When Luka Vukovic won all his singles matches at the recent B.C. AAA high school tennis championships, many of his school teammates had no idea just how good the first-year bantam boy is.
But that is likely to change, and probably sooner than later, after the Grade 8 Moscrop Secondary student returns from the under-14 World junior tennis championships in Prostejov, Czech Republic in August.
Earlier, Vukovic helped Canada qualify for the junior worlds in second place behind the United States following a three-set victory over American Adam Neff in a singles match at the North/Central and Caribbean qualifying tournament in Boca Raton, Florida in May.
Vukovic preferred to keep his international successes to himself.
“You don’t want to be different,” he said, “just the same.”
But to the experienced eye, the Burnaby prodigy has been garnering a lot of notice and international opportunities to improve his game.
Earlier in the year, Vukovic travelled with Tennis Canada and current high performance coach Vadim Korkh to Eastern Europe, where he made a run to the semifinals, losing to the top seed Timofey Skatov of Russia 7-5, 6-1 at the Christmas Cup in Khimki, Russia in January.
A week later at the Narva Cup in Estonia, Vukovic took the singles title with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 win in the final over eighth-ranked Roni Mikael of Finland.
After returning home to Canada, Vukovic decided to train with the Russian-born Korkh at Elite Tennis Academy in Richmond.
“From the first time I saw (Vukovic), he’s my player, my style,” said Korkh, who is the high performance coach at Elite under director of tennis Dal Gill. “He’s open to learn new stuff – all-court game – right now he can do it.
“He likes to work, likes to learn and really quick. He has big potential if his training is done in the right way. His natural instincts to understand the game are very good.”
For Vukovic, who spends half his training time at the Richmond Oval and the other half at the national training centre on the North Shore, it’s all about getting better and better.
“You have to train a lot to see the benefit, and some people say they just don’t want to do it anymore,” said Vukovic.
But the 6-0 Burnaby 14-year-old is not one of those people.
“I love competing the most. I like training a lot, but mostly competing,” he said.
Last year, on the Tennis Europe junior circuit in Israel, Vukovic qualified in an u-16 division before dropping a close match to the eventual champion.
By the end of 2014, Vukovic was ready to take on some of the best in the world, making it to the fourth round of the Orange Bowl tournament at the University of Miami – one of the world’s biggest junior competitions.
“Yeah, people were telling me, ‘You got it, you’re talented.’ It gave me chances to travel and play outside and inside the country. That’s when I mostly improved my game,” he said.
“I’m an aggressive player, for sure. I’m bigger than most people my age. My forehand is my weapon, my serve, too.”
But Vukovic also likes to come to the net, has a solid, two-handed backhand and a few other tricks in his arsenal.
At a recent under-18 tournament at the Hollyburn Country Club, Vukovic made a good run to the finals.
In a week’s time, Vukovic is off again to play in Europe in three top category junior tournaments in Paris and later in the Netherlands before returning home and preparing for the worlds and Davis Cup juniors from Aug. 3 to 8 in the Czech Republic.
“He might be the future of Canadian tennis,” said Korkh, who more than a decade ago accurately predicted the success of a then 12-year-old Vasek Pospisil back in 2003. “(Vukovic) is really, really good. He’s a natural tennis player.”
