Story by Lee Maginnis, photos by Paul Lawther
“IT helps me forget any other troubles in life and I love the feeling of winning, especially when I wasn’t expected to,” so says Kristen Cushnie, Lisburn Tennis Club’s number one ranked Ulster U16 girl in 2023.
Tennis is in her blood. Dad Brian is the Tennis Development Manager at Wallace Park Indoor Tennis Centre in Lisburn, the high-tech dome, clearly visible down beside the cricket club. Her coach is Michael Ferguson, who also works alongside her dad. Both men are pretty good players themselves (putting it mildly)! Kristen’s mum also appears on court at Wallace Park and her sister plays for fun.
Kristen was off to a very young start, taking part in Tennis Fundamentals classes and camps run by her dad – making learning tennis fun for kids. Brian has brought in coaches from all over the world, more about that later.
Kristen is dedicated to her sport and logs up 15 hours a week training. As she explains candidly, it can be tough, “I mostly enjoy training with my coach because it’s easy to see progress on my matches and I love the squads with all my friends as we become close through hard work. Although I don’t like all the sprints and running, the feeling after makes it all worth it.”
She has two favourite players, from different generations, in fact, one is long retired. “I admire Alcaraz,” Kirsten tells us. “He is so young and has unbelievable ability to produce perfect touch shots. My dad got me to watch Agassi as my coach was teaching me a short take back on my forehand. My reaction was, ´Who is the guy he is playing – I want to play like that?´
“I had never seen the guy, but he was really aggressive and winning points at the net – it was Pete Sampras. Dad says I always wanted to attack and as a kid I came to the net all the time even though I was much too small to be there.”
It is here that we should get back to the international coaches who have graced Tennis Fundamentals and explore a link between Kristen and Pistol Pete himself!
Catherine Hawley came over and coached in 2004 while she herself was on a tennis scholarship at UCLA in the USA. She was coached by Stella Sampras, the sister of Pete! Catherine became a great friend of the Cushnie family and when she got married in 2016, Kristen and her sister Sophie were flower girls.
This link also plays an important part in Kristen’s plans for the future, “I’d like to go to college in the USA. Perhaps UCLA as my friend Catherine Hawley played Division 1 there and loved it,” she says and continues, “I’m hoping to continue my studies in Maths, English and Science at ‘A level’ once I complete my GCSEs this year’. I don’t know what I want to study at university yet.”
Kristen has chosen tennis as her sport and she is incredibly good at it. She used to play hockey and netball at school, but her attention is now fully on tennis.
What does she rate as her biggest achievements in the game so far? “Winning the U18 Girls singles at David Lloyd this year was an amazing experience as I could see my hard work paying off. My coach said I had the biggest smile on my face after the match when I Face Timed him.
“I also enjoyed playing mixed league for ‘Lisburn Tennis Club.’ I was part of the team which won Division 2 in our first year as a club and the deciding match came down to a ladies doubles match which my partner and I won. That allowed us to play Division 1 this year against the best adult players in NI.”
Career Highlights
2022
-Represented Ulster in an U14 Interprovincial Tournament and on the “A” team for Lisburn Tennis Club, the new club won Division 2 of the Belfast and District League.
2023
-First lady on adult team for Lisburn Tennis Club in Division 1.
-U16 County Armagh Championships (Portadown), winner.
-Greystones Junior Open U16, 2nd.
-Kilkenny Junior Open, lost to eventual winner in the semi-final.
-Won two qualifying rounds in the Irish Open, at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club
-Nadal Tennis Academy, Mallorca, lost round 2 to the #1 seed who went on to win tournament.
-Harry Corry Junior Open Championships, U18 winner. Winning this saw her U18 Ulster ranking rocket from #81 to #6!
