Lewis Williams is embarking on his dream career.
The reigning under-16 British Open champion is now into his first few weeks as junior club professional at Prested Hall.
He was offered the position after an amazing run of success in the sport – and he freely admits it’s a real labour of love.
“To spend every day in an environment I love is great,” said the 16-year-old.
“Prested Hall is like a second home to me, having spent so much time there, and I can see myself doing this for years.
“There are lots of components that make up the job.
“It includes everything from coaching, arranging matches and cleaning the courts to stringing racquets and ‘making good’ the balls.
“It’ll help make me a better player and, in terms of my own progression, I’ll hopefully learn from other peoples’ mistakes.
“I’ll see what they do wrong and, aside from helping them, will apply things to my own game.
“It’s a new, exciting challenge and another great thing about being a pro is that I won’t have to pay entry fees for tournaments anymore.”
Williams, of High Street, Kelvedon, is certainly well-placed to give advice and tuition.
He started playing when he was ten, having initially attended weekly lawn tennis sessions.
He was then introduced to real tennis and well and truly caught the bug.
“There are so many aspects to it,” said the former pupil at Kelvedon St Marys Primary School and the Honywood School, in Coggeshall.
“It’s more technical than lawn tennis and that makes it a challenge.
“It’s a thinking game, which is appealing.
“Lawn tennis at the top level is very much about power and, while that’s also important in real tennis, there’s more to it than that than just strength.
“It’s certainly something I’d recommend and I’d happily welcome anyone along for some coaching, whether they want to enjoy the sport socially or, potentially, competitively.”
Williams took to it instantly. His catalogue of successes include being the under-14 and under-16 British Open singles winner, claiming the under-15 and under-19 British Open doubles titles and being the under-15 and under-16 Junior French Open champion.
He will be hoping to add to his trophy collection when the British Open takes place again later this month at The Queen’s Club, in London.
This time, however, he will compete in the under-18 category.
