LATEST NEWS - 30/10/2025
Massive congratulations to our latest national champion Sùra Jatto who defeated the No.2 and No.3 ranked players in Britain on her way to the 11&U Lexus National Indoor Championships singles title!
So far this has been a wonderful year for Sùra, having also been runner-up in the National Grass Court Championships over the summer. 
Why TA School?
Achievements
of our highly successful coaching team
16
Tennis Europe
Champions
38
Grade 1-2 National Champions
7
GB No.1 Players
Extraordinary
GCSE grades -
in top 10% of all private schools
TOP 2%
of all schools
- We are the only tennis academy in Britain that is also a DfE registered independent school (thus being regularly inspected and having guaranteed standards of education and compliance).
- Tennis Avenue pioneered the concept and set the blueprint for tennis-focused schooling in the UK. We are not jumping on the bandwagon, we invented it!
- We are focused on meaningful individual achievements, national and international, for our players - not on schools competitions and achievements to promote and benefit the school.
- Our raison d'être is single-mindedly to offer affordable elite level tennis opportunities to children; not to enhance the school's profile in order to attract children and boost profits. Our fees are the lowest you will find.
- We know what we are doing. We have an
unmatched track record of excellence and experience spanning over 15 years both on court and in the classroom. Our achievements are extraordinary and speak for themselves - we enthusiastically invite comparisons!
- We offer a
FULL curriculum
of academic subjects for pupils, and not a reduced curriculum which could considerably limit a child's future possibilities.
Our great strength lies in producing home-grown winners; we spot potential very early and build champions "brick by brick". When it comes to working on technical foundations with children aged 8-12, our results are are second to none.
In this single picture of a previous Tennis Avenue generation, even before the school was formed are:
- SIX different players who went on to win Tennis Europe titles;
- FOUR different players who went on to become No.1 in Britain;
- one player who went on to become No.1 in Europe 14&U, World Junior No.6 - subsequently top 500 ATP;
- one player who went to
Oxford University after being educated by tutors who are now the teachers at our school.
We are the only tennis academy in the UK that is also registered as an independent school (member of Independent Schools Association and inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate), where all students are striving for excellence in tennis.
We understand intimately the unique needs of elite tennis players. Our calendar, timetable and curriculum have all been meticulously designed to create the optimum conditions for training and tournament travel, while maintaining a stable and rigorous academic structure. Unlike other tennis & education programs we do not reduce our academic curriculum; our pupils usually gain at least 8 good GCSE qualifications.
The daily timetable incorporates 3+ hours of training, including physical and mental fitness. The annual calendar allows for regular travel to Tennis Europe, ITF and other international tournaments as well as national events as a team.
Every year we take a group of players on a month-long trip to Florida to compete in Eddie Herr, Little Mo and Orange Bowl tournaments. We also schedule one or two weeks to train abroad on clay, with academies in Spain and the Czech Republic being recent destinations.
We know your priority is tennis. Students are able to travel and train while continuing to attend classes, even from abroad. We provide the best preparation possible for a life on the tennis tour. At the same time we provide the best possible insurance against things not going to plan: a great education.
In short there is no need to choose between an elite-level tennis academy with online schooling, or a great school with a sub-elite tennis programme.
Tennis Avenue School is the very best of both, the evidence is in our achievements.
Extraordinary Achievements
Jack Pinnington Jones (who we know as PJ) arrived at Tennis Avenue aged 8, without having won an LTA Grade 4 tournament. Fast forward four years of training at Tennis Avenue and he reaches the FINAL of Longines Future Stars at Roland Garros 2015 (an invitational event for 16 of the best 13&U players from around the world, organised alongside the French Open).
If you look very carefully... you may recognise a few familiar faces, including this years' French Open Mens' Champion Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Arthur Cazaux.
PJ went on to be ranked No.1 in Europe at 14&U, and No.6 in the world Junior ITF (18&U).
Court 3 at Tennis Avenue School is named after PJ!
For a period of four years between 2015-2019, a group of Tennis Avenue girls utterly dominated British Tennis - and were arguably the strongest group of girls anywhere in Europe. This group achieved unprecedented success:
- FOUR GB No.1 players
- an all-TA 10 & Under National Championships final
- an entire season of six Grade 2 National 12& Under tournaments, ALL of which were won by TA players
- one Grade 2 National 12 & Under event at Sutton Tennis Academy being so dominated by three TA players that none of them lost to a non-TA player either in Singles or doubles
- winning the LTA Team Tennis Premier Division national title three years in a row - remaining unbeaten in all that time;
- filling two out of three places in the British national team - on two occasions;
Take a bow
Jaquelyn Ogunwale,
Alexandra McDonald,
Given Roach,
Leah Gonzales-Edwards,
Kate Mansfield,
Natalya Ogunwale,
Ekua Youri,
Cheyenne Joyce Borg,
Islay Thornicroft,
Annalise Smith,
Nina Blay,
Katie Kan.
Teta Thuku-Benzinge was amongst our very first batch of just four students that we educated all the way from Primary through to A Level - in what was then our Tennis & Education programme before we formally registered as an independent school.
Teta decided early on to pursue an academic future, and as she was clearly very capable, we supported her to excel in her studies and she was accepted into Cambridge University. From there she was accepted as a Technology Analyst at Morgan Stanley (and here you see her lighting up Times Square, New York).
Our Principal Ilge Alpay was the driving force behind Teta's education, without any previous experience as a teacher whatsoever. Not content with getting one of her first four students into Oxbridge - she also
guided Mandi Furaji into Oxford University from the same small batch.
Perhaps our greatest achievement is that we achieved everything we did while operating out of a public park, entirely self-funded, and on dilapidated outdoor tennis courts until 2020. Many of our players are not financially affluent. Our founding principle has been to help those who wanted to help themselves.
Players contributed what they could, even if not financially - for example helping to coach younger children. They were hungry and appreciated the opportunity, and were not precious about training on no frills facilities. Their attitude and fighting spirit made them feared and respected around Europe.
Now we have newly resurfaced courts and we stand alone as the only tennis academy in the country registered as an independent school. We offer elite-level tennis training as standard yet our fees are lower than almost every other independent school.
We remain entirely outside of the LTA system by choice, and we know nobody quite understands how we achieve what we do!
Limits cannot be pushed by prescribed ideas, groupthink, or standardised methods - but by innovation and ingenuity, doing things never been done before.
Could you benefit from having us in your corner? Not just when the going is smooth, but ESPECIALLY when the going gets tough and problems need solving?
In June 2024 Jack Pinnington Jones (above and below) defeated British No.1, and world No.39, Cameron Norrie 1-6 6-4 6-4 at the ATP Nottingham Open
