Following in the footsteps of Albury’s Troy Smith, Tymkiw will leave for Germany tomorrow to embark on a two-month tennis contract in the city of Neustadt Weinstrasse.

Like Smith last year, Tymkiw, 18, will be playing at Rot-Weiss and living in an apartment set up by the club 100m away from the courts.

“I wanted to get out of Australia for our winter and Europe has a lot to offer,” Tymkiw said.

“There are tournaments week-in week-out there so we decided that it would be a good move for my tennis.”

Tymkiw said Smith’s counsel in recent weeks had made the move less daunting.

“Troy’s been fantastic in telling me places to go, people to meet, tournaments to play and about the culture and language, and all of that sort of thing,” he said.

Albury’s tie with the German club stems back to the 1970s when Margaret Court Academy coach Richard Benson spent seven years there.

Tymkiw will spend at least another month in Europe after his club commitments to play in ITF events.

Another Academy pupil, Abigail Tereh-Apisah, is set to embark on an international venture next month.

The Fijian teenager has been invited by the International Tennis Federation to tour North Africa as part of the ITF Junior Touring Team.

The project is funded by the Grand Slam Development Squad and the invitation is emphatic recognition of Tereh-Apisah’s prodigious talent.

Beginning with a training camp in Casablanca, Morocco, on May 21, the tour includes four world-ranking tournaments in less than a month.