MALKY THOMSON hopes a move Stateside will allow son Connor the chance to make a name for himself as Scotland’s next tennis star.
The 18-year-old is preparing to head to South Carolina to begin a scholarship as he takes a significant step forward in his career.
Thomson made it through two qualifying rounds before losing in the last 32 at the Australian Junior Open last month and also reached the last 16 of the doubles competition.
Now his father, who is Head of the Intermediate Academy at Rangers, has backed him to make the most of the opportunity across the pond.
READ MORE: Steven Smith goes back to grassroots to kick-off his coaching career after launching his own Academy
Thomson told SportTimes: “I am delighted with him, he is a very driven individual, much like the Rangers players. They need to believe that they are going to win medals and Connor is the same.
“He is a real different breed. He loves his sport and nothing will stop him achieving his dream. Financially it is a big strain, though, and Andy Black at Ellmoll Builders has been a real help to Connor in that regard.
“At Rangers, the club take care of the finances of the boys and the development process is made easier because there is no financial burden.
“With Connor, it is a bit different and if you are not fully funded, it is hard. His journey has been that he has not been fully funded and he has had to scratch and fight, but he has proven that he will come out on top.
“He is going to go to South Carolina University in August, he has got a four-year scholarship which is fully funded, which is great. We are thankful for the guys out there, they have been plotting his progress since he was ten years of age and he is now 18.
READ MORE: Malky Thomson is settled at Rangers once again after a life and career on the road
“He had a lot of offers at the time but he was made to feel really welcome there and he loved the environment.
“It is a bit like here, the environment is good. So I am really looking forward to seeing what he can do with those people round about him.
“He got a good start in the game of tennis with Ana and Cesar Ferrer, they have got a tennis academy in Dubai. I was out working there for three years and he started his tennis journey there.
“Cesar is very passionate, very driven as well and I think that really helped him at the start of his journey and now he is set for that next step.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here