With Andy Murray and Johanna Konta riding high at the top of the tennis world, more and more young people are taking up the sport than ever before. So, what does it take to be the best tennis player you can be?

“The crucial thing is to get into the sport as early as possible” said Jono Ward, Head of Tennis at St George’s College, Weybridge. “Many of the top players who have been successful on the professional circuit started at a young age. Whilst it is not impossible to reach the same level, starting later, the sooner you can develop the fundamental technique, movement and competitiveness into your game the better the chance there is of excelling.”

Tennis is a very technical sport which requires constant reconstruction of shot technique, development of movement patterns but also mental resilience. What makes a player stand out from the rest is a driven, motivated desire to be the best you can possibly be in every training session and each match. The ability to never be satisfied and the hunger to be even greater, even quicker and even stronger.

Top tennis players are able to combine superb athleticism with a strong mental attitude, the ability to acknowledge failures and weaknesses so they can be rectified and reversed into a strength. You can be the best athlete but unless you have a strong competitive streak running through you and a mentality that says you have a chance of winning every game you are unlikely to progress far. This means chasing down each ball, staying focused when you are ahead, but also the ability to never give up, to fight until the very last point: these are the attributes that we see in all the great players.

However, all this comes at a cost. To be the best this cost come in two forms. The first is the willingness to sacrifice your time and possibly a more ‘normal’ way of life. For example, it is unlikely that a top player will be out drinking every Friday night and will have to replace ‘free’ evenings after school with training. Most weekends will be spent travelling around the country competing. In addition, most top, aspiring junior tennis players around sixteen or seventeen will need to balance A-levels with an ever increasing training programme, of 2-4 hours on court a day, five or six days a week, interspersed with strength training, to ensure that they are in a physically optimum condition.

The journey to becoming a successful tennis player is becoming longer and longer with the average age being around 28 years old. With this is mind many players are opting for an American college where balancing a degree with an intense training program leaves both options open in the future.

The second is the financial costs which unfortunately needs to be raised to fund a player. Despite increasing accessibility to tennis in schools, with the LTA supporting 15, 000 schools across the country alongside a £1.5 million a year National lottery investment, this is not sufficient to aid top, aspiring players.

 In the majority of cases for top junior players around London, parents can expect to fork out around £25,000 per annum to supply their child with everything from lessons and fitness training to psychology sessions, equipment and tournament entry fees. This figure will undoubtedly increase significantly with age and the scale of demand for lessons.

Although there are measures in place to decrease these costs such as sponsorships and investors the harsh reality is that this still remains the greatest barrier in preventing the most talented and able reaching the professional circuit.

“The most important thing is that there is this raw, stripped back passion for the sport,” said Jono Ward. “This should not be driven by anyone but by the player themselves as when it’s just you and the opponent out on that tennis court, it is the ability to be driven by nothing but the love for tennis that is what separates the greatest form the great.”