Interview: Liam O’Reilly

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Roehampton University student Liam O’Reilly is a wheelchair tennis player with his sights firmly set on winning on the biggest stage in the sport - the Paralympic Games.

The 22 year old, currently ranked No. 23 in the world has plenty of ambition to achieve his goal. He plays in the quad division of wheelchair tennis which made its debut in the Paralympics tennis programme in 2004, and after completing a 5 month training block at the start of this year he recently started his bid to qualify for the Paralympic Games in London next year.

‘If I can get myself to London that would be an amazing experience and that’s what I’m trying to do this year.’

The qualification period started in May and with a draw size of 16 in the singles event he explains it will not be easy ‘it’s going to be tricky to try and qualify, I’ve got to be top 3 in the country and top 12 in the world, and then going on to 2016 in Rio the Paralympics there I hopefully want to medal in those games and do as well as I can there.’

O’Reilly has been playing tennis since the age of 16 and after initially starting out in wheelchair basketball and captaining the London Under 18s team he decided to make the switch to tennis ‘I sort of wanted to take all the responsibility myself in the sport I was getting involved in and the more and more I played the more I enjoyed it, and I’ve worked pretty hard over the last few years to get my game as good as I can and it’s getting better and better as I’m going on pushing up the rankings slowly but surely.’

He is currently on the sports scholarship programme at the University of Roehampton studying Sports Psychology and is taking an all-round professional and hard working approach to improve his game. He explains that a typical training week involves putting in a lot of hours:

‘It’s around 6 days a week at the moment, so I’m probably doing 5 or 6 on court sessions a week maybe slightly more than that actually, then 3 or 4 gym sessions, 3 or 4 cardio sessions then psychology sessions, video assessments and things like that.’

The Tennis Foundation is the governing body for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and as part of the university’s TASS programme (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) he trains at the National Tennis Centre - the head quarters of the Lawn Tennis Association, the top tennis facility in the country and only a short trip from the Roehampton University campus.

He says it’s a great place to play; ‘The LTA have linked in really well with the Tennis Foundation so organised that we’re allowed to use the courts as much as possible, and seeing some of the best British players around the Centre really makes me want to work harder every day to meet my targets.’

As well as clocking up the hours in the gym he clocks up thousands of air miles in the push to climb up the world rankings. Having played international tournaments in Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic this year, and with scheduled trips to the South Africa, America and potentially Australia coming up a lot of travel is required to accumulate the ranking points needed to qualify for top events.

The work seems to be paying off as he recently claimed a tournament victory at the Orlen Polish Open in Plock, Poland. Partnering Boaz Kramer of Israel he won the quad doubles final against fellow Brit, world No. 9 and Beijing Paralympic bronze medallist Jamie Burdekin, and Dorrie Timmermans of the Netherlands.

‘That was a massive win for me and he is also the British number 3 at the moment so that was a huge win for me so probably my career high a really good start to the year.’

He says the competitive side of the game is what he likes most about being in the sport; ‘I think competing has got to be my favourite thing about it, I love playing matches and getting out there around the world.’

The experiences that come along with competing are also something he enjoys about being on tour; ‘I get to see some great places and then just the people you meet around, you get to see some great people that give you some great opportunities to do other things around the sport.’

One of those opportunities gained was to appear in a TV commercial for a leading worldwide bank ahead of the French Open at Roland Garros - and with continuing success on court there could be many more in the lead up to London 2012.

Beyond the London Paralympics O’Reilly is looking to play in Super Series events (the top tier tournaments in wheelchair tennis that are played at Grand Slam venues) and hopes they will grow:

‘Hopefully in the future once I get a few more years of experience behind me maybe Wimbledon, the US Open, Australian Open and the French Open would be something possible, it’s sort of the top 4 in the world so pretty tough but hopefully in years to come with more exposure the more they’ll open up the draw to us.’

Follow Liam O’Reilly’s progress on tour as he aims to qualify for the Paralympic Games on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/oreillyliam
And on his blog:
www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/Tennis-blogs/Disability-Tennis/

Interview: Liam O’Reilly

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