Murphy ready for crucial summer

Chloe Murphy in action at Calderstones Park

Murphy hopes to perform well at the national championships

Aintree teenager Chloe Murphy is hoping to use this summer's national championships as a springboard towards a professional career in the sport.

Murphy, 16, will play in both the Under-16 and Under-18 championships at Roehampton and Bournemouth in August.

"If I do well people are going to have to stand up and notice me and then the funding should come," Murphy told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"You can't win a national title and people not take interest."

Murphy was discovered as an eight-year old child by her long-time coach Anthony Hardman.

In order to develop her game Hardman took Murphy out of competition for two years and now she has returned he only enters her in senior tournaments.

Murphy says it is partly down to her style of play and in part because of finance.

"I'd go to a tournament and I'd be trying to hit the ball 100 miles an hour and come into the net at 4ft 2in and getting the ball hit 60 feet over me.

"I did that with the bigger picture in mind thinking that 'when I get older they won't be able to do that' and it's starting to pay off now," said Murphy.

There's obviously a limited amount of finance and it doesn't make sense to plough money into playing Junior tournaments, which in the big scheme of things is going to get me nowhere

Chloe Murphy

"There's obviously a limited amount of finance and it doesn't make sense to plough money into playing junior tournaments, which in the big scheme of things is going to get me nowhere."

Murphy recently pushed Laura Robson all the way when the two met at Calderstones Park in Liverpool.

She says she would love to reach the level of the former Junior Wimbledon winner but is aware finance is a key issue.

"Laura's a great player and she's really young. I'm in desperate need of any funding just so I can travel to play.

"I'm lucky that Fila sponsor me with clothes but it's a really expensive sport and I'm lucky that my coach Anthony provides all my training for free," said Robson.