STA players Liam Broady and Josh Ward-Hibbert are in Florida for the prestigious Orange Bowl International Championships.

17-year-old Josh is an STA full-time player and currently 84 in the junior ITF world rankings, while Liam, an STA access player, reached the final of this year’s boys singles at Wimbledon, and is ranked 9 in the world.

They spent last week warming up at the Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton. Josh went out in the 2nd round of the singles to world number 30 Karim Hossam from Eygpt, while Liam reached the semi-finals, losing to Australian Patrick Ofner. The boys teamed up for the doubles, having a brilliant run to the final, but just losing out 6-4, 7-6(5) to Belgian pair Julien Cagnina, and Jeroen Vanneste.

Liam posted on his Facebook page “Tough day yesterday. Did not play my best and lost in the singles semifinals. Josh really helped pick me back up and we won our doubles semifinal but unfortunately lost a close final match later in the day. On my way to Miami now for the Orange Bowl!”

The Orange Bowl is one of the premier junior international events in the world. Most of the sports great players have competed, with past winners including Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and current world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Play starts today, December 5th at the Frank Veltri Tennis Centre in Plantation, Florida. Everyone at STA wishes Josh and Liam the best of luck!

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter updates for match results and updates!

STA player Andrew Fitzpatrick has finished off a great 2011 by winning the AEGON British Tour Masters!

Andrew beat top seed and GB Number 4 Josh Goodall in the semi-finals at Nottingham, before claiming the title with a 6-4, 6-2 win over fellow Warwickshire player and GB Number 6 Dan Evans.

The win caps off a successful year on the AEGON British Tour for Andrew. He won 5 tour titles in 2011, and last week was presented with his AEGON British Tour Bonus Pool prize. Andrew has also seen his ATP ranking rise to a career high of 695, up almost 400 places since the start of the year.

2012 looks like it could be an exciting year for Andrew!

A work experience placement at STA is an amazing opportunity to find out what life’s really like as a professional tennis player and/or what it’s like to work at a top tennis academy.

If you are a budding tennis or strength and conditioning coach, we can offer hands-on training as you shadow our staff, and experience life within a tennis academy environment. Or if you are thinking about turning pro, we can show you what it takes by experiencing the day-to-day life of a tennis player, taking part in full training and fitness sessions.

15-year-old Sam Bayda from Redbridge HPC in Essex recently completed his GCSE work placement at STA. After training with us for a fortnight last summer, he arranged with his school to fly back for two weeks of work experience at STA.

Sam spent two weeks training like a professional tennis player, alongside our full-timers including Josh Ward-Hibbert who’s ranked number 5 in Great Britain, and 84 in the world. He spent one week living with them, while the other week was spent at a host family in Sotogrande. After leaving us, Sam flew to Saudi Arabia where he picked up his first junior ITF points!

To find out more about work experience placements at STA and what we offer, you can email info@sototennis.com

STA is proud to announce that access player Liam Broady has been shortlisted for this year’s BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award!

Liam’s made a list of 10 of the biggest young sporting names in Great Britain. They include fellow tennis player Laura Robson, Lauren Taylor and Anthony Watson, as well as past winners, Tom Daley, and Eleanor Simmonds.

Liam has had a brilliant  2011, winning the Aegon International in June, and reaching the final of the Wimbledon Boys Singles, and semi’s of the Boys Doubles. He reached  number 7 in the Junior ITF world rankings, and at 17, is the youngest player to be ranked inside the top 700 on the ATP men’s tour!

The award will be decided by a panel chaired by BBC sports presenter John Inverdale. Liam will find out if he has won at the 2011 Sports Personality of the Year awards show on 22nd December. Fingers crossed!

To find out more about this years awards check out the BBC’s Sports Personality Page.

STA has played host to some of the UK’s future stars over the last few weeks!  Three of the top Under 12’s in the country flew out to Sotogrande for a week’s intensive training with us.

Luke Hammond, Joe Tyler and James Caddies are all ranked inside the top 8 in the country in their age group.

Luke, an STA Access player from Birmingham, comes out to train regularly to supplement his programme at Millfield school. He is the current 12U National Champion.  Joe Tyler from Northamptonshire reached the semi-finals of the event in August while James Caddies from Essex made the quarterfinals.

STA Head Coach Dan Kiernan says: “The future is bright for British tennis if the work rate and attitude of Luke, Joe and James is anything to go by. I’m looking forward to continuing these strong relationships with the boys over the coming years.”

Find out more about our training weeks and upcoming kids camps here at STA.