A 13-year-old tennis player has gone viral on Tik Tok after creating challenges and posting them online.
His upbeat videos featuring challenges, activities, and tennis around the house caught the attention of everyone from local tennis clubs to Wimbledon.
Sebastian Griffiths, 13, from Neath, trains at Whitchurch Tennis Club. He created over 100 daily challenge videos with the help of his five-year-old brother.
One of his videos shared across Wimbledon’s social channels - and quickly went viral.
Seb said: "I decided to put it on Tik Tok because they have different sounds on there for the videos so I thought it would be a good app to use.
"My family and friends really enjoyed it, they all gave me really good comments.
"It felt great to do different challenges. My mum would put the washing line up and feed me the balls but when I went to the court it felt great, it felt like I never listened.
"The court down the road from me has recently been renovated and I can't wait to get out there now."
He has been awarded Young Person of the Year at the Tennis Wales Awards.
His mum, Melissa Davies, head coach at Whitchurch tennis club, said: "The 100 day challenge was great, he would do dry volleys around the house, using the washing line and entertaining people online.
"He was playing outside and flicked the ball through his legs and said it would be a great tennis challenge. We came up with different challenges and decided to post them online and they were getting recognised.
"The ideas were mainly his and we entertained ourselves because we weren't able to go to the actual court. We pushed ourselves every day and Seb thoroughly enjoyed them."
Melissa said the family were considering stopping but were receiving so many messages of encouragement they decided to carry on.
She added: "We thought we'd stop but people were commenting to say they couldn't wait till our next challenge! So we decided to carry it on.
"It was a laugh and a bit of a buzz as everyone was being entertained so we thought we would carry it on."
Rhiwbina and Mackintosh Tennis Club also won awards, meaning a triple award win for Cardiff.
Simon Johnson, Tennis Wales CEO, said: “2020 was an extraordinary year, but the brilliant people who work with Tennis Wales across the country have helped keep the sport open and accessible even in tough times.
“The Tennis Wales Awards are a great way to recognise these incredible contributions, and we’re so pleased to be awarding Sebastian Griffiths, Rhiwbina Tennis Club, and Mackintosh Tennis Club’s Coaching Team for their commitment to keeping the community involved in tennis. We hope the Awards help to demonstrate that tennis really is for everyone, and that clubs across Wales are always going to welcome players old and new.
