Gifted pair serve up tennis trophy wins

Isabella Holland and Dylan Sharpe won their respective Under-8 and Under-10 categories at the Lancashire Tennis Championships at the Bolton Arena.

The pair are members of the Robin Park tennis centre, training under the watchful eye of coach Neil Adams, who has been at the forefront of training Wigan’s young tennis players for almost 30 years.

Neil said: “They played really well, against some good opposition. They both went through their draws and play really good stuff to win all their matches. They are really promising, they are really lovely kids.

“We’ve had both of them here as tots, between three and five years old. They both came to that. We were on the lookout for their ability and attitude, then moved them into our development groups and gradually built their programme.

“We have a great programme here to work through with them. We’ll see where they go in the future, you never know – they have the ambition to go further.”

So, might we be seeing new superstars of tennis in the making?

Neil urged caution, saying: “There is such a small percentage that make it, so we would never think about that yet. They are only eight and 10, but they are on a pathway that could go that way!”

Their success, Neil said, is down to the hands-on approach of all the coaches at the tennis centre.

“We have a focused approach here. We do the very best we can for kids, and give them the best programme.”