Tennis Athletes Thomas Styles & Zara Jurenko
Location: Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Location: Nottingham
Coach: Lesley Whitehead
Now both in their early twenties, Tom and Zara went to the same special school in Leicestershire. They were both given the opportunity to try tennis and showed a real talent for it. Now they are at a standard where they can match any player in mainstream of similar ability. Tom and Zara are always keen to play as much as they possibly can because they are always looking to improve. Both have regular individual coaching and belong to different tennis clubs.
Regional coach Lesley Whitehead says at the heart of why Tom and Zara are so successful is their love of the game. They are extremely dedicated and also ambitious and want to win. Both take their sport very seriously and approach it like true professionals, not only in their game but also their attitude towards opponents. In their approach to competing and their on-court conduct she would compare them to some of the sport’s greats. She says Tom is a ‘gentleman’ player like Federer, and Zara is like Justine Ennan, just gets on with the game without any fuss or ego. Zara always impresses with her appreciation for her opponent’s skill. Even if she beat someone 6-0 she would talk about how well they played.
In a match Tom and Zara are both tenacious and have an all-round skill with no real weaknesses. Their learning difficulty means they can sometimes struggle to keep score consistently. But in some ways this means they are even more focussed on each point they play.
Tom and Zara play singles and also mixed doubles together. They make a great team on court and are very tuned in to each other. Zara is the National British Tennis Foundation women’s champion (Learning Disability).
At a national training weekend they met former player Mark Cox, who is going to Shanghai as a SO ambassador and who is also from Leicestershire. Zara also met him when he awarded her a prize for sporting achievement run by a regional newspaper.
Tom is at college. Zara works as a fitness instructor in the gym of the Hilton Hotel’s ‘Living Well’ centre. Their study and work commitments mean a certain amount of frustration right now in the run-up to Shanghai when they want every opportunity to train and improve they game. They have to rely a lot on the goodwill Tom’s college and Zara’s employer, both of whom are very supportive of the players and their chance to play for their country.
TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ATHLETES OR COACHES, PLEASE CONTACT THE SOGB NATIONAL OFFICE.
TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk