When Harrison Lombe (ON2012) started playing tennis for Newington in 2003, he had little idea the sport would one day take him around the world.

Currently at the Australian Open with his entourage of ATP Junior players, Americans Dominick Mosejczuk, 18, Maximus Dussault, 17 and Matisse Farzan, 17, Harrison says Newington was the baseline starting point for his love affair with competitive tennis.

‘I am a K to 12 lifer and first played at Newington in Years 5 and 6 at Wyvern. By the time I got to Year 7 I think I must have been fairly decent, and I certainly loved playing.’

Selected for the 1sts from Year 7 and joint Captain of 1sts in Year 12, Harrison also represented Newington in NSW and Australian school boy teams. In 2012 he helped lead Newington 1st to GPS victory after a 19-year tennis championship drought. The 2nds were also Premiers that year. Harrison and fellow 1st player James Palmer – who was the other Captain of Tennis and remains a friend to this day, went on to be included in Newington’s all-time Tennis Dream Team. The dynamic duo was selected to commemorate 150 years of Black and White sporting achievements.

‘Being back on centre court really felt like I was coming full circle from the days when I was playing for Newington 13 years ago. It was a pretty special moment’

‘From memory it was raining that day so there were a couple of rain delays, but we played Kings for the championship win so that victory was pretty sweet,’ he recalls,

Today, Harrison is a professional coach headquartered in Barcelona, where for the past six years, he has worked with Btt Tennis Academy. He is currently back in his home country with US players Mosejczuk, Dussault and Farzan, who are all playing singles and doubles at the Australian Open Juniors. Last year Harrison coached Rafael Jodar from Spain who won 2024 US Open Juniors in September. He also coached Rebeka Masarova who reached a career high ranking of 60 in the world on the WTA tour.

‘Back when I was at Newington, the biggest things for me were being with your friends but also competing as a team where it is not just about yourself but about everyone else’s success too. They were happy days for sure.’

Recently, in the weeks before the Australian Open in Melbourne, Harrison returned to Newington with the professional players he coaches in tow to train.

‘I got in touch with Newington and asked if they would mind if my young guys did some training here and they said no worries which was really great.’

‘Being back on centre court really felt like I was coming full circle from the days when I was playing for Newington 13 years ago. It was a pretty special moment’

Another Australian tennis figure, player Alexie Popyrin ranked 24th in the world, also has an association with Newington having attended Lindfield prep for several years. Popyrin lost his first round AO match against Frenchman Coretin Moutet after struggling with injury. Newington has a robust Tennis program with 51 teams in the senior school comprising 185 students while in the prep schools there are more than 65 students involved in tennis from Year 3 to Year 6. Presently, Newington 1sts are leading the GPS competition ladder with the 2nds narrowly running in second place. You can read more about Newington’s sports program here.