\n<\/p>\n
Close friendships were formed as Ward-Hibbert travelled the world playing tennis, and in 2012 he reached the pinnacle as he teamed up with Liam Broady to win the Australian Open junior doubles title.<\/p>\n
Ward-Hibbert turned professional and won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Futures circuit, including five with Broady and four with Lloyd Glasspool, another who is now a regular on the main ATP doubles circuit.<\/p>\n
But he struggled to progress beyond that, and at 22 he decided to step away from tour life to go to Loughborough University to further his education.<\/p>\n
“There were a few things that happened in my personal life, and I had a little injury that kept recurring and was not going away how I wanted it to,” he said. <\/p>\n
“Everything just combined to put me to a tipping point.<\/p>\n
“Tennis is a super-tough sport, physically and mentally. You are always travelling, you are constantly living out of a suitcase. <\/p>\n
“No matter where it is, you have got to live it. It’s difficult, it’s very much a lifestyle, 45, 50 weeks of the year.”<\/p>\n
But Ward-Hibbert would not be without his tennis career.<\/p>\n
“It is an amazing sport. There were so many highs, it taught me so much as a person, and the kind of person I am today is from the journey I had. <\/p>\n
“I’m definitely glad I had that journey. It would be remiss not to say I wish I had got to world number one, but that wasn’t in my path.<\/p>\n
“I got to win a Grand Slam with one of my closest friends still to this day. That is a memory I am never going to forget.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n