INTRODUCING! Scotland’s No 2 tennis star
World No 540 and fighting to make a living, but O’Mara vows he can reach the top
FIRST is first. Second is, well, a long way behind in a far-off country. ‘Tunisia doesn’t bring back good memories,’ said Jonny O’Mara, tennis competitor, survivor of the Futures tour, and, incidentally the second best player in Scotland.
‘I remember two tournaments there and both times were kind of interesting. There was barely a roof on your hotel room.
‘And the taxi drivers are nuts. One time we had to climb out of the window because one had ended up in the middle of a roundabout.
‘We were also chased out of a supermarket by a gang.’
He added with a smile: ‘I suppose it wasn’t all bad. I reached the final, I think.’
O’Mara was once a very fine junior player and is now, at 22, an ambitious professional. ‘Only Andy in Scotland is better than me,’ said the man from Arbroath. He is referring, of course, to the world No 1 who is preparing to defend both his Queen’s and Wimbledon titles as the grass season descends decorously on the tennis circuit.
Only one ranking place separates them in their native land though the gap is more pronounced when one glances at the ATP rankings. O’Mara is ranked 320 in doubles and lurks around the 500 mark in singles.
Murray’s considerable earnings are complemented by multi-million pound sponsorship deals. O’Mara funds his tilt at the Futures circuit by coaching and playing tennis in the French league. He is a connoisseur of the budget airline, an expert in Airbnb, and a master of necessity.
‘I have probably slept in an airport in eight different countries,’ he said of the vagaries of cheap flights that become delayed flights.
It is tough at the top but it is brutal nearer the bottom. ‘If it was easy then everyone would be a tennis player,’ said O’Mara philosophically. He concedes, though, there are three major challenges for the innocent abroad.
‘First, there is the transition from juniors,’ said O’Mara, who was a top 50 performer in that category. ‘I did pretty well in juniors and you think you are going to do well in seniors. You get spoonfed in juniors then it is into the real world. It is something we struggle with in British tennis.
‘You think you are quite big in juniors and then you go into seniors and there thousands and thousands of good players fighting to make a living.’
This opposition presents the second challenge. The ranking system in tennis is uncompromising. ‘Basically, you are playing guys at 26 or 27 who have to win to pay for their house,’ said O’Mara.
Some of these players travel with a coach and other support staff. O’Mara points out this can be a significant advantage. ‘An opponent’s coach will watch you in the previous round. He can then come up with the perfect game plan to beat you. You basically know he is right-handed and that’s it. So you can be playing a higher-ranked player with better resources. That’s tough.’
Then there is the money. ‘It is a very expensive sport,’ he said. ‘I try to do all the financing myself. I do a bit of coaching, I help with juniors, I play French league. I live frugally, particularly on the road. But I don’t mind that. You are not on holiday. It’s your work.’
When asked how much he earns, he replied wryly: ‘Well, I don’t make a loss.’ He enjoyed a fine doubles run last year — he and his partner Scott Clayton won 10 titles on the Futures circuit — and his ranking has improved in singles from the 1000 mark to half of that.
The next step is crucial. If O’Mara can break into the top 250, then financial stability beckons. Any further improvement takes him towards the large pay days. It is not a forlorn dream. Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund, an exact contemporary, have both made dramatic surges up the rankings and O’Mara has beaten the latter.
He is encouraged by this and by his recent improvements and growing strength, both mental and physical. ‘The first year I found it very difficult, very lonely. I went from travelling with my mates in the juniors to travelling alone to places I didn’t want to be to play against men — guys 26, 27 — who were desperate. That was very challenging,’ he added.
It took its toll. ‘I took six months off after a year on the tour,’ he said. ‘You start tennis because you love the game but for a while I went through a phase when I didn’t enjoy it. I was questioning myself, questioning whether I could make a living. I could make good money if I started coaching. I would have easy life.’ But he has made a step forward. ‘Last year, I felt I was improving and I started to enjoy it all again,’ he said.
His training is rigorous. ‘I want to work like a professional at all times,’ he added. This, though, is compromised by the reality that he has to make a living, too. As the grass season opens, O’Mara has spent his most recent weekends flying to Paris early on a Saturday morning, practising in the afternoon and then playing both singles and doubles on the Sunday for French club Clamart on clay.
It is not the ideal preparation for the transition to his best surface but O’Mara is realistic: ‘It’s just part of what I have to do. I love the game. And I have hopes.’
These are what sustain him through the episodes on Tunisian roundabouts, the nights in airports. ‘I feel I have a chance and I want to make it,’ he said. ‘I believe I am definitely good enough as a tennis player. I have got into the top 500 without much support. I have played the least amount of tournaments because of the money.
‘But I am going to have a proper go at it and I don’t see why I can’t progress. I have beaten good players, I am getting stronger and people are breaking into the top 100 at 30. I have always been a late developer. I always struggle to go a year up and then I became accustomed to the challenge and move forward.’
He is a character who would relish life at the top. ‘I am a bit of a showman, a bit of a shouter,’ he said. ‘I loved playing in the Wimbledon juniors in front of decent crowds. It can be difficult playing on the Futures on court 19 in Croatia in front of a crowd that comprises your opponent’s coach.’
He is keen not to seem to complain. ‘You must be honest and meet the difficulties so you can overcome them,’ he said.
‘But there is no moaning. The top players have earned the right to play in front of big crowds and to employ people to help them train, eat properly. I just want to do the same.
‘I am still a young age for tennis,’ he insisted. ‘I want to strive towards my peak. Not everyone’s route to the top is as smooth as
It is a very expensive sport. I try to finance it all by myself
(Alexander) Zverev and (Dominic) Thiem,’ he said of the 20-year-old German and 23-year-old Austrian. ‘There a lot of different ways to crack it. Look at Dan Evans.’
The Englishman seemed a lost cause sinking towards the very depths of the rankings — 767th in the world two years ago — before he rose dramatically into the top 100, then top 50. ‘It can happen. You work, you practise and you play hard and it can happen,’ said O’Mara.
It has, of course, all happened for the only player in Scotland who is better than him.
‘He’s my favourite player. I absolutely love him. Just the way he plays, the fact he’s from Scotland, how feisty he is,’ he said of Murray whose major summer goal is to retain his Wimbledon title. O’Mara would just be delighted to play in SE19 whether through qualifying in the singles or a wildcard in the doubles.
But his ambitions stretch further into the future. ‘The aim is to climb those rankings,’ he said. The rise from No2 to No1 in Scotland may be a step too far but there is plenty of room to roam elsewhere.
O’Mara will do so with the aid of cheap flights, demented taxi drivers and a renewed personal vigour.
I feel that I’ve got a chance to make it. I’m definitely good enough