Support Ferran Redza to become a professional tennis player

Fifi Mohd-Shah is organizing this fundraiser.

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My name is Ferran and I am 17 years old. I was born (and still live) in Warwick, UK with my parents and my younger brother Rehan. We live in a modest house and I have attended state school my whole life.

My life is tennis and I have been playing competitively since I was 5 years old. I am a member of a local community tennis club (Leamington Lawn Tennis and Squash Club), where I have just retained the club's 2024 men's singles and men's doubles title.

However, I am now also playing at National and Junior ITF level (International Tennis Federation) and my ultimate goal is to become a professional tennis player. But the costs involved in achieving this are very high, particularly for a typical family such as mine.

The financial costs to participate

Both of my parents work really hard to help financially support me to get to this point, but in 2025, my participation costs will be around £32000 (inc. tournament participation; coaching; kit; nutritional and psychological support) and this will put a lot of pressure on them financially.

I have therefore set up this page seeking financial help to pursue my ambitions, which include reaching a Junior Grand Slam next year, in particular Junior Wimbledon.

Any amount, big or small will be very much appreciated as it will all help contribute towards my goal. For example £20 will help towards additional 1/2 hour individual lesson. £50 will help towards an hour with a sports nutritionist or strength and conditioning session.

Sponsorship

I am sponsored by Wilson UK for all my rackets, strings, bags and shoes and have been since 2020. But what I really need help with is the cost for travel expenses to tournaments and other necessary training in order for me to compete at the highest level and reach my full potential.

I have given more information about me, my journey and my family below, which will hopefully describe just how passionate I am about tennis and how much my family has already sacrificed to help me achieve my goal. I am so grateful to them and I wouldn't be in this position without them.

My journey

I train 4 times a week after school. Due to being in school full time, I make up the hours that I need to train before school as well, at least two mornings a week I wake up at 5am to train and then going straight to school after that. When my school timetable allows, I will leave school early to be able to get the most on court hours I can.

Both my parents have full time jobs. They have sacrificed a lot for my tennis – using their holidays to take me to tournaments, working at tournaments either in the viewing areas sometimes in quiet corners of the building and even next to changing rooms, in the car or at night in the hotel rooms to make up their work hours for when there are no WiFi at the tournament centres.

As a family we have not been on many holidays at all as we usually try to stay a little longer (when we can afford to) at the tournament where I am playing, if the area has nice places to visit. The money is normally all spent on my tennis training and tournaments.

My younger brother has also sacrificed his time for my tennis as he has always been dragged to all my training and tournaments when he was younger. But because of that he is also a great tennis player and recently won the 14 and Under County Closed for Warwickshire. He is also a great football player and he is in the Midlands Junior Premier League team where he plays as goalkeeper and he is also a great outfield player.

In the current British National ranking, I am currently ranked 7th in my age group, 14th in the 18 and Under, 3rd in Warwickshire Men’s (below Dan Evans and Lloyd Glasspool) and 84th in the Open British Men’s.

I have recently won the ITF Junior Under 18 singles and doubles at Bradfield, Berkshire which improved my international rankings significantly.

I am in the process of seeking a place and a sports scholarship at one of the US colleges in September 2025 where I will be able to play competitively whilst studying for my chosen degree.

Last year was nominated by my tennis club committee for Warwickshire Junior Player of the year where I was lucky enough to win. I was also in the Regional Training Program for 11-14 year olds and we were invited to play at the Grand Slam Championship week in Wimbledon in 2017 when I was only 10 years old. In 2021 I won the Regional Road to Wimbledon earning a place in the top 16 place for the Under 14 to play at the All England Club after the Grand Slam Championship week. I made the quarter finals after winning all my matches in my box but lost to the eventual winner.

When I was 11 year old one of my tennis friends lost her dad very suddenly and she was unable to continue with her tennis training. Both my brother (who was 8 at the time) and I decided to raise some money for her family to help with her tennis fees. We raised over £1,000 buy offering to have a hit, selling tickets for great prizes and a local sports shop donating part of their sales during the event.

During Covid, all our tournaments were cancelled and one in particular the County Cup annual team event was cancelled. I decided to get the 14 and Under players to run separately where each of us live during the days we would have had to compete and raise money for the NHS Covid funds. We raised over £2,500 and ran 170 miles between us. I ran the equivalent of a marathon. The team made headlines and we were nominated and won the Inaugural Jimmy Hill Award from the ThanksKids NHS Foundation.

We were also nominated for the Warwickshire Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) Team of the Year and then went on to win the National Presidents Award from the LTA and had the LTA President and his wife present us with the awards at the Leamington Tennis Club.

Newspaper articles:

https://www.warwickshireworld.com/news/people/young-warwickshire-tennis-stars-celebrate-successful-fundraising-team-run-for-nhs-2860973

https://www.warwickshireworld.com/news/people/young-warwickshire-tennis-stars-celebrate-jimmy-hill-award-3080160

My next short term goals are:

1. Making the qualification rounds for Junior Wimbledon (Under 18s) 2025

2. Improving my Universal Tennis Ranking (UTR) for gaining top division at a US college

3. Breaking into the top 50 National and into ATP International Men’s Circuit

The financial support to achieve my goals above will be spent directly on:

1. Additional individual sessions with my coach (since I was 8 years old) - Gary Naughton.

2. Travelling and accommodation costs for international tournaments to get the exposure and playing higher level matches.

3. Sports psychologist to help with improve the mental side of the game.

4. Nutritionist sessions – personal meal plan, regular weight and food diary assessment.

The estimated costs for all the above will be between £8,000-£10,000 for the remaining of 2024. Full year 2025 estimated budget for UK and European tournaments £12,000 on top of all the training costs above of £20,000 totalling £32,000.

I am sponsored by Wilson UK for all my rackets, strings, bags and shoes and have been since 2020. But what I need help on is the cost for travel expenses to tournaments and other necessary training in order for me to compete at the highest level and reach my full potential.

My plan is to also give back to the younger players by making time to help with the squads at the tennis club and hopefully inspire more tennis players to pursue their dream.

Thank you for reading my story and I hope you would be able to help and be part for my tennis journey

Ferran Redza