Loughborough teenager Ahmed El Menshawy is fast approaching his goal of becoming the 50th-best junior tennis player in the world.
The 17-year-old, who started to play tennis at Charnwood Tennis Club at the age of seven, has worked his way up the world rankings to reach No.97 after a run of successes.
"My goal is now to make it into the top 50 of the world under-18s by April, which I am quite close to because the points gap isn't that big to the top 50," said El Menshawy. "That would allow me direct acceptance into the main draw of the rest of the grand slams this year (French Open, Wimbledon and US Open)."
Having been selected to train at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, he is now based in the High Performance Centre in Gosling, Welwyn Garden City. Coach Joe Morris, who has been working with El Menshawy for six months, feels he has a real chance of making it. "I clicked with Ahmed straight away and have enjoyed the challenge of working on his game. We have been concentrating on his second serve and improving his forehand. "I really believe if he became more confident he has a real chance of making it to the top levels."
For Ahmed the next few months will be critical. He said: "I've got tournaments in Mexico and Venezuela and then I have to decide if I want to push for the top 10, as that will allow me wild cards for the men's events in 2010 or, following Wimbledon, to concentrate on making the transition to the men's game," said El Menshawy.
Jill Lloyd, from Charnwood TC, spotted El Menshawy as a seven-year-old. She said: "I knew as soon as I saw him hit a ball that he had great athletic ability and ball sense."
El Menshawy is currently looking for sponsors to help him with the costs of training and travelling to tournaments.
(Courtesy of Leicester Mercury)