Time to support Levova

On Tennis: Nobody can say Ireland has been slow on picking up on tennis talent that was not born and raised here but because of ancestry qualified to play for the Federation Cup and Davis Cup teams.

Matt Doyle, all of those years ago (1981-'88), became the Californian, college-educated kid who became one of the most, if not the most successful and high-profile player to ever line out for Davis Cup for Ireland.

Matt is now polishing the image of The K Club and its members in the letters pages of this newspaper and keeping his handicap to a low single-figure level that most of us would envy.

In the UK, Brad Gilbert, the former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, has been bought in at huge expense to nurture and coach Scotland's Andy Murray, while the LTA have also been courting the Serbian player, Novak Djokovic. Again the cash-rich British association have the tens of millions in profits from Wimbledon to buy in what they need to strengthen their Davis Cup team and promote the idea that a British male can win the All England Club's championship for the first time since Fred Perry.

Jelena Dokic jumped ship from her native Yugoslavia to play for Australia, fell out with the Aussies and declared for Serbia after Yugoslavia fell apart, while Mary Pierce, brought up as a Canadian, decided to play for France in the Federation Cup.

Wayne Arthurs, an Australian Davis Cup player and a regular second-week Grand Slam competitor, especially in doubles, could have played for Ireland as his Belfast parentage allowed but decided Aussie tennis offered more.

It has become an acceptable modern fact that players, once they fulfil the conditions laid down by the International Tennis Federation, can change allegiance and nationality and legitimately play at international level for another country.

In Dublin a young player called Mariyana Levova has been catching the eye for a couple of years now. Born in Plovdiv, Levova was ranked number two in Bulgaria in the under 14-age group before coming to Ireland in March 2005 to settle with her parents and three-year-old brother. She now lives in Navan, goes to the Mercy Convent school there and is a cherished member of Castleknock Tennis Club.

Levova is now 16 and has won the junior Fitzwilliam tournament for the last two years in the under-18 age group. So at 14, she has been consistently beating players who were close to four years older than her. The talk in Castleknock is that the busy, no-nonsense baseline player could be the first to win the Fitzwilliam junior title four times.

That's not a bad indicator of Levova's talent. But watching her play, her ability becomes even more apparent. She hits hard groundstrokes off both sides and has a wonderful double-handed backhand. Even more impressive is her temperament and on-court maturity. Mistakes are greeted with a steely stare and a slap on the thigh. She then gets on with the next point. No histrionics, no moaning. Intensity and determination are two glaring qualities and in those areas, she is beyond her years.

She has also played in a number of ITF under-18 events in Ireland this year, lost in the final at Donnybrook and won the singles and doubles (with Jenny Claffey) in Rushbrook. Levova is seeking citizenship in Ireland and wants to play for the Irish Federation Cup team. Even now, she would probably make the squad. Currently she cannot benefit for any grants or scholarships that might be available to Irish players with her talent.

"Yeah, I want to be a pro. I want to go to college in the US, maybe take a year off after the Leaving and see how it goes," she said at the weekend. "Hopefully I can play Federation Cup for Ireland."

In the light of her intentions and transparently genuine wish to stay here with her family and play for Ireland, the hope is Tennis Ireland or the Sports Council or both organisations can step in and put some sort of financial package together for a kid, who defeated Yvonne Doyle in the final of the Castleknock Open earlier in the year. Otherwise Doyle's hot streak has seen her win just about every other tournament she has played in this summer.

Throwing the bureaucratic book at Levova and sticking her down for a few more years with red tape will hinder her development. If this were the UK, France, Spain or Belgium, she would not only be sorted but feted for the next five years.

As John McEnroe might say, "Jeez guys. For Gad's sake, throw the kid a bone."

Top talent ready to honour Parker's memory

Seven Irish Davis Cup players will be heading to Ballycastle from September 7th-9th to play in the annual tournament in memory of the late Gareth Parker, who was killed in an attack in Belfast in 1996.

From Cavehill in north Belfast, Gareth started training as a player/coach at Riverview in Dublin in 1991 before deciding to play tournaments on the continent. An Ulster senior provincial player, he worked under Francis Rawstone (coach to Thierry Champion, Arnaud Boetsch and Tarik Benabilles) at Riverview and was a training partner of Scott Barron. His death occurred on his visit home before starting his continental journey. The tournament began in 2001 in Ballycastle where Grier, Gareth's father, is a coach. Scott Barren, Owen Casey, the Nugent brothers Stephen and Michael, George Magill, Tom Hamilton and Peter Lowther will all take part.