Rising North Wales tennis player Cai Llwyd Jones has been reflecting on the part he played at one of the world’s most prestigious tennis events.
Cai, aged 12, from Rhiwlas, near Bangor, was the youngest ever to be selected as a ‘ball kid’ for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London.
Cai has played tennis since the age of four and has attended Wrexham Tennis Academy at the North Wales Regional Tennis Centre since he was six. He is coached as a High Performance Player by head coach Dan Sanders.
He came through a rigorous selection process, involving 1,100 youngsters nationwide to make the final 30, and then attended a six-day training camp in Southampton.
At the finals themselves, the ball kids’ days started at 9:45 am, when they left the hotel, and finished at 11pm when they returned – a long working day for someone so young, but Cai loved every moment of it.
“When you get to the O2, you realise how huge it is,” he said. “When you first run on court you’re really nervous thinking about all the people watching you. But by the end of the week, you get used to it - it was amazing I loved it. The time on court went too quickly and I just wanted to get back on. I loved being on court seeing my favourite tennis players close up.”
Cai' s duties also involved working in the Fanzone, helping children and adults try their ball kid skills, and during his shift Cai got to show the South African rugby team what it takes to become a ball kid.
Cai said all players were friendly, and off-court he got to talk to Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djocovic and Stan Wawrinka.
Following his win, Cai had congratulated Federer - "Well done, you played well tonight". Federer returned the compliment and told Cai that he was a very good ball kid and that he'd done a great job too.
Cai was on court during the third set of the Wawrinka-Federer semi-final, and was quite scared at times because the 17,000 crowd were very excited and it was quite intimidating.
But he had more reason to be scared during the Raonic-Federer match. After ducking to avoid several Raonic serves, he was hit by one on his shoulder at 135 mph. Off court the shoulder was iced, but Cai was very proud of his "Raonic first serve bruise".
Cai said: "This has been the best thing I have ever done. I've made some really good friends, I just wish I could do it again next year. I wouldn't change a thing about my time at the O2, but I wish Nadal could have made it, I would have liked to see him play and meet him. I would recommend it to anyone, it was awesome. I have to be 16 years old to be a line judge I can't wait."
Cai is already an accomplished player at county and regional level, and he won the Welsh Junior Championships U9s in 2012. He has represented North Wales in the County Cup and has travelled with Tennis Wales to competitions and training camps.
His aim is to pursue a career in the sport and to play like his heroes in the O2 and at Wimbledon. He says this experience has made him more determined than ever to fulfil his dreams of becoming the greatest tennis player.
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