MARK “Venom” Griffith is a rising star of road tennis.
At 28 years old, he ranks as one of the country’s best players, having improved to such an extent that he can now challenge the likes of Julian “Michael Jackson” White, Curtis Jones, Anthony “Ears” Mitchell and Jeffrey “Borah” Best.
And what makes this achievement all the more impressive is the fact that Griffith has been playing the sport for just four years.
In an interview with MIDWEEKSPORT, he explained that he was driving along Bush Hall one night, when the lights on the road tennis court peaked his interest.
“I just decided to stop and see what was going on,” he said. “I became curious about the sport, and after watching for a couple days, I went out and bought my own racquet and I have been playing ever since.”
Griffith said he had worked extremely hard on his game, travelling all around the island in search of some of the best players to play against.
His dedication finally paid off last year when he captured his first ever Aclass title, winning the Silver Hill road tennis competition by defeating Victor “Earth” Ward in an exciting final – one of the best moments of his short career.
Before then, Griffith’s only other tournament victory had come in a Racquets Of Fire B Class competition in 2009.
He said: “I would definitely count that victory over “Earth” as one of the most memorable times since I have been playing road tennis because it was my first A Class title.
“It was a really tough final. “Earth” is a very good player and I was extremely happy to defeat him and win the competition.”
Since then, Griffith has gone on to lead St Michael to victory in the B Class finals at the recently concluded Inter-Parish Road Tennis Competition, where he and partner Chester “Boy Boy” Brewster defeated Christ Church at Dover.
This latest success means that the Silver Hill champion is primed for the huge leap into the A class where he knows the challenge will be much more difficult.
With White having ruled the road tennis roost for the past decade, Griffith is aware that it won’t be an easy task to overthrow the “world boss”.
“My main goal is to become not only the number one road tennis player in Barbados, but the number one player in the world,” a confident Griffith proclaimed.
“I know with players like “Jackson” and “Ears” and Curtis around, it won’t be easy, but I am up for the challenge.
“Up until this point I’ve worked extremely hard on my game to try to improve so that I can compete with the best tennis players on the island, and so far it has paid off.”
The former Ellerslie student however maintained that he had not achieved this success all on his own.
His father, Mark Griffith Snr, has been with him every step of the journey, and can usually be seen armed with a towel which he uses to wipe his son’s face while also giving him water whenever he plays in tournaments.
“My father has been with me from the beginning until now,” a proud Griffith Jr revealed.
“From the time I was at school running and playing football he has been supportive of me and he hasn’t stopped even though I’ve grown older.”
“My father really keeps me motivated, and he is my real inspiration.”