One of the hottest names in tennis is helping Petrolia rebuild its tennis courts after the teen spearheading the fundraising drive for the job was featured in Tennis Canada’s magazine.

The Mary Beach Courts are undergoing a $22,000 refurbishment after the resurgence of tennis in the area particularly at LCCVI.

A young, local player, Matt Mueller, launched a fundraising drive for the courts which has brought almost $16,000. Mueller isn’t surprised people have been so generous saying “the people who play tennis really like it.”

The renovation was only supposed to take a couple of weeks, but David Menzies, Petrolia’s director of community services, says weather has slowed the process down. The courts are now set to open in early August.

When the repairs and the fundraising campaign were underway, Tennis Canada heard about Muller’s drive to raise the money for the courts. Officials recently wrote Mueller to thank him for being an “ambassador for tennis” in his community. The organization also featured him in the latest issue of their magazine and sent him a T-shirt and hat from the organization.

It was the magazine article which caught the attention of Milos Raonic – Canada’s number one  ranked tennis player who is ranked eighth in the world.

He contacted the town and offered to top up the fundraising drive with his own money.

Menzies in a news release issued by the town Thursday, thanked Raonic and commended Mueller for his hard work to make the project happen.