JP Snyman, a 12-year-old Lowvelder, recently competed in the Kim Clijsters by Ten-Pro Global Junior Tour in Bree, Belgium.

The number-one ranked South African u/12 player advanced to the u/12 final without dropping a set, before losing to the number-one ranked u/12 player from Denmark on Sunday.

It was his first tournament on clay.

JP and his father, Tiaan, recently retuned from Europe after a nearly four-week tour in which he honed his tennis skills.

The Laerskool Nelspruit pupil spent 12 days at the Paris West Tennis Academy. He and his father arrived on October 17.

For the first time in his tennis career, JP trained and played on clay.

He told Lowvelder on Tuesday that he wants to become a professional tennis player. Mastering clay-court play is vital for him as as it is the dominant surface for professional tournaments in Europe.

“The surface is slower than the normal hard courts that I am used to. You have to work so much harder just to win a point,” JP said.

Father and son travelled to the Kim Clijsters Tennis Academy in Bree. From November 1 to 7, JP participated in the tournament.

JP, having the experience of playing in the biggest junior tournaments in South Africa, took on the new challenge of clay-court competition with confidence.

“I was nervous at first, not sure what to expect, but I realised after the first day that the tournament was very similar to what I had experienced here in South Africa,” he said.

In the u/12 section he defeated Nicholas Petersen of Denmark 6-1, 6-0 and then James McMillan of Ireland 6-2, 6-1 to set up a semi-final against Marvin Hüneke of Germany.

JP was on fire, defeating Marvin 6-0, 6-0. In the final he was up against a Dane, Andreas Hansen. Andreas won the final 6-4, 6-2.

JP also competed in the u/13 section of the tournament.

In his opening match JP beat Germany’s Adrian Mohr, 6-1, 6-3, before losing in the round of 16 to the current Belgium u/13 national champion, Nand van de Poel, 6-4, 6-1.

He finished ninth in the u/13 section. JP has returned to South Africa with valuable experience and many tennis lessons learned.

“I will need to be more aggressive and on clay. I will have to play with even more imagination and variety,” he said.

JP trains out of the All4Tennis tennis programme run by Schalk Schutte and Juwayria Asvat, who are his current coaches, at Hoërskool Nelspruit.