Niland courted several sports

SPORTING PASSIONS: CONOR NILAND IRELAND'S NUMBER ONE TENNIS PLAYER:I WOULD have played several sports growing up but tennis and soccer would have been the two at which I spent most of my time. Right up until I was about 15 and made a choice to pursue tennis exclusively I played soccer initially with a local club Mungret before joining one of Limerick's most famous clubs, Pike Rovers.

I was about 10 and fortunate to join an age group that would go on to be very successful winning a couple of league and cup doubles. We reached the semi-final of a national cup and I was honoured with the Limerick Player of the Year award at under 13 level. We had some very good players including Niall McNamara who played with Nottingham Forest and then Notts County.

At 15 I went to boarding school in England to play tennis – later to college in America – and that’s when the soccer took a back seat. Occasionally playing on the right side of midfield, I would have spent most of my time at centre forward.

In those days I was a small kid who was pretty fast and moderately skilful; it was only when I reached 15 that I put on a big growth spurt. I can probably lay the blame for supporting Liverpool at the door of my brother, Ross, who wasn’t prepared to let me follow any other team. John Barnes was my favourite player at Anfield primarily because he was very skilful. However I suspect I would be in a small minority when confessing that I wasn’t an ardent supporter for whom Liverpool meant everything.

I could happily watch other teams play and enjoy a match even if it was Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. That’s why I suppose my favourite footballer growing up was probably Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp. He had tremendous vision and could do things that were beyond most other players.

When I went to college in the States I lost touch with the Premiership a bit but since returning I have enjoyed watching more matches. There is a quite diverse interest in sport in family terms encompassing tennis, Gaelic Games, hurling and football and rugby.

I would watch most sports on television, particularly enjoying rugby and the majors in golf. In terms of going along one of the best days out had to be attending a couple of last season’s November internationals at Croke Park. Several friends would be keen rugby supporters and I was happy to join them for Ireland’s matches against New Zealand and Argentina.

If I was to be handed a free ticket for any sporting event I’d probably plump for something of a busman’s holiday and look for a really good seat at the US Open tennis final. I really enjoyed my time in New York recently trying to qualify for the main draw. It’s a wonderful stadium with a fantastic atmosphere, colourful and noisy.

Having been out injured last year for a time my ranking slipped from 260 to 402 but the good thing is I don’t have to defend any points. After this Future’s event in London I’ll go to Turkey for a couple of tournaments and then get back on the Challenger scene.

My goal during that time is to get back inside the top 300 in the world and from there inside the top 200 early in the new year.