Tesni tilts for the top


You could say that Tesni Evans was born to play squash – taken to watch as a baby, then dragging herself round court on her bum as a toddler before being able to hit the ball properly as a small child.


Father Andrew was a former Wales squash captain, he was also Squash Wales's first director of performance and coaching, so there is no question the sport was in the DNA of young Tesni.


So perhaps it is hardly surprising she achieved her goal of becoming Welsh champion ahead of schedule at the age of 18, a year later she is on the verge of breaking into the world's top 50 having taken the plunge and become full-time.


The Prestatyn-based Evans remains ahead of schedule on all her targets, next up is the move from 55 in the world towards the top 20 who can make a reasonable living out of the game.


To put her achievements in perspective, she is already ranked higher in the world than any British lady tennis player. However there are a few strong English squash players in her sights to progress nationally and internationally, with the 2014 Commonwealth Games among the targets.


Squash in Wales took a bit of a dip after the period when David Evans (no relation) and Alex Gough were among the world's elite, but there is a new group coming through and Tesni Evans is very much part of that.


“My Dad was on the circuit so I grew up with squash,” she explained. “The family used to go along to watch so I was there when I was a baby, when


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I was three or four I used to go into the court and scraped along the floor, before playing properly from the age of six or seven.


“I started to beat people who were older and bigger than me – I suppose I still am. It was great to become national champion when I was 18 and still playing at the junior level, I was very happy with that.


“Now it is about stepping up to the next level. I played in the Nationals recently, although I lost in the first round of the main draw it was to the number six seed, who is a few years older than me and the score was 3-1. I still feel I am pushing on and doing well for my age.”


Evans was a finalist in the British Juniors last year and has gone on to win three events in Europe, in Holland Switzerland and Belgium to underline that potential on the international stage, so her first year as a professional squash player has gone pretty well.


Ladies squash is nowhere near as lucrative as sports such as tennis or golf, the prize money in tournaments ranges from around $5,000 to $100,000 at the top events.


Evans would be struggling to reach her potential without the support of Sport Wales through the Elite Cymru scheme, particularly targetting the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and Squash Wales as well as backing from Karakal


clothing, Ashway strings and Hi-Tec for her equipment.


“I wanted to go full-time and did it early while I could. I am training very hard and doing some coaching to get some money, so it is still a pretty tough week even though there is some spare time.


“I went full-time at the end of 2010 and the target was to break into the world's top 100 within the year and then the top 70. I have reached 55 so that is comfortably ahead of my targets, but the next stage of breaking into the top 50 is hard. I aim to do that by the end of the summer.


“Next up is a three week tour of North America, competing in Washington, Montreal and Toronto as I push for that next step.”


Evans has given herself another target of five or six years to break into that elite top 20 – all the evidence so far points towards her achieving that a little earlier and achieving what she was born to do.


squash


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