The journey started two years ago when I was in Year 10 and headed out to Kenya with one of the coaches (Matt) to try and pick up my first ITF points. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I definitely wasn’t expecting a man to run on every few games to re-paint the lines! It was difficult travelling all that way and managing to miss out on qualifying by one place although I luckily sneaked into the doubles. Crucially my partner and I managed to win our first two matches and as a result I’d achieved the goal for the trip and would be heading back to school with an ITF ranking. Unfortunately a bout of food poisoning meant we had to pull out but the junior ranking meant I could start scheduling ITF events outside of term time.

Balancing schoolwork with the tennis can be difficult; it doesn’t leave much down time but I understood it was going to take sacrifices to reach my goals. If I leave during term-time the school is great in supporting me with teachers making sure I have the correct work to complete while I’m away. When I come back they are also at hand to help me catch up if need be and are always supportive. They make sure I’m keeping on top of schoolwork and looking out for my results.

I was fortunate to travel to some amazing places on my ITF journey such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Fiji and California. All together I managed to pick up three singles and five doubles titles.  The coaches at Millfield were always pushing me to get better as they understand the level it takes to be a top junior and pro player.

The Junior Wimbledon experience is one that I will never forget. Getting chauffeured to Wimbledon underground was very cool. Coming up the stairs into Aorangi with all the fans watching. But the best part was obviously getting to compete on the grass courts. My opening match was played on court 10 against the world number 42 and I had nothing to lose. It was an incredible feeling having a lot of people watching including my family and friends. To win was even better (7-6 7-6) which was the biggest ranking upset in the boy’s event and my highest ever scalp in the juniors. In the second round I was on the wrong end of the result but it was again a great experience playing against a top five junior who’s previously been ranked at number 1 in the world U18.

Now I’ve achieved my main goal from the last couple of years I will be focussing on the transition into the men’s game and looking to play some futures events in the next few months.

Luke Hammond