BOLTON Arena tennis coach Steven Fathers has credited the work done by physical trainer Howard Green for the recent rise up the rankings of some of the academy's star players.

Green, who trains former Grand Slam champion Ana Ivanovic, has been helping youngsters at the International High Performance Centre work on their fitness.

And the results have been starling, with Peter Alam the latest to show the benefits after Fathers' young protege became the UK's number-one ranked player in the under-14s age group.

Alam, aged 13, of Bowden, has shot up the rankings after recently winning the doubles and singles titles at a Tennis Europe tournament.

"That was only Peter's second event on the European tour, but he has shown rapid improvement and a lot of the credit for that has to go to the work he has been doing with Howard," said Fathers, who is one of three senior coaches at the Bolton Arena Academy.

"I have been working with Peter since he was 10, and he has always been in and around the top 10 in his age group.

"But his body and his game are just starting to mature and he is starting to come good.

"His victories in Lithuania have given him a European ranking of 140, and he has just been invited to a five-day training camp at the LTA headquarters in Roehampton, where he will train alongside the country's top eight players in his age group."

The LTA also gave Alam a wild-card entry to a recent grade one Tennis Europe event held at Bolton Arena.

"It was a step-up for Peter because his win in Lithuania was in a grade three event, but he acquitted himself well," added Fathers, who has worked at Bolton Arena since 2004, graduating to senior coach five years ago.

"He lost 6-4 in the third set of the first round to a young French boy who reached the quarter-finals and then won a few matches in the consolation event, beating players from Portugal and Canada."

Fathers says Green's fitness regime has also helped a handful of his young recruits earn Great Britain call-ups.

Marni Banks, Barney Fitzpatrick and Hannah McColgan have been picked to represent the country in the Winter Cup, flying out to all four corners of Europe to play in the qualifying rounds of the prestigious youth tournament.

"Only players in the country's top eight are picked for the Winter Cup, so it is a real honour for them," Fathers added.

"Peter rose up the rankings so quickly he was not eligible when the team was picked, but I think Marni has flown out to Croatia to play in the under-14s competition, while Barney is playing in Turkey in the same age group and Hannah has a match in the Netherlands in the under-16s."