LEADING young tennis players from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been given some advice from the top.

Fourteen of the youngsters, aged between ten and 13, were selected by the Hampshire and IW Lawn Tennis Association to attend a performance roadshow.

It was held at the Hampshire Centrecourt club in Basingstoke and attended by some of the people at the top of the British game.

Tips were handed out by Patrice Hagelauer, the national director of performance, and national coach Jonathan Smith.

All the youngsters were hoping to impress enough to be included in the LTA's Futures Programme, which is headed up by former British number one Mark Cox.

One of the young players at the event was ten-year-old Will Barrett, a member of the Winchester club.

Barrett should have a good chance of a place on the programme having recently won the County under-10 title without dropping a game throughout the whole tournament and also stepping up two years to win the under-12 county championship in some style.

He won the semi-final 6-0 6-1 and the final 6-0 6-0.

It is not that Barrett is big for his age or that Hampshire are weak in the age groups; they are not.

But Barrett looks an unusually talented youngster. He is coached at Winchester by Tim Robson who sees little to no difference between Barrett and a certain Tim Henman at his age.

"At this stage William is on the right track to make it to the top, but from experience we know there is a long way to go," said Robson.

"Even at this age successful players can be put under a lot of pressure to perform."

At only ten years of age Will is already being pursued by potential sponsors, recently securing a one-year contract with Aqua Pura to help fund his coaching.

It is an indication that exceptionally talented youngsters are being sought out at a younger and younger age.

Robson says: "Knowing Will and his parents and knowing their sensible attitude to their son's success, he has as good a chance as anyone in this country of reaching the top of the game."