Darian King is taking his talents to the Bundesliga.
Barbados’ top rated pro will spend next summer playing tennis in Germany after recently signing with Düsseldorf-based club Tv Von 1926 Osterath for next year’s Tennis Bundesliga.
King confirmed his participation in the German league in a telephone interview with MIDWEEK SPORT after initially posting the news on his Facebook page over the weekend.
“Some fellow players were telling me about the opportunity before and my team considered it at first, then sent out some emails to agents and then we got a positive response,” said the 20-year-old.
“It was such a big help for me and my career so I really couldn’t turn that down because it will allow me to earn more money to continue to travel on the circuit.
“It will also be such a good experience playing with and against top-calibre players on clay while benefitting from high-level coaching. And they will be taking care of everything from travel, to food and accommodation so it will be great,” King added.
The third division league is scheduled to run from May to July and will be played every weekend, which will allow him to compete in weekday tournaments.
But appearing in the Bundesliga will just be one goal of a long list of 2013 objectives for King who is also looking to reach the main draws of more Challenger events as well as breaking into the world’s top 300 by year-end.
“I’m only 20 right now so I know I have time but I want to play less Futures next year because they were just hurdles for me to break into the next level. I truly want to get into the big Challengers where I can get more points and play against some of the world’s best,” King reasoned.
The local no.1 is back home after achieving a career-best ranking of 428 following appearances in Mexico and Jamaica. For the year, King copped six doubles crowns and eight titles overall.
He is scheduled to return to the circuit next month before coming back in the first week of February for Barbados’ next Davis Cup assignment. (JM)
