EMMA ROSSITER is on the road to Wimbledon with dreams of emulating her heroine Justine Henin by striking success on the famous grass courts.

Emma, 13, who lives at Ridgeway, Newport, is used to working hard for what she wants - she spends two hours every night training to improve her tennis.

Now she says she feels her hard work has paid off after beating four opponents to reach the national finals of The Road To Wimbledon, a tournament open to under-14s from clubs all over the UK.

Emma, who will be representing the Stow Park Tennis Club in Newport at Wimbledon, says: "I feel really proud to be going to Wimbledon and I'll be hoping to do my best."

Emma, whom her parents estimate is four feet ten inches tall, says her favourite tennis professional is the Belgian Justine Henin. "It's because she's small like me.

"It puts me at a slight disadvantage on the court but I work hard to get around it. I'm quite fast and try to play an attacking game, I don't think opponents expect me to come to the net as much as I do."

Simon Ainley, Wales National Tennis Coach, says Emma has as good a chance as any of making it to the top.

"Emma is an extremely good athlete," he says. "She is the best in Wales in her age group."

But Emma says she plays tennis because she loves it and has no intention of aiming to go professional, hoping instead to be an animator after developing a love for Disney films.

She says: "It is a real honour to go to Wimbledon, which I will treasure." Emma said: "My opponents in the four games I played to get to this point were all very good and they were tough matches."

The national finals take place from August 18 to 23.