YOUNG tennis hopefuls are heading to the US in a bid to improve their game.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
About 30 children and 10 adults will attend a four-week training academy and tournaments in California and Nevada next month.
Two players — Will Rattray, 13, and Lachlan Horner, 14 — have each raised close to $5500 to join the tour, which is organised by Margaret Court Tennis Academy.
Will said his long-term goal was to play college tennis in the US and see where the game takes him.
“I’m feeling excited, very excited,” he said.
“I’m hoping to look at the universities and colleges in America, see how the tennis scholarships work and experience life with the Americans.
“We’ve been selling raffle tickets and we had a massive auction on the weekend to raise money to go.
“We’ve got a little bit more to raise, but we’ve got most of the money needed.”
Will’s mother Katharine said she wanted her son to raise the money himself.
“We decided as parents he needed to show how much he wanted it,” she said.
Lachlan said he probably wouldn’t make a career out of tennis but wanted to improve.
“The aim is to get better and stronger in my tennis,” he said.
Several Border businesses have supported the fund-raising.