A TENNIS player from the Isle of Wight has an ambition of becoming a world champion as part of the GB team contesting the 2019 International Blind Tennis Tournament in Spain, starting on Wednesday.

Neil Fradgley, part of an eight-strong team managed by the Lawn Tennis Association, will be making his GB debut at this year’s event in Benidorm — looking to better last year’s superb GB result of six gold medals and a silver.

Organised by the International Blind Tennis Association, in partnership with the Sound Tennis Foundation, the tournament runs until Sunday, June 16, and features more than 70 players from 15 different countries.

Ahead of the event, Neil said he is very excited about representing GB in his first-ever international tournament.

“As a player entering any event, you hope to go as far as possible, but as this will be my first formal B4 competition, it is difficult to judge what the standard will be,” said Neil.

“Obviously, I’m entering with the ambition of becoming world champion, but we’ll just have to see how the competition unfolds.

“My overriding hope is to promote visually impaired tennis.

"Its growth over the past two years has been amazing and we already have very talented young players entering tournaments.

“If we can encourage more visually impaired people to take up the sport, I will consider it a job well done.”

A possible future paralympic sport, the visually impaired version of tennis is adapted to a smaller court, with lower net — using an audible ball so players can hear it bounce and being hit, and, depending on an individual’s sight level, they can also be allowed up to three bounces before returning it.