Hope the partnership does well but hope beyond that that Ken doesn't leave sigles behind. That would be a travesty.

Please Focus on singles Ken , ur too good a singles player

I found this article today while browsing through The Times and thought it would be good to share.

Leaving of Liverpool could prove masterstroke for Skupski brothers future

Neil Harman, Tennis Correspondent
As Britain scratches around for signs that it can survive as an international force beyond Andy and Jamie Murray, the search is probably best focused on Merseyside and a couple of diehard Liverpool fans.

Ken Skupski already holds one distinction in 2007: he has risen higher than any British player who began the year without an official ranking, to No 702 on the ATP Tour, with a burst of positive results in the autumn. This was after his return to these shores after four years at Louisiana State University (LSU) in New Orleans, not a route common to Britons who visualise a career as a professional.

But Skupski, at 24 three years younger than Steven Gerrard, one of his Liverpool heroes and another in the prime of his sporting life, had carefully mapped out his plans as a teenager. He knew that he was not equipped to join the professional ranks at 18 and could not ask his parents to subsidise a forlorn hope. He chose instead a path of education and experience that will be followed by Neal, his 18-year-old brother.

Ken extols the virtues of an American college education a real life-changing experience, he said but he has succeeded there only because, through all the plaudits and prizes, he would not be deflected from his overriding ambition. It is no surprise that he graduated in general communications an area in which the LTAs expenditure rose by a remarkable 98 per cent in the last financial year because he is a study in focus and eloquence.

On his first day as a Tiger (the LSU emblem), he was introduced to a crowd of 96,000 at a college American football match, then, at his initial roll call, he was asked to make a speech in front of 700 fellow students.

The class was speech communication and I sat at the back listening to seven other kids make their contribution, he said. It seemed that most of the rest were either talking or working on their laptops. Then my name was called and I decided to talk about Liverpool. I cant remember exactly what I said, but I do recall the hush. The teacher said I had made a very good impression.

It did not stop there because Skupski was lauded as Louisianas Freshman of the Year in 2003, the first of many scholastic honours he received. I hadnt realised that LSU was No 2 in the country as far as tennis was concerned, he said. It became the equivalent of playing County Week every day for four years. The coaches have their jobs on the line and it is intense competition. I took between 40 and 50 flights a year it was like preparing to become a professional while still being at school.

I crammed more into that time than I could possibly have done by just being on the circuit. I am pretty envious that Neal is going to have the experience that I had. It takes a lot of work to get into the college system, but I was fortunate that one of the assistant coaches at LSU saw me at junior Wimbledon in 2002, when I beat Robin Söderling, of Sweden. My career changed from that moment.

Skupski is preparing for a solid year of achievement on tour, working with Pete Russell, who also coaches and manages Richard Bloomfield, the British No 4. Skupski said: When I left for college, it seems the guys who are playing the Futures tour now were still around and its easy to become a stereotyped player.

British players have plenty of potential, but too many seem content not to want to break the mould. I want to be playing people who can beat me pretty bad because thats the only way I will learn and improve.

-- Edited by helki at 19:38, 2007-12-20