Louise Hunt Exclusive Interview

Louise Hunt enjoyed a hugely successful 2011 on the wheelchair tennis circuit as she shot into the world's top twenty.

And she is hoping that 2012 will be just as successful as she prepares for the London Paralympic Games.

I caught up with her to talk about her year and the preparation for what lies ahead.

- You have teamed up with Cadbury Dairy Milk for the Get Singing Keep Team GB pumped so can you tell me a little bit about the campaign?

It’s funny because it was on Tuesday last week and it was the first thing that I had got involved with for it and they pranked all the athletes we didn’t know what they were doing.

They had us training then all of a sudden there was this woman dressed in tennis balls and they were all dancing and singing around us. That was my first relationship with the campaign really but it was so much fun - it made me jump so much.

- How big a part does music play in you preparation for a big match - are there any particular songs that you find motivating?

I am a bit of a music geek really (laughs) I can’t live without my music. I have got a massive variety that I listen too I love a but of old school like the Beatles and the Beach Boys but the I am a bit of a geek and like Glee - anything that is upbeat and that plays a massive part in my game really.

- You have had a very successful year so how would you sum up 2011 and the shape that you have been in this year?

Absolutely brilliant! Honestly I have never been happier and I have never had such a great year of tennis - all around everything has just gone perfectly and I couldn’t have asked for any better.

But it’s just the result of a lot of hard work really it hasn’t just been look if you know what I mean? (laughs). I am playing the best I have every played and I can’t wait for 2012 because it can only get better.

- You had a very successful junior career so how have you found the transition into the senior ranks?

Luckily for me it was quite a smooth transition because as I was coming out of the end of juniors I started to go to women’s - it was quite gradual really. When I left juniors at eighteen I was ranked world number two, which is very exciting as it was my highest every world ranking.

So I found that it was quite smooth and our federation was great in making sure that it was a smooth transition - we did both for a little while.

But I love the women’s game and I love being part of the tour and I enjoy every tournament, I am going to Australia in January and I can’t wait now.

- You are inside the world’s top twenty so what now do you think needs to be done to move up the rankings even further and break the top ten?

I think for me it’s just been some fine tuning, I have been focusing on my serve a lot in the last few months and just getting that a little bit better - which I definitely have.

That’s why I can’t wait to go because I have had a two month training block to get everything ready for 2012 - so I can’t wait to get to a tournament because we have made a few fine adjustments and I can feel the benefits.

So I am feeling confident, I have beaten the world number eleven and twelve already in 2011 so that was a great feeling.

It was just fine tuning because I was playing top ten players and getting so close to them so the gap wasn’t huge - we have just spent some time finding the odd little things that were missing and I think we have found them.

- The Paralympic Games are now just around the corner so how excited are you at the prospect of playing in a home Games?

I can’t wait, I am so excited. But it is quite scary we have been talking about it for the last four years, ever since Beijing, and all of a sudden it is here and it is quite odd because we have been saying ’oh it’s two year away’, ’it’s a year away’ and all of a sudden we are in 2012 and it really isn’t that long away.

So it’s really exciting and a little bit nerve-wracking - but it’s more exciting.

- Lucy Skuker and Jordanne Whiley are two other British ladies inside the top twenty so what do you think Team GB tennis can achieve at the Paralympics next year?

I think overall, including the guys as well, hopefully we can cause a few shocks.

This year we won bronze in the team World Cup, the year before we won silver, so I think, especially in the doubles; we don’t know which two of us it will be yet, but we can definitely make a big impact in including the guys and out quad division as well.

So I think the whole of the GB tennis team will hopefully be able to get some good results.  

- And what are your personal ambitions for the Games?

I know it sounds a little cliché but I just want to go there knowing that I have done everything I can to play my best and if I play my best I won’t ask for anything more - if I have done my best than I can’t do anything more and that is my attitude so that’s what I am hoping for really.

- How much as the 2012 Games been a focus point over last season or have you tried to put it to the back of your mind with it still being twelve months away?

It is an odd one really because it is all people talk about but to me and my coach have the same attitude we like to focus on the journey and if we do everything right on the journey then the end results will come.

In one sense yeah I do, in training, put it to one side but obviously you have to prepare for it - but our federation always get us well prepared for it; telling us what we are doing in the village and who is going to be with us.

So I think it’s a bit of both really and you have to keep a balance otherwise you can get really overwhelmed with it all.

- So where will we be seeing you compete as you get ready for the Games?

Firstly I am in Australia and I have four tournaments out there, they start on the 1sy January. Then I have two tournaments in England which will be nice. Then I have one in Switzerland, one in America, one in Brazil, and one in Argentina before going to Barcelona for a week.

Then I have four weeks in Korea and Japan, a three week European tour and then I have month off and then it’s the Paralympics.

So I have eighteen between now and July then I have three weeks off before I will hopefully be competing in London.

- How much is the travelling, which you will be doing a lot of this year, something that you enjoy?

I absolutely love it. I play tennis for tennis and it’s just like an extra perk really that I get to travel to all these places. 

I think it’s just great because you get to meet some really interesting people, you get to see some beautiful places; some of the tournaments are in amazing locations and they treat so nicely.

So I love the travelling but it is quite tiring, I’m going to Australia and that will be quite tough because you have to go out there early to acclimatise and get over the jetlag.

- How did you get into the sport in the first place? 

We moved to a new house when I was five year old and out next door neighbour had a tennis court in their back garden.

We were always really close to our neighbours and my mum, dad and brother always use to play and I just never didn’t if that makes sense? I just use to join in.

Strangely the year they sold their land with the court in it tennis courts were built opposite out house so it was like I was destined to play tennis. I always played it and I always loved it.

Then I went to the Stoke Mandeville Games where youngsters can try out all sorts of different sports and you can get talent spotted there as federations come and look for talent. And that is where I got talent ID’d when I was eight or nine and that was it really.

- What do you hope that the 2012 Games will do for Paralympic sport in this country?

I think already it has made and amazing and positive impact but I hope that it will just get it out there more because it is not as well publicised as able bodied sport but we will get loads of TV coverage next year which is great.

I have been in London over the last few days and there are already some great full sized billboards around which is just incredible - just under a year out and they are already publicising it which is great.

Hopefully during and after Paralympic sport will be a little bit more well known and that is already happening so that is awesome.

- Finally for anybody who wants to get into wheelchair tennis or any other Paralympic sport what advice would you give them?

Do it (laughs). The truth is, for anyone, if they want to take on a sport whether it’s for a hobby or if it’s professional do it because, especially if you have a disability as well, exercise is so good for you.

I think some disabled people do realise how good they can be and how successful they could be and they could be a professional athlete so I hope it makes people feel like ‘I can do that’.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Olympic British athlete Louise Hunt stars in the latest track for Cadbury Dairy Milk's Keep Singing Keep Team GB Pumped campaign, as part of its London 2012 Paralympic Olympic Games sponsorship, which aims to get the nation singing along to show their support for Team GB. For more information visit http://keepourteampumped.com.