Tennis ace Luke Johnson makes history as the first player from Leeds to be ranked in the men's top 100

The Roundhay-born hitter has flown up the ATP rankings for men's doubles after teaming up with Skander Mansouri, from Tunisia, last September.

In the subsequent six months the duo have stormed to victory in five ATP challenger competitions, with their most recent win in Belgium leading to them both cracking the top 100 ranking.

He said: "It was our biggest one yet as it was the highest level of challenger tournament below the main ATP circuit."

Luke opted to specialise in doubles after coming back from a serious knee injury he sustained in January 2022.

The decision has paid off and Luke has moved up hundreds of places to a now career high of number 83.

Luke is also the first men's player from Leeds to achieve the feat of making it into the men's top 100. He said: "I've grown up in Leeds and always trained in Leeds so to have that and represent the city in a national setting is something I'm very proud of."

Luke isn't stopping there though and said he hopes to hit further milestones in the coming year.

He said: "I've played at Wimbledon three times as a wildcard so one of my goals for this year is to get in without a wildcard on the back of my own success."

Luke said he also hopes to compete at the French Open, which was the original goal when he and Mansouri began playing together.

He added: "We're on track for that but with sport there's always hurdles and things that crop up so we'll just have to keep going.

"To be inside the world top 50 this year as well would be a great achievement and is the ultimate goal for the year."

Luke added that he and Mansouri have developed a great relationship on and off the court, adding: "You end up spending more time with your partner than anyone else so it definitely helps!"

Born in Roundhay, Luke tried his hand at all kinds of sport growing up, even playing county cricket for Yorkshire until he was 16, before settling on tennis as his sport of choice. He turned professional in 2017 after returning from the US, where he’d spent four years studying at Clemson University in South Carolina.

He's played doubles in Wimbledon twice, earned a silver medal at the World University Games and won his first professional singles title at the end of 2021.

He said: "I enjoy tennis as much as ever and still feel like I'm improving. I've got a supportive group of people and I have goals for the future and they're driving me. I love playing tennis and always enjoy competing."

Luke will be presented with an achievement award by his sponsor RMA Systems tomorrow (Thursday). He also expressed thanks for his other sponsors at Czajka Care Group, saying: "It's massive. This wouldn't have been possible without the help of any of my sponsors."