A keen hockey player, netballer, swimmer and runner, it was only after the Covid-19-induced lockdown in England that Hannah Klugman opted to focus solely on tennis. It would appear to have been a pretty good decision.

Klugman made her debut on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors as a wild card entry at J3 Loughborough last month and marked the occasion by topping the podium in style. In doing so, she also secured a little piece of history.

Aged 13 years and one month, Klugman became the youngest British winner of a J3 event or above, eclipsing the achievements of Emma Raducanu who managed victory at a lower-graded J5 at a similar age.

Incidentally, for those unaware, the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors features events with a series of classifications. The highest is a Grade A, which alongside Junior Grand Slams carry the most prestige and ranking points, followed by a Grade 1 through to Grade 5.

Not content with her opening salvo, Klugman returned to the Loughborough courts the following week and repeated the feat, on this occasion conquering all before her without dropping a set. In short, not a bad start to her career: two ITF junior events, two wins.

“At the moments of victory, I just remember feeling very happy with how I had played as I really didn’t expect to win,” Klugman told itftennis.com.

“I was really happy to have been given a wild card into Loughborough and I didn’t really have any expectations, I was just so excited to play. Winning was a bonus and it was just a great learning experience to play against players from other countries.

“When I played the second week, I honestly didn’t really care if I won or not, I just wanted to play as well as I played in the first week, so another victory was more than I could have asked for.

“It is a great achievement being the youngest British player to win a J3 event or above, but I am just at the beginning of my tennis journey, and I have a long way to go.”

Klugman experienced tennis for the first time at an early age and used to play against a wall or with her mother, Libby, as her three older sisters competed on court at their local club, Westside, in London.

She now receives support from the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) Men’s and Women’s Programme and trains at Reeds with coach Ben Haran as well as the LTA’s National Tennis Centre.

Unsurprisingly, Klugman holds Raducanu, who shot to prominence following her sensational US Open victory last year, in very high esteem and cites her fellow teenager as a huge inspiration.

Raducanu, 19, is set to make her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Great Britain against Czech Republic in Prague on 15-16 April and playing abroad and challenging herself in fresh environments is something which flickers on Klugman’s radar also.  

“I intend to continue working hard on my tennis, so I keep improving and I hope to play in some ITF junior events abroad over the summer,” added Klugman.

“I always wanted to play tennis, but I also did loads of other sports as well. Now I just focus on tennis and take inspiration from some of my idols growing up, the likes of Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray.

“I also loved watching Ash Barty and I am so sorry that she has retired. Recently, I have been hugely inspired by Emma as she is the same age as one of my sisters, who used to play with her a bit, and has achieved so much. In fact, she is a big inspiration.”

Not a bad role model for an aspiring player to have.