WATCH out Wimbledon – the girls’ senior tennis squad from King Edward’s, Witley are on fire, having reached the knockout stage of the LTA’s Aegon National Schools Team Competition.

The success in this major competition is even more remarkable, considering that the King Edward’s players have gone from a zero rating to achieving above a high club or county standard rating in just 12 weeks.

The girls – Elisabet Gomez Palmarola, Maria Giunia Deriu, Elena Barroso and Darina Abuzarova – are a mixture of lower and upper sixth pupils.

King Edward’s has earmarked tennis as a sport with significant growth potential. The school is now an LTA-registered tennis club, with the ability to run ratings matches – and even win tickets to Wimbledon, the oldest and most prestigious tournament in the world. All King Edward’s pupils also have access to free British Tennis membership with the LTA.

The King Edward’s girls have already seen off some fierce competition to make it through to the last 20 in the UK, winning three matches out of three in the round-robin stage against much bigger, well-established clubs. Next month, they will bid to make it through to the last eight. The grand final will be in March.

Jim Langan, head of tennis at King Edward’s, said: “We are so proud of our players who have demonstrated what hard work, enthusiasm and sheer determination can achieve. Such is the high standard of play within the team, two of the girls will be applying to US universities for a tennis scholarship, proving that sporting prowess can also pay dividends outside the sports arena.”