A SCOTSTOUN-based tennis player is set to take on the biggest challenge of her career this week as she heads to the first junior wheelchair tennis tournament to be held at a Grand Slam.

Ellie Robertson trains at Scotstoun Tennis Centre with her coach and former Paralympian Kevin Simpson.

The 17-year-old has played tournaments in Great Britain, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, and the Netherlands this season to gain as much experience as possible and to help improve her ranking.

Following a busy and successful summer the youngster earned a direct qualification for the eight-player girls’ singles field at the last opportunity.

Ellie, who is part of the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) National Age Group Programme, is now in New York for the inaugural US Open Junior Wheelchair Tennis Championships.

She said: “It’s really exciting and I’m very proud to have qualified after all the hard work over the summer.

“I’m feeling proud. It was quite nerve-wracking going to play in Holland because I knew that I had to win a certain number of matches to qualify for New York.

“I think I coped with the pressure quite well, being in that match situation and knowing what I needed to do.

“I had had the thought in the back of my mind for some time that I could make it.”

At the start of June, Ellie was number 11 in the international junior wheelchair tennis rankings and by early August she improved her ranking to number seven ensuring her place on the plane to New York.

Among her results in the Netherlands, the youngster from Bargeddie took on current number two ranked junior Maylee Phelps of the USA to three sets at the Amjoy Cup before finishing runner-up to fellow Brit Ruby Bishop the following week at the Cruyff Foundation European Junior Camp.

Ellie added: “I think we bought the best out of each other. I’ve beaten a few of the players that were in the top 10 of the junior rankings when I played them, but Maylee just managed to get the better of me.”  

“It’s a really big thing for me as it will be my last junior event. I’m nervous and excited. I’ve never really been that far and while I get to experience playing at a Grand Slam, I’m also going to experience things like jet lag for the first time, so it’s a learning experience for me, too.”

“My coach Kevin has been to most of the Grand Slams with Andy Lapthorne, another British wheelchair player, so to have him there will be great.”

The US Open Junior Wheelchair Tennis Championships begin on Thursday (September 8) and will run until Saturday (September 10).

Ellie’s coach Kevin Simpson, formerly one of Britain’s leading wheelchair players, said: “It means the world to me to see Ellie show her potential.

“I still remember her coming to tennis as an 11 or 12-year-old and to see her now is incredible. She’s worked hard for this.

“It’ll be an experience she’s never going to forget and will stand her in good stead for the transition from junior to senior women’s competition.”