A teenager from Stevenage will appear on court with the world’s best tennis players after netting a place as a ball girl at next month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Eleanor Skipp saw off competition from more than 700 other young hopefuls to be selected as one of the 30 Barclays Ball Kids for the season-ending event at The O2 in London.

The 15-year-old, who attends St Francis College in Letchworth, took part in a regional heat in London before being chosen when 100 trialists went head-to-head earlier this month.

Tennis stars such as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will be competing at the finals – held between November 9 to 16 – with Great Britain’s Andy Murray hoping to also qualify by finishing the ATP tour ranked in the top eight in the world.

Eleanor’s mother Chris, who plans to attend the finals with her husband Nicholas, said: “She’s played tennis for the last couple of years and has absolutely love it. We found out about Barclays Ball Kids when watching last year’s finals and applied.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to do something that not many people will ever get a chance to experience. We’re really looking forward to hopefully seeing her in action and we’re absolutely thrilled that she’s been chosen.”

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