Ward, the 20 year old son of a London taxi driver has taken an unusual route to the pro tennis circuit, well at least by British standards. As a teenager, frustrated by the lack of opportunities and support from British tennis authorities, his parents took the bold move to send him to the Equelite academy in Valencia where he remained based for the next 4 years, training alongside such stars as Juan Carlos Ferrero (French Open champion in 2003).

"I came to be based in Spain because I wasnt getting any help in England and it was too expensive to have an individual coach. I picked Equelite because it was the best at the time and was closest to home. I did not get any support from the LTA to pay for this, it was our decision and my family have paid the bills. I hope that i can achieve my full potential as this would be the best way to thank my family for their unquestioned support."

Its a story which will sounds familiar to followers of British tennis, at around the same time Andy Murray was making a similar decision to go to Spain, also frustrated with the LTA regime back then, except Murray chose the Sanchez-Casal academy in Barcelona

Equelite is used as a training base by a lot of the top Spanish professionals when theyre in town as it has some of the best facilities in the country. This provides some great opportunities for the young players there as James found.

"I was very lucky to get to practise with J.C (Ferrero) and Guille (Garcia-Lopez) on a regular basis. It was a great lift as I was a regular hitting partner for them and they became great friends."

Like most of the Spanish players, Ward didnt bother with the relative comforts of the junior tour, instead from 16 he began to ply his trade on the mens circuit, in search of his first points. "I didnt really have much choice in this" he says, "there was not enough money for me to play the junior tour (where theres no cash rewards for doing well) so I had to start playing pro events."He was helped by the abundance of Spanish futures, blessed with sun there's 1 most weeks of the calendar year, even right into December.

Its a tough place for a young player to start his career, the Spanish qualifying draws can be a gruelling 4 rounds and theyre regarded as some of the toughest in the world. James does feel that the experience was an advantage to what he would have experienced if he'd stayed in the UK,

"The Spanish circuit is very tough, but the weather is great all-year round and I'm very happy on both clay and hard. I guess that I can call Spain home as my family moved out here to forward my tennis career. So yes that did give me some advantage, it's always nice to be on familiar ground."

A lot of Spanish players do struggle away from the red dirt but James firmly denies his training has made him just another stereotypical clay-court specialist, pointing to the results he's had on hard courts in particular,"I'm comfortable on most surfaces, I like both clay and hard but hard is probably my favourite. I loved playing on the grass for the first time and I didnt do bad at Queens last year (he entered the qualifying) considering it was the first time I'd ever played a tournament on grass."

However James progress was severly hindered by injuries early on, he spent nearly 2 years on the sidelines from 16-18. "I had lots of knee and heel injuries during that period because I was growing a lot. It was frustrating because I couldnt compete or train."

After a number of good results in futures back in 2006, he received to a first real taste of the big time last spring when he received a wildcard into the ATP Valencia tournament, the curtain-raiser to the clay-court season and his ATP debut (he lost in round 1 but in 3 sets and he came close to upsetting a player ranked much higher).

"The opportunity came as quite a surprise, I wasnt expecting anything but I was given the chance by Juan Carlos and his coach who run the tournament as they believe in my ability and they thought I was ready. It was an amazing experience and one I hope to repeat very soon. Its a big contrast to the tournaments I usually play, on the ATP tour you have everything you need and get treated so well. In futures there arent any spectators, very little interest is put into the tournaments by the organisers and the venues are not as nice !!"

Soon afterwards James returned to Britain following an invitation to check out the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton from the new LTA regime impressed by his recent results. This is a part-time arrangement, he still trains at Equelite. James explained, "The main reason was that there were some good players to train with and being able to base myself in London is an advantage when playing the summer tournaments in Britain (the clay futures in Bournemouth and the June grass events). The LTA also offered to help out with some funding which was great."

At the end of the year he got a call from none other than Toni Nadal, offering the chance to spend the off-season training in Mallorca with him and his squad. Aswell as being Rafa's coach Toni is also heavily involved in helping lower ranked Spanish players and he'd met up with James at various futures

"I've known Toni through travelling around and playing tournaments in Spain. He has a small group who he travels with and they are all more or less the same ranking as me so it made sense to go and get some good input from him and good hitting practice from his players. Unfortunately I didnt get to hit with Rafa as he was in australia at the time. I wont be training permanently in Mallorca, as Im playing many tournaments all over the world and its not possible to have a permanent base anywhere at the moment."

"In Mallorca, I worked hard physically and did a lot of injury prevention so I could be ready to go from January. Tennis-wise, I worked on my serve a lot and trying to come into the net more and finish off the point. The majority of my time is taken up with preperation for the next tournament. There really is no off season for players at my level and if you want to make it theres no time for holidays or breaks. Its a very tough life and you must be properly prepared."

At the time of writing James is currently ranked 488 after some good results in Cuba, USA and Spain. Its the highest hes ever been and significant progress from where he was last year but theres still a long, long way to go. Tennis players dont make any real profit unless theyre in the worlds top 150 and for players down at James level, keeping afloat financially is a constant challenge.

"I dont really know the financial situation of other British players but for me it is very difficult. I'm greatly dependent on my parents who have given without question. An indication of just how much support they've given was when I was 16 and they moved out of England and resettled in spain, soley a move to further my tennis career. The LTA do help out from time to time and of course every bit of help is greatly appreciated. It must be difficult for them to decide who get's what as there are a lot ofplayers trying to compete for funding. I just hope that I can justify their support through the coming year and onwards."

"I'm aiming to become self-sufficient financially this year which would be a big bonus but it will involved having to win most of the matches I play. My main weapon is tennis is my fitness which comes from all the clay training and has helped me through many long and hard matches."