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Niall Pickerd-Barua described his second consecutive Junior National Championships as ‘amazing’
At just 12 years old, Cardiff’s Niall Pickerd-Barua is British tennis champion for the second year in a row.
But rising talent like him may need to leave Wales to progress, says a senior figure in the sport.
The current elite path has taken young player Mimi Xu from Port Talbot to the National Tennis Academy in Loughborough, Leicestershire.
Tennis Wales’ Chris Lewis said moving to England could be a decision that Niall and his family would also have to make.
Niall won the Boys’ U14 Cup at the Lexus Junior National Championships in Nottingham.
“If they can achieve that standard at Niall’s age, that transition to a national academy, albeit not in Wales, then that’s the path we have for them in the UK,” Lewis said.
“Our current path is that we really try to develop these players in Wales until they’re 14.”
“And then when they’re good enough, they go to the National Academy.”
Mr Lewis said a national tennis center in Wales would give the best young Welsh talent a chance not to move away.
“There is an ambition to allow players to stay in Wales if they wish,” he said.
“The reality for us is that we don’t currently have a national tennis center.
“The next club we had closed in 2013, so we didn’t have a national center for a while to bring a national program to the level that the top players would need.”
“Are we aspiring to have a national academy of Welsh tennis? Yes absolutely.”
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Mimi Xu took part in Junior Wimbledon when she was 15 years old
Having already made the move to the National Tennis Academy in Loughborough, Mimi
“From an early age you could tell she had great potential,” said Mr. Lewis.
“She’s always been very special and always felt that at her age she was a year or two ahead of the players around her – even in the UK.”
“She was a national champion of Great Britain several times and obviously made a very young debut at Junior Wimbledon.”
Following the successes of Mimi and Niall, Lewis said the next step for Welsh Tennis was “global representation”.
“Our goal is to have a world star that the fans in Wales can really support,” he said.
Niall described winning the British Championship for a second time as “amazing”.
“I had a really good feeling about the tournament,” he said.
“As the defending champion after last year, I had a lot of self-confidence.
“As the games progressed, my game got better and better and I found my best game in the final.”
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