Name: Mark Whitehouse
Age: 21
University: Imperial College London
Studying: Maths
Career Highlights: No.1 in University Tennis Rankings, Semi-finalist at Loughborough Futures event.
With a successful foray into Pro-Series events last year, Mark Whitehouse has been making an impression on the University Tennis scene and the wider tennis circuit. As an athlete on the Talented Athlete Sponsorship Scheme (TASS) scheme he juggles competing and training with studying for a degree in maths. We caught up with him to talk about the support he receives from TASS, his season so far and the team atmosphere of University Tennis.
How has your season been going?
The last two or three months I haven’t been competing as much as it’s been the University term, but I’ve played a couple of the futures and did quite well in Loughborough where I reached the semi-finals. I had a slight injury in Bath the following week where I sprained my ankle but fortunately was ready and able to play in the BNP Paribas University Tennis Masters which was a great trip and a really important learning experience.
How important was the result in Loughborough?
In Loughborough it was a pro-series event so I picked up some world ranking points and I’m now ranked inside the world’s top 1,100 players. It’s really important to have a world ranking as it means I’ll be seeded in some of the qualifying competitions for pro-series events which means hopefully I can avoid the more dangerous players and get through the main draws more often.
You’re a TASS (Talented athlete Sponsorship Scheme), how does that support help?
TASS has been incredibly helpful; my TASS accredited centre is St Mary’s University in Twickenham where I regularly see their physio who has been helping me with my ankle rehab. They’ve also provided me with some funding which will enable me to travel to tournaments and compete more often which is very important.
How has TASS helped the University tennis as a whole?
With the help of TASS we’ve been able to create a greater team atmosphere within university tennis, and the funding means that we can travel together to international events and things like that which make a big difference.
What difference does the team atmosphere at events make?
The team atmosphere has been amazing; you’re more involved with the other people’s matches as you really want them to win and vice versa in your matches. They really want you to win and it’s a great feeling to have that support as you don’t often get that when you’re out competing on the tour by yourself.
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