'Dream come true' for Irish man's son to play Wimbledon

The son of an Irish man will make his debut at Wimbledon tomorrow, describing it as "every player's dream".

James Fernandez McCabe, who is 21 and represents Australia, is ranked at 181 in the world.

Having come through qualifying, he will take on Hungary's Fabian Marozsan, who is ranked 58th, at the iconic tennis tournament in London.

James said that he is "excited" and "grateful" as "it's a dream come true playing Wimbledon".

But having the privilege to compete on the Champions' Tour - and see where his heroes have gone before him - was a bit "overwhelming" and gave him "goosebumps", he told RTÉ's Oliver Callan.

James started learning tennis when he was an infant

James' father, Patrick McCabe, is originally from Greenhills, Walkinstown in Dublin.

He moved to Australia with his brother in 1997 at the age of 22.

He is married to James' mother, Irene, from the Philippines.

Mr McCabe trained his son using YouTube as he did not have much money.

Professional lessons were not an option as they were "really, really, really expensive," he told the same programme.

When James was aged "two or three", his father brought him to a tennis court at the complex where they were renting in Rockdale near Sydney Airport.

They still go there to this day, Mr McCabe said.

"I got carried away early days. I was probably a bit hard on him ... but you do what you have to do."

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He also taught his son to swim and he became a "national champion in both swimming and tennis".

Mr McCabe said that he "started travelling with James for the last three years on the professional circuits".

The couple also have a daughter, Jasmin "who is looking for an Irish passport", now that James has his, he added.

James playing in the Australian Open in January

James spoke of his unusual upbringing.

"That is my childhood. Maybe it wasn't normal at the time," he said.

"It builds character and without it I wouldn't be where I am now. So I'm just grateful. I'm lucky."

James said that, as a child, he used to get up around 4am and start swimming training at 5am.

At 7.30am, he moved onto music practice, which could be playing in an orchestra or marching band.

He had music lessons during breaks in his school day and again after school.

It was midnight before when he got to sleep, he said, and that was his routine when he had "dropped the rackets" and taken a break from tennis between the ages of 12 and 15.

James is pitch perfect and plays piano, flute and guitar.

Asked how he will approach the Wimbledon tournament, he said that he plans to take one match at a time, as "it's every tennis players dream", and his father's dream, to participate.

James has three aunts in Ireland - living in counties Dublin, Wicklow and Westmeath - who will no doubt be cheering him on.

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