YOUNG Freddy Blaydes got the chance to play on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon after he was selected to show off his tennis skills.

The nine-year-old from Windermere was one of 12 youngsters from the North of England who were invited to SE19 to take part in a court demonstration as part of the LTA's Under 10s mini tennis squad.

Freddy, a pupil at St Martin & St Mary C of E Primary school, Windermere and his fellow tennis aces got to play on courts 5 to 7 and were supported by a large crowd.

There they demonstrated their technical skills through drills and matchplay practise, playing both singles & doubles play.

"This was the first time that Freddy or any of the juniors had played on grass so what a debut venue," said mum Jo Blaydes.

"They were all wearing white and were madly excited. The players ranged in age from seven to 10-years-old and it was lovely to see such enthusiastic and fearless juniors having such a great time."

They were on court for an hour with three of the LTA's Regional Performance Co-ordinators Andy Wilkinson, Jon Loughton and Mike Woods.

The day began with a practise session at The National Tennis Centre at Roehampton and, after their demonstration, got to visit Aorangi Park - the player's practise area - where Freddy got to met Richard Gasquet, the Bryan brothers and Nick Kyrgios.

Freddy trains at Bolton Arena IHPC three times a week, with the full support from his primary school, and has been invited to U11s Regional Camps run by the Northern LTA, and, later this month, an inter-regional camp run by Mike Woods, the LTA Boys U10 GB Captain.

He has been competing at regional at national level and was selected this year for both the county U9s & U10s teams.