A teenage tennis ace, who hopes to be better than Andy Murray, has become the youngest player in history to be added to the official rankings of the world’s top players.
Oliver Golding, from East Twickenham, is the youngest player to have been included in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings, placing him alongside the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The 15-year-old was added to the list this week after gaining the essential point he needed from winning a round at the recent $10,000 Great Britain F7 Futures event in Newcastle.
He said: “My aim was to get on the ATP ranking by the end of the year. I wasn’t expecting to do so well so early. I’ve been working towards it for a while and got pretty close at the end of last year. I had to play this week so there wasn’t much chance to celebrate.
“Murray’s No 3 [in the world] and I’m 1,878, but every time you do well you get points, so I’m going to keep working hard to get more points.
“I’d like to be better than Murray.”
The former child actor, who is the No 1 under-16s tennis player in Britain and eighth in the same category in Europe, has been playing in Belgium this week and now has a few days to relax at home before jetting off to Hungary for more games next week.
However, Oliver is looking forward to playing on home soil this summer, after being entered for Wimbledon in the junior tournament.
His mum, Sandra, said: “I’m very proud. We will definitely be celebrating his success.”
However, amid the celebrating and the tennis, he will still have to study to prepares for his Spanish A-level next month.
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