ALEXIS Canter is hopeful a new positive outlook on his game will result in a climb up the world rankings.

The Long Wittenham teenager is fully acclimatised to the highs and lows of senior tennis, but is still searching for a first Futures title after graduating from the juniors 12 months ago.

Canter, who plays full-time on the ITF Pro Circuit – two tiers below the ATP World Tour – will be the first to admit the road to success is a far from easy one.

But the 19-year-old, ranked 1,413, enjoyed a confidence-boosting run to the second round of the GB Pro-Series event in Shrewsbury last week and is willing to try different approaches to make progress.

Since October, Canter has returned from Bath, where he was mentored by David Sammel, and has been working under Eric Dochtermann at Bisham Abbey.

The teenager is delighted with the way the Frenchman has collaborated with his father and full-time coach Robin.

“He’s absolutely fantastic – his unrelenting positivity is brilliant,” said Canter.

“I’m naturally self-critical, a bit of a perfectionist, but when I get a bit of positivity I feel the same.”

Canter added: “I’ve been able to commute from home and it’s been good because my dad is able to see me play every day.

“Some coaches have been reluctant to work with my dad because he doesn’t have any qualifications.

“But he knows a lot because he has been working with me since I was 12.

“It’s great Eric has worked with him so well – it’s a breath of fresh air to work with someone like him.”

Canter started 2018 in Jerba, Tunisia, where he lost in qualifying in back-to-back Futures tournaments.

But the Oxfordshire No 1 impressed in Shrewsbury, winning two matches to reach the main draw, before beating World No 689 Riccardo Balzerani – the highest ranked player he has defeated – in straight sets.

The teenager only won two games in defeat to Fabien Reboul – who is more than 960 places higher on the tour – in the second round.

But the week acted as a step in the right direction.

Canter said: “I’ve been improving a lot.

“Eric has said to me results do not matter if you are working on the right things and they will eventually come.

“The main goal is to just work on everything that we have been concentrating on – meticulous footwork and care over each shot.

“The short term goal is to get inside the top 1,000, which will get me in to a lot of main draws in Futures and then at the end of the year to be established in the top 1,000.”