Jamie Mackenzie - the 'Red Rocket' - i action on the tennis court. Photo: Instagram / jamie_mackenzie_tennis
New Zealand-born tennis player Jamie Mackenzie is enjoying a breakout year on the International Tennis Federation Junior tour.
Mackenzie was nicknamed the 'Red Rocket' by his mother after winning a cross country race as a five year old, and the name has certainly proved apt as he has shot up the junior tennis rankings.
Junior 300 level tournament victories at Bamberg and Beijing - where he won both the singles and doubles titles - have seen him rise to #17 in the world.
"I feel very confident in the way I'm playing at the moment, in general the whole year," he says. "I played a really good summer with clay court tournaments and also going into the pros."
Along with winning 33 of his 49 singles matches this year, Mackenzie has also had a first victory on the ATP challenger tour, playing against grown men.
"Now I'm kind of having a little break for like eight weeks. But in those eight weeks, I'm playing two men's tournaments, one being on the 13th of October, that's a men's 15,000. Then after that, I'm playing a challenger in Hamburg, and then I'm going back to the training block again."
Success has not come easily for 17-year-old Mackenzie, and he has had to make some bold decisions.
While he grew up in Auckland, he shifted to Germany five years ago.
"We came over here for a few times from 10, 11, 12, and we saw the level and what it had to be. I was always up there with that level, no matter if I was in New Zealand or in Germany at the time, but we knew that the level of players would just keep getting better.
"And if we really wanted to pursue my dream, it would have to be over here and give myself the best opportunity because in New Zealand you just don't get the opportunities, the tournaments, the exposure that you get to different players, different experiences.
"So you come over here and you test yourself against the best. There's a reason why most of the guys in the top 10 in the world are European."
Mackenzie now lives in Dusseldorf, although he said adjusting to life in Germany was tough.
Along with expected difficulties - like learning a new language - came curveballs, including the Covid pandemic. Mackenzie did not see his mother for two and a half years.
"I wanted to go back home after the first four or five months because I was missing my Mum, also because I was in a German intensive course where that was probably the hardest thing I've done in my life without a doubt.
"You just learn German for five hours a day, and coming from a New Zealand school where you have an hour break and you can play football, you can play rugby, basketball or whatever with your friends and now I'm in a school which is literally, it's kind of like a prison. There's no outdoor space. You have 10 minute break or 15 minute break a day and you're just hammering through German, the same thing over and over.
Mackenzie is now fluent in the language and holds a German passport, meaning he plays under the German flag.
He credits the initial difficulties of moving away from New Zealand as helping him develop extra resilience on the court.
"That was definitely a tough experience. But that made me a lot tougher too, to deal with different things. I think that helps to a mental thing that, you know, okay, I'm losing a tennis match, but it's not as bad as what I've been through, you know, like I can fight back from this."
Mackenzie will be eligible to play junior tournaments for all of next year, before hopefully joining the pro ranks.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
