Louis Skupien aged 10 from Somerset has just won the 10U Winter National Tour in Cambridge. On his route to the final, Louis overcame Travis Ireland from Suffolk in the first round. In the quarter finals Louis overcame a talented left-hander from Oxfordshire, Connor Ferguson. He then had to face the No.1 seed from Dorset, Toby Samuel but pushed through with some amazing power tennis to take the closely fought match in the tie-break.
The final was contested between Louis and the No. 2 seed Barney Fitzpatrick from Yorkshire. It was an exciting battle of two talented hard hitters. It culminated in a championship tie-break with Louis moving ahead to 8-4 and Barney coming back to level the score at 9-9. Louis re-focused his efforts to take the championship at 11-9 with an incredible display of shot making and attacking tactics.
The final point was a nail-biter with Louis playing powerful angled shots and finally earning a shorter ball which he put away to earn the title. His celebrations were worthy of a Grand Slam Final! Andy Murray won the 12U National Championships and so Louis is very proud to follow in his footsteps. Prior to the Nationals, Louis sailed through the Winter Regional Qualifiers without dropping a single game and earning his place in the Nationals.
Louis trains full time at Exeter University Tennis Centre and is coached by his dad and Dominic Stones. Louis’s favourite sessions are strength and conditioning with his physical trainer Alan Pope a.k.a Beef! Louis also enjoys hitting with some great University players.
Louis had a most successful year of tournaments in 2012 winning the Somerset County Closed, the Bristol Open, The Winchester Babolat Open, Cardiff Open, Devon Open at Ivybridge and the Winter Regional Tours at Taunton and Exeter amongst others. He came 3rd in the Summer National Finals but could hardly have started his New Year better than with his latest win!
He is also part of the Aegon sponsored Future Stars Program and regularly attends the National Camps and Talent ID’s in London.