Xu named Tennis Wales' player of the year

Mimi Xu has been named Tennis Wales' player of the year after a remarkable breakthrough season.

A teenage wildcard, Xu became the first Welsh player to enter the main singles draw at Wimbledon in almost 20 years last summer, meeting Emma Raducanu in the first round.

She followed that with the biggest victory of her career by beating Mika Stojsavljevic to win the Lexus Wrexham Open.

Xu also won the doubles at that event with Ella McDonald.

"I'm really honoured to receive the award," said Xu.

"This year has been amazing for me, I have learned so much, had some great experiences and I'm really proud of how far I've come."

"Playing at Wimbledon and making my Grand Slam debut was incredibly special and it's something that I'll never forget.

"And winning the Wrexham Open was a big moment for me and gave me loads of confidence moving forwards.

"I'm really grateful for all of the support from Tennis Wales, my coaches and everyone who has helped me along my journey."

Now 18, Swansea-born Xu is competing on the ladies circuit where she has a singles WTA ranking of 241.

She played in her first Grand Slam qualifiying event at the Australian Open earlier this month and is currently in last 32 action of the Mumbai Open.

Chris Lewis, head of performance at Tennis Wales, says 2026 promises to be an equally successful year for Welsh tennis.

"It's going to be really exciting following Mimi, she's getting accepted into the Grand Slam events by ranking now, so we should see her in qualifiyng and also in the main draw," he said.

"We've got three or four players coming just behind Mimi that are playing on the professional circuit. They all have career-high rankings as they move up through the levels."

Lewis also expects last year's player of the year, Wales number one James Story, to push on, while 19-year-old Viktor Frydrych is just breaking through on the men's circuit, having been a top 20 junior in the world.

"There's an exciting group of juniors as well," added Lewis.

"They're heading off to US college for the next stage of their careers and hoping to play the grass courts at some of the major events, including Junior Wimbledon.

"Watch out for players like Oliver Page, Archie Gray and Niall Pickard-Barua who are all playing at the top end of the junior ITF tournaments."