ST LEONARDS tennis ace Toby Samuel hit the top of the British under-16 rankings after a highly successful summer.

The 16-year-old won his first ITF junior singles title in Dublin in July and earned doubles success at the same tournament.

Toby, who began 2018 by sustaining a stress fracture to his wrist and then took his GCSEs a year early, also claimed doubles glory in Bergen and Belfast.

The Bournemouth Collegiate School pupil moved into the top 500 of the under-18 world rankings in August.

He won under-16 and under-18 National Tour doubles titles and competed in Dorset men’s Summer County Cup team for the first time.

Toby’s younger brother Rafe trains alongside him at The West Hants Club.

The 10-year-old finished the summer ranked second on the National Tour and scooped his first national title at the Nottingham Open.

Rafe finished third in the Summer National Tour Finals on his home courts.

The Castle Court School pupil won the under-12 singles and doubles county titles. He also took victory in the doubles at the Dorset Open, Bournemouth Open and Winchester Mantis Open.

Sport runs in the family with oldest brother Ben, 17, being a swimmer in BCS’s national squad programme.

He reached the final of the 50m butterfly in August’s National Summer Meet.