An “extremely dedicated” young Cambuslang Tennis Club player hopes to take her first steps towards a career in the sport, by representing Tennis Scotland in the Road to Wimbledon tournament.
Olivia McGuire, 13, is expected to progress from the group stages into the ladies’ singles main draw, and faced Jessica Gear in a Group K match yesterday afternoon.
The teenager comfortably defeated Lizzy Burrows and Mia Tinsley in round-robin matches on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
That doesn’t come as a surprise to Cambuslang coach Sohail Shah, who revealed just how dedicated Olivia is.
Sohail said: “Olivia is in the Road to Wimbledon and it looks like she’s going to qualify through the group stages.
“She’s very good; Olivia was in the national programme when she was under-12s and was top three in Scotland at the time.
“Olivia has now just gone into the 14s, but she’s a very talented player.
“She’s extremely dedicated, trains seven days a week, travels up the length and breadth of the country, travels to England quite a lot, so she’s very committed and wants to go full-time.
“She’s the kind of girl who lives and breathes tennis; she goes to school and she plays tennis, that’s it! To succeed in tennis you have to be all-in, and she certainly is.
“She’s a nice girl, from a good family, and she’s very dedicated to take it up professionally – but obviously that remains to be seen.”
Olivia trains with Sohail at Cambuslang, but plays matches for Giffnock Tennis Club, because they can offer her a bigger platform.
Sohail explained: “I’ve been coaching Olivia here for about three or four years.
“She’s been doing the one-to-one coaching with me, she’s group coaching and representing Giffnock Tennis Club as well, because they have stronger junior teams, who compete at a higher level, which is what she needs.
“There’s no point in me keeping her playing for ladies’ teams in a really low league.
“So even though she’s a Cambuslang player, she also plays for Giffnock at the moment. If we were a bigger club, or played in a higher league she wouldn’t have to go to Giffnock.
“She won her first two rounds in the group stages, and hopefully she qualifies for the main draw.”
The Road to Wimbledon is an under-14 tournament which sees 9000 girls and boys from 650 clubs, parks and schools compete in the hope of qualifying for the national finals later this month.
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