Louis Laville and Molly O’Donoghue made a flying visit to the English Nationals last weekend – jetting in from Australia for a quick pit stop, where they both did the double.
And now they return Down Under – where they’ll be spending Christmas.
“It’s going to be 30 degrees and sunny on a beach versus 3 degrees and raining,” Louis points out. “And I’m playing quite a few tournaments before the end of the year. We’ve got a few around Australia and then I’m off to America for 10 days to play out there.”
At the Nationals, Louis partnered Josh Bright to gold in the men’s doubles, Molly partnered Thaddea Lock to gold in the women’s doubles – and then they won the mixed doubles together.
Of Josh, Louis says: “His rise towards the top has been absolutely phenomenal. I mean, he was MVP in the final. He was absolutely amazing all day, but in the final [James Chaudry and Ben Cawston] he was ridiculous – I played well, but he played absolutely ridiculously well.”
And of their mixed doubles triumph, he says it was a tough challenge against Thaddea and Ben.
“Thaddea and Ben came out really, really hot, and Molly and I didn’t, and we found ourselves very quickly a set and 7-1 down, and I think a set and 8-2 down.
“Then we called a time-out, and Molly said to me, ‘I don’t want a time-out.’
“After that timeout, Molly turned into Annaleigh Waters and just didn’t miss the ball for the next set, and we came through the second set from 8-2 down to win it 11-9.
“When we went 7-6 up in the third set, it was the first time in the entire match we were up, and then from there on in, we were actually pretty disciplined, forcing them to play really good balls to win any sort of point.
“We’re buzzing to have won the mixed doubles and for both Molly and I to have won the double crown this weekend, it means a lot.”
