Exeter player wins National Tennis Championships.

Louis Skupien (aged 10) has won the 10U Winter National Tennis Championships which took place last weekend in Cambridge. 

In a difficult draw Louis, beat the number one seed in the semis before defeating the number two seed, Yorkshire’s Barney Fitzpatrick, in the final. 

The matches were hard fought with Louis emerging triumphant to win the prestigious title. The final saw both players displaying some hard hitting high quality tennis, finishing with a nail biting Championship tie-break.

Performance coach Charlotte Wallace said “This is a great achievement for Louis and shows that all his hard work and dedication is paying off. Exeter Tennis Centre is really pushing forward with the level of performance players which is great for Devon and the South West.”

Louis, who sailed through the regional qualifiers in Exeter without dropping a single game to earn his place in the final, said “The competition was absolutely awesome. It was a very tough tournament and I have worked incredibly hard, but the result at the end was worth it. I am really grateful to my Dad, my coach Dominic Stones and Beef [Alan Pope] my fitness coach for helping me.”

As a local from Ilminster, Louis trains full time at Exeter Tennis Centre receiving dedicated support in a package that includes one to one coaching sessions, squad coaching and hitting sessions. He also enjoys hitting with some of the university’s student players as part of his intense programme. His favourite sessions are with his strength and conditioning coach Alan Pope. 

Louis is very lucky to have just recently been awarded a sponsorship contract from Prince Tennis as well as equipment from Boost Oxygen which helps him train and play.  He is also part of the Aegon sponsored Future Stars Programme and regularly attends National Camps and Talent ID’s in London.

Looking to the future Louis is aiming to follow in the footsteps of his favourite players Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic, saying “I like Djokovic because of the way he plays and his attitude, I would also love to have a serve like Raonic, which is incredible. My aim is to be number one in the world, but to be in the top 100 would also be a fantastic achievement.”

Louis is looking to compete on an international level this year. He plans to start entering European Tennis Association (ETA) events to gain experience on different surfaces and face new players from the continent.