LYMM High School pupil Alice Shields had the chance to join the likes of Andy Murray at the world-famous venue when she took part in the HSBC Road to Wimbledon North Regional Qualifier at Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Centre.

The 13-year-old was playing for a spot at the national finals of the Under 14s Challenge at the All England Club next month.

Despite falling short this time around, Shields, who trains at Birchwood Tennis and Leisure Complex, is adamant we have not seen the last of her after losing out to Jayanne Palmer 4-6 3-6 in the second round.

“Both players I played against were a lot older than me and I’m happy that I’ve given them both a game,” she said.

“The best part of my game was my volleys. But the thing I need to work on the most is my fitness.”

“I’m going to learn a lot from this. I’ve played the county Road to Wimbledon two years ago and I got through, so I went to play at Wimbledon.

“I’ve been playing tennis since I was four. I do other sports too, netball and swimming, but tennis is my main one."

Each year more than 10,000 youngsters take part in the series of national tennis tournaments.Shields was not the only Warrington representative taking to the court in Ilkley, as Bridgewater High School pupil Danny Urey also competed.

The David Lloyds player, who lost 4-6 2-6 to Jack Bachelor, said: “My serving was good – it was more consistent than before. I’m going to go back to training and focus on getting the ball in more, because I hit it wide a number of times.

“My opponent played well, I haven’t played him before. He did well at stroking the ball in, he didn’t try and hit it all the time.

“I was six when I started playing tennis, I don’t do any other sports - I just focus on my tennis. When I’m older I’d like to go on an ATP Tour and get a ranking maybe.

“I got to play on the grass which was really good, I did it last year too so it was great to repeat it.”

HSBC is the Official Banking Partner of The Championships and is committed to supporting grassroots tennis, helping to inspire the next generation of Wimbledon stars to take their tennis careers from the back garden to Centre Court through the HSBC Road to Wimbledon 14 & Under Challenge. @HSBC_sport