His coach, Gary Smith, once helped Andy Murray<\/a> on his rise to the very top and also played at elite level, representing his country.<\/p>\n They are bound together by a tennis story that is profoundly inspiring. Both have faced challenges, indeed still do. Both have found tennis to be a healing balm.<\/p>\n Moody was diagnosed with autism at four. He found tennis at his primary school. It has led him towards a new, fulfilling life. He competes in the learning disability category. This is part of the Australian Open<\/a> schedule. \u2018We play on the courts of the Open<\/a> during the tournament. In front of the crowds, in front of the cameras,\u2019 he says after practice ends for the day.<\/p>\n Now in the top ten in the world, he has qualified for the Australian Open twice. He was put out in the quarter-finals last year and in the semis this year. He finished runner-up in the doubles on both occasions.<\/p>\n Aidan Moody has played in two Australian Opens in their learning disability category<\/p>\n Moody has been playing the sport since primary school and is in the top ten for his category<\/p>\n Meeting tennis icon Andy Murray at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton was a highlight<\/p>\n \u2018The Australian Open is the only major that has a learning disability category at the moment,\u2019 says Smith. \u2018But I believe the other majors will follow.\u2019<\/p>\n Moody has, though, played twice in competitions at Wimbledon but not under the banner or at the same time as the prestigious tournament.<\/p>\n He is now preparing for the LD Virtus world tennis championships in Kazakhstan from May 3-11. He will travel with other members of Team GB.<\/p>\n It has already been a spectacular journey. \u2018This is my third time representing Team GB,\u2019 says Moody. \u2018It is an honour to represent your country and I am very proud to pull on the jersey with the flag.\u2019<\/p>\n He enjoys travelling to and playing in tournaments in Britain and abroad. \u2018It\u2019s always a good atmosphere with different players from around the world.\u2019<\/p>\n It has led to a meeting with Andy Murray, his hero. \u2018He was coming off court after a session at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and he looked tired. But he gave me a chance to take a photograph and wished me good luck. He\u2019s my idol and I look up to him. To be in the NTC is great, but to meet Andy…\u2019<\/p>\n Moody and his father, Stephen, a mortgage adviser, have already banked special memories. This year at the Australian Open they met and chatted to Jim Courier, who is now a commentator but is also a grand slam winner. Ben Shelton, the American player, also stopped for a chat in the tunnels that link courts in Melbourne.<\/p>\n Young Moody has been enthused by all this but he has a focus. \u2018My ambition is probably building up my world ranking,\u2019 he says. \u2018I am in the top 10 and I want to go further \u2014 top five, top three. See where it goes.\u2019<\/p>\n Moody will represent Team GB at\u00a0the LD Virtus world tennis championships in Kazakhstan<\/p>\n Moody is coached by Gary Smith, brother of Team GB’s former Davis Cup captain Leon Smith<\/p>\n He has been coached by Smith for six years. Moody was introduced to tennis when Giffnock tennis club did an outreach programme at Our Lady of the Missions primary school in Thornliebank.<\/p>\n \u2018I was just nine then but I enjoyed it so much,\u2019 says Aidan. \u2018I fell in love with the sport and joined Giffnock.\u2019<\/p>\n He benefited from coaching there and also attended a dedicated session every week with Glasgow Disability Tennis.<\/p>\n His link with Smith began after his previous coach moved away from Giffnock. The Smith brothers have serious form in coaching. Leon captained Team GB to a Davis Cup victory and also coached Murray as a teenager with Gary helping out. Leon is head of men\u2019s tennis at the LTA. Toby is now national manager for players aged 16 and under at Tennis Scotland.<\/p>\n Gary has been with the best. He regularly hit with Murray and has coached 11 players who have played in majors at junior and elite level. However, he has also had to deal with a brain injury inflicted in a mugging 20 years ago.<\/p>\n Now 44, he has to manage his time and efforts. \u2018The mugging changed how much I could play,\u2019 he says. \u2018I initially came back from that but for periods I could not go on. I didn\u2019t have PTSD because I had no memory of my incident. I know it could have cost me my life but I moved on mentally very quickly.<\/p>\n \u2018Physically it took me a good while to get up and about. But then I won a few tournaments here and there.\u2019<\/p>\n However, he adds: \u2018The damage to the brain grew into something over the years and it became problematic. Doing continuous session after session without a break was taking its toll. I was getting more tired. I had to take periods of time off coaching. That was difficult.\u2019<\/p>\n Gary Smith was a player of great promise but a mugging incident 20 years ago changed his life<\/p>\n The collaboration with Moody, though, has been invigorating. \u2018It is a new challenge,\u2019 says Smith. \u2018He was entrusted to me when his previous coach moved from Giffnock. I was more than happy to take him on. We got on well very straight away. It\u2019s all about creating relationships with players.<\/p>\n \u2018We were just working away before any notion of grand slams came on the horizon. I didn\u2019t want to know the details of his disability. For me, he was just another player and every player has things he or she must work on. I have coached a lot of players and I find it easier with him, to be honest.<\/p>\n \u2018He is constantly improving. There is a boom in LD sport and he is ready to profit for that. He has achieved success early on. In my experience, he is also a better person as well as a better tennis player.\u2019<\/p>\n Smith points out that the other grand slam tournaments at Wimbledon, Flushing Meadows and Roland Garros are like to follow Australia\u2019s lead in including LD tennis.<\/p>\n \u2018This is going to grow and Aidan at 21 is living it now. He will be one of the pioneers of this sport,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n Stephen Moody watches the practice from the sidelines. He has travelled the world with his son.<\/p>\n \u2018When we go to Australia, I take it as part of my annual leave and obviously we have to fund it,\u2019 he says. He has been repaid in experience. \u2018It is wonderful to walk about the Australian Open with the credentials lanyard on and bumping into the greats. Andy Murray was wonderful with Aidan too at the NTC.\u2019<\/p>\n Smith and Moody have formed a strong bond and hope to benefit from a boom in LD tennis<\/p>\n The greatest reward, of course, is to witness his son finding satisfaction and even joy. \u2018Tennis has been simply brilliant for him,\u2019 he says. \u2018He had great pals at primary school but at high school he was pretty much isolated and not through anybody\u2019s fault. Tennis has helped him cope with all of that and he now has a good group of friends locally as well as the many friends he has met through tennis. He loves travelling with Team GB. He is the youngest but it\u2019s a welcoming environment.\u2019<\/p>\n Aidan\u2019s mother, Amanda, a teacher, says: \u2018Tennis has had a huge impact on him. He was extremely quiet at school. He didn\u2019t have a lot of confidence. Tennis has been a bit of a lifeline for him. It has given him a platform to succeed. He has found something he is good at, he has found something he has a passion for. That really helped his confidence and self-esteem.\u2019<\/p>\n This all unfolds in front of one\u2019s eyes at Rouken Glen. Moody plays with focus, determination and undiluted passion. His demeanour when he leaves court is quiet but there is that hint of satisfaction that glows after a productive session.<\/p>\n Most wonderfully, though, there is the sense of a young man taking on the world despite his problems. It is humbling to realise that having learning difficulties does not mean one can\u2019t teach the rest of us a lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The thwock thwock of tennis ball on racket echoes around Rouken Glen. They come from a practice session…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[5233,92,13561,93,79,9722,1068,16,15,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-68181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-andy-murray","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-kazakhstan","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-team-gb","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114437853805919769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Aidan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928075-0-image-a-29_1746121838006.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Moody](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928069-0-image-a-30_1746121840997.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Meeting](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928139-0-image-a-36_1746122030413.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Moody](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928055-0-image-a-32_1746121855117.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Moody](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928047-0-image-a-33_1746121860777.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928051-0-image-a-34_1746121871619.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smith](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97928029-0-image-a-35_1746121878623.jpg\")
<\/p>\n