Successful South East property development firm, Skillcrown, has agreed a long-term sponsorship with rising tennis sensation Issey Purser. Inspired to take up tennis at an early age by her older brother Luke, who at 18 has a tennis sponsorship in Ohio. Issey, aged 12, trains 14 hours a week come rain or shine, and is currently ranked 6th in the country in the 12-14 age category.

  Issey finished the year by winning the regional U16 tournament in Southampton over the Christmas period, beating the number 1 seed in straight sets, 6-1 6-1. It was the perfect ending to her most successful year to date when she also won the Under-14 County category in the HSBC Road to Wimbledon event and reached the semi-finals of the U12 Tennis Europe competition in Portugal.

In 2017 Issey will be focusing her efforts on qualifying for Tarbes 2018 in France, a competition for the top 64 players in the U14 category from around the world. To qualify Issey will need to compete in at least 10 overseas Tennis Europe events in 2017 which requires considerable investment in terms of time, commitment and finances.

“2017 is going to be an exciting year for Issey and we’re delighted to be able to contribute towards helping her realise her ambition to become a top Junior International tennis player,” says Skillcrown Managing Director Salik Osman. “With longer term ambitions to play at Junior Wimbledon in 2022, we’re confident that Issey will go far and we look forward to following her progress and being part of that journey.”

It’s not all hard work though, Issey and her family will be attending Wimbledon 2017 as guests of Tim Henman, who was so impressed with Issey that he’s also promised her a tennis session at the All England Club.

Based on information supplied by Judith Sutton.