Cridland too strong for rivals

Cridland won her singles match 6-0, 6-3 and made 2015 her second year in a row winning both the singles and doubles competitions.

The 21-year-old athlete has spent the past three years studying at Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA after she won a full tennis scholarship.

But during a tournament in the States in early January 2015, Cridland ruptured her achilles tendon and was forced to stop playing for 11 months.

“I was serving my second series and it just snapped,” she said.

“It sounded like a gunshot, I thought someone had hit me in the back of the leg.”

After resuming training when she received a medical clearance, Cridland picked up her intense training schedule, comprising tennis, running, weight training and yoga.

“During the year, we train six days a week, around two to three hours a day,” she said.

“It’s a tough balance between studying and training so you definitely have to self-discipline and have time-management skills.”

Cridland returned to the USA in early January to continue her degree in biochemistry and her tennis training.