Academy athlete and Junior Welsh Wheelchair Tennis player, Philip Cochrane from the Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis Club, made his maiden bow at the prestigious event held annually at the foot of the French Pyrenees recently.
With only the top 8 boys and 4 girls players invited worldwide, Great Britain were proud to boast 5 players in total. They were accompanied by British National Junior Coach and Welsh Disability Performance Coach of the Year, Geraint Richards from Cardiff. The event runs along side the able bodied under 14's age group for top world ranked juniors and has been won in the past by Wimbledon Champions.
Competing at the boys 18 and under World Masters event on the wheelchair Tennis Tour, 14 year old Philip, had a mixed tournament, comfortably defeating an older Dutch opponent 6-2, 6-2 in an opening match but not subsequently managing to progress to the final. In the doubles event, although losing to the eventual winners in fellow Briton, Gordon Reid from Scotland and his Polish partner, Philip and his Argentinian doubles partner took the notable scalps of the higher ranked Dutch doubles pairing including the world number two boys ranked Junior.
Philip admitted to being very nervous as crowds rose to as high as 2000 people on occassion and is looking to improve upon his promising showing in subsequent events.
Philip who is now ranked World number 5, has 5 years remaining in his Junior class whilst competing on the ITF Senior Mens tour. His next event is at the end of April in Preston, where he will be competing in the mens singles and doubles events.
