Flame-haired Mackenzie in red hot form as juniors enter Aussie fray
It was just after 1pm and with the temperature reading 34 degrees on the opening day of the Australian Open Junior Championships when Germany’s Jamie Mackenzie completed his straight-sets first-round win over Michael Kaouk of France.
Shade was very much at a premium out on Court No. 8 with no stands or structures of any sort to cast a welcoming shadow over the players in the 6-3 6-4 workout. (A little over an hour later, play was suspended on all outside courts due to the excessive temperatures.)
But Mackenzie, a flame-haired 18-year-old, who played without a hat for all of the match’s 92 minutes, was the epitome of cool and happy to chat immediately after coming off court.
The first revelation is his fluent English. Jamie represents Germany but his family are from New Zealand. He moved to Dusseldorf aged 12 to further his professional tennis career, and the heat is not proving a barrier in any way.
“I've come from Traralgon (the AO warm-up tournament east of Melbourne) and it was it was raining pretty much every day," he said. "It was windy, you’re wearing long stuff.
“And today was really the first hot day and I definitely feel it as ‘a ginger’. I feel it a little more than some of the others. But I'm happy with the preparation, I did really well to do everything to compete in the heat today.”
Mackenzie speaks in glowing terms about the quality of junior tennis in Germany.
“German junior tennis, it's probably the best in the world,” he added.
“You've got Justin Engel, who is 19 later this year and is playing and competing at the Grand Slams already. And Max Schoenhaus ended 2025 at No. 2 in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys' rankings, reached a Junior Grand Slam final and won the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu.
“I feel like it's a great environment, we’re pushing each other. You have Justin at the top and he's chasing Alexander Zverev and then everyone's chasing each other a little bit.”
While Mackenzie has a solid weight of shot on both sides, his serve was frequently north of 200 kmph against Kaouk. Hitting the big ones brings satisfaction.
“I definitely rely on it a lot, it’s definitely my one-two punch," he said. "And if I can consistently do that, and with the way I play, I feel like I can do some really big damage here.”
The strength of German tennis comes with the willingness of many of its top players to mix in across the board. World No. 3 Zverev is particularly noticeable in this context.
"I have hit with him once or twice, he's a great guy," added Mackenzie. "It's really great to learn a lot of things he does so well.
"You definitely see a different picture at the end of the court. You're used to, sometimes in juniors, guys who are still in puberty, they're still growing.
“And then you have a fully-grown man on the other side, who’s two metres tall and he’s moving better than everyone. That’s why he's No. 3 in the world.”
And Mackenzie’s mentorship is not limited to just countrymen. The 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem has, albeit vicariously, played a sizeable part in the youngster’s development.
“I really looked up to Dominic," he said. "I liked the intensity that he played with him and the physical aspect of it, that every point was really just wearing the other guy out. So I tried to base my game a little bit off him.”
Tennis has always been in McKenzie’s blood, his father Justin coached at the West End Tennis Club in Auckland and was a development coach for New Zealand tennis.
“And he coached (world number 27) Cam Norrie for a little bit,” Jamie threw in.
There are three other Mackenzie siblings and although none of them play tennis, his sister Annie, who lives in Melbourne. was courtside to watch his first-round victory.
He is yet to hit on Rod Laver Arena but is very aware the junior singles final is typically played there on the final Saturday.
As Jamie left our chat to have his photo taken within Tennis Australia’s media team, I asked him about his red tennis racquet.
The racquet weighs 298 grams and in a month or so, when he has time, he and his team will look at increasing the mass by another 10 grams or so he said. Just to hit harder.
Juniors, watch out.
A full list of results from the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships is available here.