Martin Lee

Encouraged by my father, Brian, a tennis coach, I began playing short tennis at five years old. Whilst being a pupil at Worthing High School I was selected to be a Rover player and moved to Bisham Abbey at 14 years old where I was coached by Ian Barclay, the former coach to Wimbledon champion Pat Cash. I went on to become a member of the Laing Squad, a Rover International Player and a member of the British Davis Cup Squad. I am now ranked 3 in this country.

My off-court interests are golf and football, I play off a handicap of 14 and putt one handed!

My football team is Millwall FC.

The Tennis Club I started playing at is Angmering-on-Sea LTC, one of 3 nominated as LTA Club of the Year 2000. AOSLTC is the first club in Sussex to be awarded Community Tennis Partnership status. My father Brian is head coach at the club and is co-ordinator of the CTP outreach programme, liasing with Arun D.C and Angmering School to bring tennis to the whole Community. I assist by participating in coaching clinics and demonstrations within the local Community and Sussex area.

The year 2002 saw me get into the top 100, the first time three British Players have been so highly ranked for 23 years. To maintain progress and stay at this level I am looking for sponsorship to finance a travelling coach and trainer – most other players at this level have this advantage over me at the moment. I have sponsorship for clothes with Lotto and for rackets with Prince International. Apart from these, I fund all travelling, training and coaching expenses myself.

I have represented my country in the Davis Cup twice in 2002. In February against Portugal and in September against Thailand where I played my first live rubber. It was an amazing experience – I started to enjoy it in the second set once my nerves had settled down. I was beaten 6-0, 7-6, 6-2 by Paradorn Srichipan. Unfortunately I developed a problem with my knee during this match and had knee surgery in November 2002. Following a long period of rehabilitation I am looking forward to returning to competitive play in the qualifying event on grass at Surbiton on Sunday 1 June 2003.