – I think it was $5000 – and we’re helping again this year,” says the nine-time Grand Slam champion.
“It’s made a lot of difference; it means her coach Michael (Logarzo) can travel to a lot more tournaments with her, and that’s certainly helping her.”
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Dalton has fond memories of playing pennant tennis in Ballarat with Hives’s mother Jan, and says Monday’s win would be a ‘huge step’ for the player.
The win brings Hives $105,000, and Dalton says that prize money will give her the flexibility to choose the tournaments she would like to play in.
“She will have support, and that’s huge, because it’s very difficult for her to travel by herself and do things, which she did a bit last year and golly, it’s not easy.”
In terms of her style and physique, Dalton says Hives reminds her of the Belgian champion Justine Henin, who finished as world No 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
“For somebody who is a smaller build by comparison to some of the girls, she does a really good job; she’s a hard worker and it’s never easy.”
Dalton was one of the ‘Original Nine’ female tennis players who broke away from the official tennis circuits in 1970, protesting the lack of parity between women and men’s prize money in tennis tournaments.
She was inducted into Tennis Australia’s Hall of Fame during the Australian Open in 2013, having played alongside and against some of the greatest tennis champions of the 60s and 70s, including Billie Jean King and Margaret Court.
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