By Owen Morgan

The courts of the Windsor Lawn Tennis Club in Penarth may not be the green, green grass of home for Llanelli tennis player Evan Hoyt, but they are the next best thing.

The 23-year-old, whose senior career has been dogged by injury following a hugely promising spell as a junior, is hoping the home soil tournament will help continue his recent return to form and fitness.

This week’s LTA Tour competition in Penarth is the ideal opportunity for Hoyt to gain some more valuable match practice, boost his confidence and enjoy a rare chance to play a high quality event in Wales.

Hoyt told Dai Sport: “It’s really great to be coming back to play in Wales. I rely a lot on my family, not just my mum and dad, but my extended family, my aunties and uncles.

“They don’t often get to see me play because I travel so far afield to compete. It’s great to have a tournament so close to home where all my family can come and watch me play.

“They’ve given a lot and they all follow the live scores when I’m competing abroad, so it’s nice for them to come along next week to watch me play and see how far I’ve come.”

Hoyt has come a long way over the past few months as he has battled his way back from a long-term shoulder injury, which put his promising career on hold.

As a junior he reached number 53 in the ITF Junior World Rankings and was a doubles semi-finalist at Junior Wimbledon.

The right-hander helped Great Britain win the Junior Davis Cup for first time, alongside Luke Bambridge and Kyle Edmund, Britain’s current number one.

At the start of 2016, having won two titles on the ITF Futures circuit – the third tier of professional tennis – Hoyt reached 542 in the ATP Singles rankings.

Then came the shoulder injury which put him out of the game for 18 months until last September when he finally managed to get back on court.

Over the past few months he has started to climb back up the rankings, winning a Futures doubles title in Egypt and last week reaching the semi-finals of a doubles event in Poland.

Hoyt says: “I’m fit and getting back out there and creeping up the rankings again, so everything’s going well.

“The main thing for me is to stay healthy because I’ve spent so much time out of the game.

“I’ve been able to do that so far, and as long as I can be healthy I can keep moving forwards.

“It’s always tricky when you come back, you just need to get matches under your belt and build confidence again.

“I’m getting there, I’m definitely not playing my best tennis yet, but hopefully it will come.”

Being out of the game has been difficult to deal with for a number of reasons, not least the fact he has been playing tennis since the age of four.

Born in Mexico, where his parents were teaching at the time, Hoyt started having lessons at Llanelli Tennis and Squash club when the family returned to Wales.

Showing early promise he played in mini tennis tournaments from the age of six and quickly advanced to South Wales development squads.

At 12 he left Llanelli, the town he still calls home, to attend the Reed’s School Tennis Academy in Surrey.

Having devoted so much of his life to tennis, Hoyt says spending so much time on the sidelines was difficult.

“It’ s a tough thing to do,” he said. “Especially when a lot of your life revolves around tennis, it’s one of the most difficult parts of the sport.

“When you’re life is pretty much devoted to tennis, when you haven’t got that it’s hard.

“Luckily I was able to keep busy. I’ve been doing an Open University degree, doing a little travelling and being able to see my girlfriend.

“I got myself involved with Tennis Wales and did some coaching for them whilst I was injured. But coping with being injured is definitely not an easy thing to do.”

Then there are the financial difficulties faced by many young tennis players trying to make their way in the professional ranks, especially those fighting their way back to their previous level after injury.

Hoyt says: “At this level finance is one of the big stresses – just to stay afloat and keep competing consistently. Obviously it takes a financial toll paying for training, flights, accommodation and all the things like that.

“Although there is prize money at each of the Futures events and the other tournaments I’m playing, for the most part I’m not covering my expenses, so finance is definitely a big stress.

“Sport Wales’ Elite Cymru scheme helps me a little bit but that doesn’t go far. I do have to rely on a lot of help from my family but there is only so long that can last.”

Hoyt hopes that playing at Penarth may attract some sponsorship from Welsh companies.

“That really would be welcome. In return I could perhaps offer them some tickets at Wimbledon, their logo on my match kit, that kind of thing. So when I do play in these high profile events they get some publicity.

“When I’m in the Welsh newspapers, the name of their company would be pictured on the sleeve of my shirt. I can also endorse them via social media.”

Sponsors will certainly get their money’s worth if Hoyt manages to achieve his long-term ambition of reaching the ATP top 100, a position which would bring automatic qualification to the Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon.

Hoyt says: “My long term goal is to get to the top 100. By the end of the year the top 500 is definitely a very achievable target, or even as high as the top 300.

“All you need is a good run of tournaments and your confidence comes and then the results start picking up. It’s a long term goal really.

“The age of the top 100 these days is getting older and older, the average is about 27 or 28, so definitely, the lifespan of a tennis player is getting longer.”

As well as offering him the opportunity to play in Wales and get more games under his belt, Hoyt hopes the Penarth tournament will help inspire more young Welsh players to follow him into the professional game.

He says: “There are very few tournaments in Wales, especially at this level. There are lots of tournaments in Bristol and Bath but they rarely seem to come as far west as Wales and the Cardiff or Swansea areas, so it’s great to have a high profile national level tournament in Wales.

“Tennis Wales have a healthy amount of young kids in development squads who are 13 or 14, so if they can come along and see a good level tournament and watch players like myself and Chris Lewis, who is also one of Wales’ best coaches, competing next week, I’m sure it will inspire them to push on, keep at it and look to play at tournaments like this one day.”

The Penarth tournament is one of only 11 events on the 35-date British tour which are rated as Premier or Tier One standard.

The only Welsh date on the calendar, the tournament comprises both men’s singles and a ladies’ singles competitions with a qualifier tournament taking place on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th of May.

The main draw then starts on Wednesday, May 9, and runs through until the finals on Saturday, May 12, kicking off at noon.

Further details about the tournament are available on the LTA website.