HOME AND AWAY CONOR NILAND Johnny Wattersonon the Irish player who at the age of 26 has opted to give the full-time circuit his best shot and is aiming to hit the world's top 50

IRISH TENNIS has taken some flak in recent years for its inability to follow almost every other sport in being able to produce at least one Irish player capable of taking on the world. Sailing, badminton, snooker, cricket, basketball, hockey, equestrianism have all been able to step up and compete at world level.

The anomaly that Irish tennis has failed to push someone out there who can qualify for the main Grand Slam draws is now being challenged with some determination by Louk Sorensen and Limerick's Conor Niland.

The 26-year-old Niland, a former Berkeley University student, may have left it later than others but his willingness to get out and play the lower-tier tournaments, he believes, will allow him climb up the rankings and within two years gain automatic qualification to the four majors.

If the Ireland Davis Cup player can achieve his aim to reach a ranking of higher than 100, it would also carry weight against the argument that the US college route, which most of Ireland's best players have taken over the years, is a failed one.

Should Niland have being doing this at 17 years of age?

"It's a tough question to answer," he says. "From a tennis standpoint, if I was younger than I am now I'd have a better chance if I had the right coaching. But it's a tough lifestyle to do it for 15 years. At 24 or 25 I might have been completely burned out so there's that other side of the coin.

"I felt I was more mature after two years of college to go back out on the tour. I knew what I wanted a little bit more. But the fact is I went to college and I'll make the most of it. Now I'm absolutely doing this full time-until my body can't do it. I'm at least doing it for another four or five years, barring injury."

Niland's ranking now is 301 in the world. This week he travelled to London in the hope of competing in the Wimbledon Qualifying event at Roehampton but fell just short of being accepted. Last month he had some hitting practice in California with record Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, while at Berkeley, former tour professional Wayne Ferreira is the regular coach.

Niland is no stranger to both sides of the tennis world and he's clocking up the air miles with his eyes wide open.

"It's tough," he says. "You are totally immersed in it when you're doing it. You go away six weeks at a time and it is tennis and your hotel. When you lose you go and train every day and when you're in the tournament you are just trying to get rest every day.

"I travel with a full-time coach, Joseph O'Dwyer, who is from Dublin but based in Alabama. He was based in Atlanta for a couple of years and has worked with top-100 players like Ginepri (the American, Robby). It's the 50 to 100 rather than 50 to the top 10, but good players.

"He's helped me out a lot and I feel I'm learning and improving. So it's pretty productive when I'm there. When I lose I know what I've done wrong. I think I'm going to be playing my best tennis over the next year or two.

"I am hitting my targets. I've been moving up always and I would have liked to be inside 300 by the end of the last trip. You know I'm still looking at the top 200 by the end of the year and I think, barring injury, I will reach that goal.

"I'm playing against guys in the top 200 and I am competing with them. I know it's not a difference in standard. I know I am able to compete with those guys."

At the higher level, the ability to win matches is a skill of its own, as basic as having two decent serves or a strong forehand. To get the break point up in the second set and hold on to it is something Niland must improve if he is to move forward. This year he has reached a final of a Futures event and won another in Britain and recently reached the last eight in a more difficult Challenger event in California.

The next stage is to compete at the latter stages in Challengers and also play in the higher-tier ATP events.

"I guess closing out matches is what I have to work on most. You train so hard and your whole life revolves around it. It's a case of your life depending on it but at the same time play the match as if it doesn't matter," says Niland. "It's a really tough balance.

"I'm playing great in practice but I'd like to be able to close out matches a little bit better and if I could do that it would make a big difference in my ranking."

The hit with Sampras came about through a tennis contact in UCLA. Having played against the UCLA team in his university career he got to know the landscape and was contacted by their team manager to be informed that Sampras was looking for a hitting partner. Stella, Sampras's sister, is the head women's coach at UCLA.

"I met him (UCLA manager) in October and he said, 'I'm working with Pete'. Then he saw I was back a couple of weeks ago and he texted me to ask if I wanted to hit after the tournament, so I practised with Sampras in UCLA.

"He hit the ball unbelievably flat, very little top spin. I've practised with top-10 (players) before, Wayne Ferreira and top-100 guys, and you kind of know what you're getting but this was really flat ball, really deep. His slice is unbelievably good. It was interesting to hit with him."

There is now a run of tournaments in Ireland: two Futures events ($15,000 prize fund) and the Shelbourne Irish Open Challenger ($75,000 prize fund) followed by a Davis Cup tie against Ukraine in July. After that Niland and his coach will take off to chase ranking points on the clay courts of Europe. He wants his coach to be at every match and most practice sessions in what is a big push until the end of the year.

He has a strong attitude and ambitions shaped by his experience so far on the circuit.

"Top 50 and absolutely play in Slams and to be winning matches in Slams," he says of his intentions. "I think top 50 is a realistic goal. Top 100, I'd probably settle for that. But if I want to set my sights high it's the top 50. Barring injury, I feel I will be top 100. It's a tough transition 200 to 100 and up to 50 but I'm going to work hard."