As Lucy Brown walks off court after being put through her paces at Abingdon’s White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre, she is stopped by an onlooker.

“Wow, you’re a good player,” the elderly woman said.

“What’s your name because I will have to keep an eye on you. I want to say that I saw you practising when you go on to play at Wimbledon.”

“Lucy Brown,” she replies. “And hopefully I will get there one day.”

It’s a nice way to end a tough session, and as she takes a seat so that we can start our interview, it was clearly a satisfying comment to receive.

And when you spend so much time on your own, and in Lucy’s case in foreign countries, it’s particularly heartwarming to have your talent acknowledged by strangers.

“It’s a hard life,” the 20-year-old from Elsfield, near Oxford, explains.

“Financially it’s so tough. I get a bit of funding from the Lawn Tennis Association, but it doesn’t cover much.

“Travelling is the main expense and then staying somewhere – it costs so much, but you have to do it if you want to improve your ranking so it is very hard to get the balance.”

The irony about Lucy’s story is that it was almost by mistake that she stumbled across a potential career in tennis.

When applying to Loughborough, she thought she was just trying to gain access there, but instead got a big break.

“When I was about eight and went to watch my older brother, but soon got bored of watching him and wanted to play myself,” she explains.

“I played at Oxford Sports and enjoyed tennis, and when I was 12 or 13 I thought I was applying to Loughborough for access to play there, but ended up getting a place full-time.

“So after going to Gosford Hill School in Kidlington for a couple of years, I then moved to Loughborough.

“I stayed with a host family, but it was difficult and really hard as I was on my own for the first time. The good thing was I didn’t really like school and just wanted to play tennis and this meant I could do that.”

After tasting success in a number of tournaments, it was clear there was natural talent.

But a few years later, Lucy was faced with a massive decision.

“After they closed Loughborough I had to go to Bisham Abbey so I moved back home and went there virtually every day for two years,” she explained.

“My coach Farid Bentaous was at Bisham and they moved him to Spain to start an academy so I went too.

“It wasn’t my first choice – I didn’t want to go abroad – but I wanted to still be coached by him so I had to do it.

“So at 16 I was travelling to and fro between here and Spain.”

It’s a hard life, but clearly one she loves, despite a gruelling schedule that sees her train twice a day, every day. But she does get a Wednesday afternoon off.

“If I have a spare week I am often back here being coached by Ed Isard at Abingdon,” she said. “Then the next week I will be playing in a tournament, or be back in Spain.”

Playing tournaments is what it’s all about, but while the prize money on offer is crucial, so are the ranking points available.

Tennis has a system whereby you are awarded points for how well you do in a tournament, and you have to defend those points the following year. If you don’t do as well in one event as you did 12 months earlier, you drop points.

And it’s because of this system that Lucy, who says that Kim Clijsters was her favourite player, is hoping her world standing will shoot up in the next few months.

“Because I was injured last year, I have to get my ranking back up and try and pick up as many points as possible and get in bigger tournaments,” she said.

“I had almost a stress fracture of my foot which came out the blue in May last year. I was just playing as normal, it hurt, I thought It was nothing too serious, but that was that. Six months out.

“That was the hardest time for me because I had never really been injured before. Even when I started playing again, it was sore and it took a lot of time to get better.”

Lucy played at Wimbledon as a junior, and applied for the ladies doubles this year, but didn’t get in.

She knows she will need more points if she is to realise this ambition in 12 months time.

“I think if financially you have funds and can get to all the tournaments, then even if you’re losing you’re getting points.

“But not many are lucky enough to be in that position.

“It can be quite demoralising when you can’t do things like that because of funds.”

She added: “My next goal is to get in the top 500. I’m 706 now, but don’t have any points to defend until September so it’s a realistic ranking goal.

“Then after that I’m looking to make the top 300 and by this time next year I would like to be around 200.

“You have to take it step by step and be realistic about it because you never know what’s around the corner. But now I’m injury free and playing well, I can hopefully raise those expectations – and still meet them.

“I’m very competitive and I don’t like losing.”

Something that is sure to stand her in good stead as she embarks on the next challenge of her career.