Emma Becomes Britain’s No.1 under-18s tennis player

Emma_Wilson_Becomes_Britain`s_No.1_under-18s_tennis_player_2015-02-24_Emma WilsonSeventeen-year-old Emma from Cramlington has become number one tennis player in Great Britain for under-18 girls. It follows her recent triumph in the prestigious Grade 1 Nike Invitational Winter National Tour Finals. The event was held at the National Tennis Centre, Roehampton, and was contested by the top 16 girls on the Winter National Tour leaderboard. Wilson went into the competition seeded number three and took the title without dropping a set. In the semi-final she defeated the previous British number two, Louie McLellend, from the north of Scotland, 6-2, 6-2. In the final Wilson overcame the holder and previous British number one, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, from Berkshire, 7-5, 6-2, to take the title. Wilson is a member of the Cramlington Community Tennis Programme (CCTP) and trains at Alexandra Park in Cramlington. She has been in a rich vein. Over the Christmas and new year period she won a Winter National Tour under-18 tournament at Bolton and retained her girls’ under-18 title in the Scottish Junior Indoor Championships in Glasgow. She has been coached by the CCTP head coach Phil Barron since the age of six. He said: “I’m extremely proud of Emma’s performances in the last few months, she has worked really hard to achieve this number one ranking and she deserves this success.We’ve worked together successfully for over ten years and she still wants to listen and improve, which shows she has an outstanding attitude and great ability”. Wilson has also represented Northumberland Ladies since the age of 14. Last summer she spent a week in Croatia being coached by 2001 Wimbledon men’s singles champion Goran Ivanisevic. Wilson applied for a tennis scholarship in the autumn 2014 and she had dozens of offers, eventually deciding on Fresno University in California, so she will be jetting off to the United States in August to play the college circuit and try and get on to the full tour.