Merry joins World Team Cup squad
15th May 2013Luz Esperanza Merry has been selected by the Tennis Foundation to be a part of the Great Britain junior team for the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Antalya, Turkey, from 20–26 May.
The 12-year-old’s invitation to be part of the junior team for the Davis and Fed-Cup style event comes after she recently became the one of the newest members of the Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme after taking up wheelchair tennis less than five months ago.
Plymouth’s Merry will join Norfolk’s Alfie Hewett and Sussex’s Lauren Jones in the three player team. Hewett and Jones helped Great Britain to win the bronze medal in the BNP Paribas World Team Cup junior event in 2012.
Merry was invited to join the Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme after having been a talented non-disabled junior player who had won 42 tennis tournaments in the UK, France and the USA up to her 11th birthday.
However, at the age of 11 she contracted an infection in her right hip, which was complicated by Septicemia. After three operations in the USA in November 2012 to wash out the infection, Merry started playing wheelchair tennis, having seen London 2012 women’s doubles bronze medallist Lucy Shuker training in Taunton.
“I’m very excited to have been selected for the BNP World Team Cup. I’m really looking forward to going to Turkey and to having the opportunity to experience the atmosphere at my first wheelchair tennis tournament and to see the world’s best players in action,” said Merry. “I’m sure I will learn a lot after having only been playing for a short time and I am very excited for my future as a wheelchair tennis player.”
“We are delighted to have Esperanza on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme and very pleased to give her this opportunity of being part of a Great Britain World Team Cup squad,” said Ash Smith, the Tennis Foundation’s Performance Development Coach and Captain of the Great Britain junior team for the 2013 World Team Cup. “Esperanza has shown that she is a very talented player and we look forward to working with her to help maximise her full potential.”