Stowmarket dad praises 15-year-old daughter Jessica Staines after ‘incredible’ year of tennis
A proud dad has praised his 15-year-old daughter following a successful year of tennis while studying at school and helping to care for her seriously disabled sister.
Jessica Staines, 15, of Stowmarket, is the current Suffolk Ladies’ champion and has emerged victorious with a number of ladies’ tennis titles in recent months, despite her age.
Jessica, who is known as ‘JJ’, trains at David Lloyd, Ipswich with her coach Michael Billson and has gone from strength to strength in 2024.
Her dad, Matt Staines, 53, is also a tennis fan and regularly trains with Jessica at Stowmarket Tennis Club despite an ever-growing skill gap.
He said: “She’s a very hard-working girl who is so gifted and has such a strong desire to win and improve.
“I’m unbelievably proud of her but I’m particularly pleased with how strong mentally she is now as she used to get angry and frustrated but we’ve been working on that and that’s now paying off.
“This year her series of regional ladies’ titles have been her biggest career wins and that has shot her up the rankings.
“She’s had an incredible time on the court and the level of tennis she’s playing at is brilliant.”
Following her regional title wins in Felixstowe, Framlingham, Cromer and more, Jessica hopes to go on to become a professional tennis player.
However, her family are unable to afford for her to compete in international tournaments and other tennis-related things due to her older sister, Isabelle, who is seriously disabled.
Both Matt and his wife Suzanne had to give up their jobs to look after Isabelle.
Matt said: “Jessica is honestly amazing at helping around the house and looking after her sister especially during the night.
“She’s now being held back a bit as she should be doing more national and international tournaments. We’re unable to match that financially but we try to support her as best we can.
“She won nearly £500 over the summer and gave half of it us. She’s ever so good like that.
“It’s remarkable that she balances her studies and tennis so well while helping to care for a seriously disabled adult sister, all with the constraints of a small budget in tennis terms.
“It’s even more impressive that she’s doing well at Stowmarket High School and may get all 6s and above in her GCSEs.
“She’s represented the school in nearly every sport they do and they’ve never seen anyone hit a rounders ball so far.”
Matt said the biggest strength of Jessica’s game was her power and her forehand and has expressed huge gratitude to David Lloyd and Michael Billson, who have supported and invested in Jessica over the last three years.
Jessica is now looking forward to competing at the highest level of the sport and hopes to be in the top 20 for Under-16 Girls in the UK next year.
Her alternative plan later down the line is to train to become a coach if a professional tennis career does not materialise.
She has recently accepted a place as a sports professional at Finborough School where she plans to study A-levels in PE, psychology and biology.
