BASINGSTOKE tennis player Tom Perkins is looking to make the top 50 players in the world in the coming year in the over 35 category.

Helping make sure he reaches his goal on the court is a sponsorship from Reach digital telecoms.

Perkins who lives in Beggarwood is the rackets manager at the Beechdown Health Club, where he coaches players of all ages at the club.

The started playing tennis at the age of five and played at county level for Hampshire and also in national competitions.

He carried on his involvement in the game from three being a tennis coach in America, Canada and Norway,

Having turned 35 in January, he picked up his racket again and started playing in competitions across the country winning a recent one in Woking.

The over 35 game is growing all the time and there is a massive tournament at the end of the year in Miami each year where the top 50 players in the world are invited.

This is the burning ambition for Perkins, but to do this and reduce his ranking he will have to play outside of Britain and this is where the Reach sponsorship kicks in.

Perkins said: "I am looking to play in Croatia early next year and even if there is prize money for this events it is not enough to make this my living, so having the Reach sponsorship I am able to play in tournaments no worrying about the money side of things.".

"My aim for next year is to try and make the end of season event in Miami, this is a massive event with the best players in the world."

James Kemp of Reach said: "I own and run the company and we look after our clients for all their telecom needs phones, lines, calls and broadband.

We pride ourselves on our customer services and have won Samsung business partner of the year two years in a row.

He added: "I am from Basingstoke and wanted to invest back into my community by sponsoring Tom on his tennis journey.

We are very proud to be supporting Tom and are looking for the opportunity to help local business maximise their telecoms solution whilst reducing their costs."