21 July 2011 | Tennis Victoria

Originally from Inverloch, James Sheppard has recently relocated to Melbourne in a move designed to bring out the best tennis in him.

Currently aged 16, James is ranked No.7 in Victoria for his birth year and No.202 in Australia, a rise of more than 100 places in the last 12 months.

“We moved to Melbourne two months ago to help support James’s tennis endeavours,” said Mark Sheppard, James’s father.

“We were losing a lot of travel time each week so we sold the family coaching business and moved to Kew to give him the opportunity to get quality hits against better players more regularly. He’s pretty determined and hopefully he’ll continue to improve now that he’s in Melbourne.”

James started playing tennis when he was five years old and credits his parents for getting him started in the sport.

“Mum and dad are both qualified coaches and my whole family enjoys playing tennis. Both of my older brothers also play and coach,” said Sheppard.

James describes himself as an all-rounder on the court and enjoys the travelling, friendship and competing aspects that playing tennis provides.

He is a member of Tennis Victoria’s State Academy and attends MY Tennis School in Box Hill where he is currently completing Year 11. He also has a scholarship to Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club where he plays Grade 1 Pennant for them.

“I am currently training and playing six days a week and just want to be the best I can be,” said Sheppard.

Despite recently making the quarterfinals at the Queensland Junior ITF International 1 tournament, James says his best tennis moment was winning his first ever points tournament, the Wollongong Junior Open in 2009.

Tennis Victoria’s Player Development Manager, Ashley Naumann, has been impressed with James’s development and growing commitment to the sport.

“James has made some significant progress over this past year and this was reinforced by his positive quarter-final result at the recent ITF event in Queensland,” said Naumann.

“Full credit also must go to James’s parents who are very pro-active in giving him every opportunity to further his tennis development.”

Photo courtesy of the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times