A YOUNGSTER from North Yorkshire is proving he is a force to be reckoned with in the tennis world.

Eight-year-old Gareth Webb is a budding Tim Henman who has just won free coaching sessions in a competition to find the region's biggest hope.

And he is now in with a chance of winning the national heat to won coaching sessions from a professional.

His mother Jayne said that Gareth, from Malton, won the competition by describing his interest in the game to the judges.

"Gareth was asked to write in saying why he liked tennis," she said.

"He wrote in saying he liked watching the game and that, when he was older, he wanted to be like Tim Henman - but win more matches."

Gareth started knocking a ball about when he was only three-years-old and is now a member of the Malton Tennis Club.

He also practises each week at an indoor club in Leeds.