Sponsorship for Sami Hayes Tennis

Our Plea - by Dad.

Our 14 year old son, Sami, is a junior tennis player who, against all odds, has had to overcome a hugely challenging series of obstacles on his way to becoming the highest 2022 climber in the LTA UK national rankings. Sami now faces a new obstacle which, this time, we can only overcome with the help of others.

We are reaching out because we believe Sami has earned the right to a fighting chance when competing for a tennis scholarship in the US or Europe - the next stage of his tennis journey. If Sami’s story inspires you, we are looking for help to provide him with the basic, tangible items Sami needs to practice his sport (shoes, strings, grips, itemised at the bottom of this page). Any help you can offer will make a huge difference to Sami and will be received with immeasurable gratitude. While we cannot guarantee that Sami will succeed in becoming a successful pro player, Sami himself can guarantee you it will not be due to a lack of desire, determination, resilience and drive. This is Sami’s story:

Sami’s story (documented on his instagram account : @samihayes_tennis)

Sami’s tennis journey began when at the age of 4 I thrust into his tiny hand an equally tiny tennis racquet and sent him along to the local tennis club in order for him to fulfil my own dream of him becoming the next Andy Murray. Two years later, Sami broke his arm falling out of a tree. Such was Sami’s love of the game that he went to training wearing his plaster cast.

Aged 10 - 1st obstacle

Sami’s first real obstacle was placed in front of him when at 8 years old his club invited him to be part of a newly formed Junior Performance Programme which obliged promising junior players like Sami to commit to 3 squads a week, plus individual coaching sessions and additional hitting sessions with older players. We explained to the club that we could only afford two squads per week and a single coaching session. The club decided not to take our circumstances into consideration. They not only declined Sami access to the squads but banned their junior club players from hitting with Sami outside the club, forcing Sami to train alone at the municipal tennis courts (He didn’t compete in tournaments for a whole year). All this was at a stage when the vast majority of the current crop of top 20 national tennis players were enrolled on full time performance programmes at tennis academies or at private tennis schools.

Aged 11 - 2nd obstacle

To help bridge the development gap at this critical stage we took a risk. We rented out our flat in Winchester and moved to Barcelona to enrol Sami full time at the Catalunya Tennis Academy. Sami thrived in the academy, winning 8 regional Spanish titles in 6 months and maintaining an 84% win rate. On the back of his success, Sami was offered a place at the Spanish High Performance Centre (CAR) in Barcelona, with a full time programme and private schooling included. Then Brexit happened, preventing us from accepting the offer.

On our return to the UK, had some good luck. Sami began a coaching programme with David Ison at Elite Tennis in Southampton. David is an ex-pro player and has an incredible record for developing junior players. He is responsible for taking Louis Bowden to the under18 #2 in the UK and into to the main draw of Junior Australian Open. He is also working with Sophia Florence, currently the under 10 #2 in the UK and National Junior Champion.

Aged 12 - 3rd obstacle

Everything was going well. Then Covid Struck and Sami was confronted with the same challenge as other players without private tennis courts (We live in a flat). Not to be beaten, with the aid of Google Earth, we zoomed into all the private tennis courts around Winchester and went door knocking in the hope of finding a soul kind enough to let us use their court. The first mansion door we knocked was home to just such a kind soul. So, throughout lockdown, Sami trained with a ball machine 4 hours every day videoing his sessions and sending them to his coach for feedback - an experience which instilled in Sami an enormous self-discipline.

Aged 13 - 4th obstacle

As soon as the Covid restrictions were lifted, now 13 year old Sami began a 20 hours per week programme with David, on top of his schooling at a normal state school. Then another obstacle was placed in his way. Prior to lockdown, David’s Performance Programme took place in the amazing indoor facilities of David Lloyd, Southampton. After lockdown, David Lloyd terminated the agreement, forcing David’s performance players, Sami included, to do all their training outdoors in a small club in Bassett, often in inclement weather and freezing conditions. The upside of this, of course, is that Sami developed huge resilience.

It was at this time that Sami also began a Strength & Conditioning programme, to prepare him for playing men’s tournaments and, later on, ITF tournaments. While we did not have the means to employ a hands on S&C coach, we are extraordinarily fortunate enough to benefit from a programme put together for Sami by Matt Little, Andy Murray’s S&C coach. Sami must rely on self-discipline to carry out the programme, as he does it alone and sends videos to Matt Little for feedback.

Sami’s current programme looks like this. Monday and Tuesday he does a two-and-a-half hour round trip to Cobham in Surrey to train with players of his own age and standard. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he trains with David Ison in Bassett, plus he competes in around 20 national or international tournaments a year. To put his journey and fighting spirit into perspective, at the beginning of his journey Sami was ranked outside the top 500. This year alone he has reached 22 finals, won 17 titles (including 9 regional titles), reached the UK Top 11 for players of his birth year, and reached the last 8 of the National Junior Championships this August.

Aged 14 - Current obstacle

Which brings us to the present and to most difficult obstacle Sami has had to face. Having worked so incredibly hard to put himself in the position he is in, once we have paid his coaching fees, tournaments fees and travel costs, we simply do not have any left in our budget for the basic equipment Sami needs to train and compete (shoes, strings, grips, etc). We are in negotiations for securing a sponsorship deal with HEAD, which means Sami will be guaranteed racquets, but the rest of the items below we are reaching out to anyone who is in a position and who wants to help give Sami a fighting chance.

Here’s the list of basic items he needs in order for Sami to fight for another year (Sep 2022 - Sep 2023) with the aim of securing a scholarship.

6 pairs of HEAD Sprint Pro 3.0 SF Clay court tennis shoes (£145 per pair)     

Total £870

3 pairs HEAD Sprint Pro 3.0 SF Hard court tennis shoes (£145 per pair)        

Total £435

1 pair of HEAD Spring Pro 3.0 Grass court Tennis shoes (£110 per pair)        

Total £110

4 x Luxilon All Power Rough String Reel 220m (£215 per reel)           

Total £860

4 x Wilson Sensation 16 Tennis String 200m (£125 per reel)           

Total £500

4 x Pro Overgrip 30 Pack (£67 per pack)                       

Total £268

1 x Gamma Progression ST II 200 manual stringing machine (£899)        

enabling Sami to string his own racquets and significantly reduce
his stringing costs.

Total £899

2 x Buckets of Babolat Gold Academy Tennis Balls (72 balls) (£99 per bucket)   

For use with ball machine, enabling Sami to train independently when required.

Total £ 198

6 x HEAD Speed Team racquets (£160)

but only if the HEAD sponsorship deal does not transpire.                       

Total £960

Total without racquets: £4,140

Total with racquets: £5,100

In case you were wondering, my wife is a newly qualified primary school teacher and I am a self-employed founder and facilitator of cultural offerings, and Sami’s full time taxi service. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me via gofundme, anytime.

Sami’s tennis instagram account : @samihayes_tennis

Thank you for reading, from the heart.

Warmest, John