colinflemingonline.myfreeforum.org

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This was done after Colin's stunning doubles debut on the circuit with Jamie Murray. In the Sweden and Denmark satellite - March/April 2005, they won 3 of the 4 tournaments.

Interview:

Combining further education with life on the international tennis circuit is paying dividends for Economics and Finance student, Colin Fleming who this month teamed up with Dunblane’s Jamie Murray to win three doubles finals of the Swedish Satellite.

Fleming, a Central Scotland Institute of Sport athlete from Linlithgow, has taken a gap year from studies to pursue his passion for tennis.

"I’m really enjoying it," said the Stirling University student, who is hoping for a wild card into next week’s Scottish Open in Edinburgh, starting on Tuesday.

"I love playing tennis and it’s a great life travelling and playing. I’ve got one more year at Stirling University but I’m giving the option of playing full time after that a lot of thought."

Until recently, Fleming had thought of himself as a singles-only player. But his recent partnership with Jamie Murray, older brother of British Davis Player, Andrew Murray, has convinced him he needs to concentrate fully on both aspects of the game.

"Jamie and I have been good friends for a long time, we’ve got high expectations of each other, we want to do well for each other and it brings out our best performances. In the Sweden satellite, we won the first three weeks. Jamie had a virus so we didn’t play the Masters, but we still won the circuit overall by a long way."

Fleming more than halved his doubles world ranking during his trip to Sweden. "That satellite has taken ranking from 1400 to around 670. I’m still concentrating on singles but looking to play a lot more doubles. Before if I’d lost in singles I wouldn’t have stayed to play doubles, but now I’m staying for doubles as well.

"The doubles is giving me a lot more confidence. Because we are beating the top players it has given me a lot more belief I can also beat them in singles."

This week in Bournemouth, the first of the four-week British Satellite, Fleming qualified for the singles main draw before overcoming the higher ranked Englishman, Tom Rushby in the first round proper. A virus hampered any further progress but next week, closer to home he hopes for a better result.

"It’s always nice to stay at home," he said. "Every time I’m back I can make use of the Central Institute physiotherapist and the nutritionist has helped me a lot. It makes a big difference playing in a tournament in Scotland so hopefully I’ll give it a good shot."