HIGH Wycombe tennis ace George Hedley takes on the world next week, bidding to bring home the Orange Bowl – in between sending homework back to school.

The 14-year-old John Hampden Grammar School student has spent the week in Florida warming up for the Junior World Championship – and he has used that exercise to hammer out a real statement of intent for the main task.

He eased his way through three qualifying matches to make it through to the main draw where he saw off Austrian number two Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 under the watchful eye of his coach Nigel Mann.

And now this week he takes part in the big one – the World Championships.

But Hedley, who is ranked sixth in the United Kingdom for his age group is having to balance his world tennis commitments with his schooling.

He is one of only a few amateurs taking part in Miami’s prestigious Orange Bowl event, which was once won by Andy Murray and has been a first foot on the ladder in the careers of Jimmy Connors Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Steffi Graf.

Most of his opponents are in full or part-time tennis academies while he is still having his school homework emailed to him while he is in America for the two and a half week period.

His teachers at John Hampden allowed him to drop two subjects, music and French, from the curriculum to enable his coach to come in and give him extra tennis tuition, but he is still studying for nine other GCSEs.

Mum Catherine believes that could serve as an advantage to him in America, helping to keep his feet on the ground and relieve the pressure of his first World Championship.

She said: “It’s quite an accolade for him to be out there and if he gets through a couple of rounds it will be very good for him.

“It’s a wonderful experience for him and he’s going to gain a lot from it.”

The Maidenhead and Burnham player has gone into the biggest tournament of his life in a relaxed frame of mind.

He was still playing rugby just a fortnight before jetting out to Miami for the ITF World Junior Grade A event.