Top Welsh tennis player Evan Hoyt is ready to put more than a year of injury misery behind him next week when he gets back into doubles action.
The talented 22-year-old from Llanelli has spent the past 12 months nursing a shoulder problem on his serving side and recuperating from surgery in December.
Now he is fit to return and wants to dedicate the next two years in trying to break into the top 250 in the world.
His highest ATP Singles ranking before his injury was 542 and he is currently No.1 in Wales and No.14 in Britain.
His first steps back on the comeback trail will be at Havant, where South Wales will face Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Hampshire & IOW, Cheshire and Cambridgeshire in a battle for promotion to Group 1.
“I can’t wait to get back into action and I’m looking to ease my way back into competitive tennis with five days of doubles at ‘County Week’ before trying to get back onto the international stage,” said Hoyt, speaking at the LTA launch of their £250m grass-roots ‘Transforming British Tennis Together’ scheme.
“I’ve been out of action for more than a year with a right shoulder problem and had an operation in December, but everything is fine now. It is all about persistence and hard work and I’m determined to stick at it.
“It isn’t easy getting up the rankings. I need to stay healthy and if I can do that I believe I can progress – I won a few Futures titles and my ranking shot up to the 500s.”
Hoyt won two Futures $10k Singles titles in 2015 and five doubles titles before his injury. As a junior he reached No.53 in the ITF Junior World Rankings, was a doubles semi-finalist at Junior Wimbledon and helped the British team to win the Junior Davis Cup for first time.
He grew up playing his tennis in South Wales, before making the move to London to attend the Reed’s School Tennis Academy at the age of 12.
He then decided he wanted to play tennis professionally. Aged just 16, he ‘hit’ for five successive days with Rafael Nadal in the second week at Wimbledon before the Spaniard’s appearance in the 2011 final.
“Rafa is very intense and always very tough to beat and that was the best tennis week of my life.”
After completing his studies at the age of 18, he spent a year at the National Tennis Centre in London and six months in Nottingham before returning home to be based in Cardiff at the end of 2015.
Shortly after that he was laid low by his shoulder problem and has been fighting to get back ever since.
“To get a wild card to play at Wimbledon you have to get into the top 250 in the world. I’m only 22 and I don’t see why I can’t get up to that level in the next two years or so,” said Hoyt.
“Andy Murray reached his 10th quarter final in a row at Wimbledon and that shows the sort of consistency and persistence you need at the top. He is definitely someone to look up to and he has inspired so many youngsters to get out onto the court.
“Roger Federer and Venus Williams are living proof of what you can achieve with hard work. They are definitely at the end of their careers, but there is a longer life span in professional tennis now than ever before.
“It just shows that you don’t have to panic if you haven’t quite made it yet at the age of 23 or 24. I’d love to play at Wimbledon in the future.
“I know that Josh Milton played in the qualifying stages recently, but I can’t tell you who was the last Welsh player to play in the main draw.”