After getting hooked on Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit during the past few months, Great Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones is now an avid chess player. His goal is to beat Anton Matusevich who is apparently the grandmaster of British tennis.

For now, the board will have to wait. Armed with a newfound strategic mindset, Pinnington Jones is preparing for his Roland Garros Junior Championships debut and has designs on being more than just a pawn in this particular game.

Seeded No. 4 in the boys’ draw and with a liking for clay – 34 of his 71 match-wins at junior level have come on his preferred surface – the 18-year-old is eyeing a potential silverware bid in the French capital.

“I set my goals at the beginning of the year to do well in the Junior Grand Slams and I feel this is one of my best chances, if not my best chance, to do that,” Pinnington Jones told itftennis.com.

“This has been in the schedule since January. This was the week I wanted to peak at and I have prepared well, so I am hoping it will be a good week. I am looking forward to it.

“Clay is my favourite surface and I have spent most of my time on clay. I just can’t wait to get out there to be honest. This is why we play Juniors, to go to these events, enjoy them and see how we do. I feel like this is going to be a great experience.”

Should Pinnington Jones go the distance in Paris he will be the first Junior Grand Slam boys’ champion from Great Britain since Andy Murray triumphed at the US Open in 2004.

It will come as little surprise to learn that Murray is Pinnington Jones’s idol. However, their working relationship assumed greater significance earlier this year when Pinnington Jones was recruited by Murray’s sports management agency, 77 Sports Management.

“Andy is my idol and I watched him on TV as a kid, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon,” said Pinnington Jones, whose only Junior Grand Slam appearance to date came at Wimbledon in 2019 when he lost in the first round to Canada’s Liam Draxl.

“In fact, seeing him on the TV and then going to the garden to try and copy his technique is one of my earliest memories of tennis. To be recognised by him and get support from his sports management agency means a lot to me.

“I have hit with Andy a few times now and just seeing how he practices, seeing him in the gym – he is one of the ultimate professionals in the game. Any words of advice on court or any conversations, what he says certainly rubs off.”

Pinnington Jones has recorded 11 victories from 13 matches on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors this term, in the process collecting the third title of his career at J2 Santo Domingo after defeating Sweden’s Leo Borg in the final.

He has also flexed his muscles in the professional ranks and, after suffering four successive first-round defeats following his debut at M15 Sharm El Sheikh in February, he found his feet in Cairo. There, he reached the final before losing out to Chile’s Bastian Malla.

But the experience was an important step for the teenager, who is targeting a strong second half to the season in a bid to make significant rankings progress – he currently stands at No. 1188 – before the year is out.

“The goal which we set for the year was to be top 650 in the men’s rankings by December,” added Pinnington Jones, who represented Great Britain at the Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Finals in 2019.

“I am getting to grips with the ITF World Tennis Tour and after Roland Garros and Wimbledon, I want to go and play more $15k events and then $25k tournaments and have a good block in the summer before the US Open.

“My approach to the game is pretty simple: if you put in the work, you will get the rewards. Tennis is a brutal sport and, in my view, one of the toughest to make it in.

“There are so many great players out there and so many different paths to take. But if you take your path, commit and work hard, you will reap the rewards. That is what I’m looking to do.”

Pinnington Jones, who receives the LTA’s highest level of support as part of the Pro Scholarship Programme, started playing the game in a park in New Malden, south-west London aged nine. Come rain, sleet or shine, he would be out there hitting balls for three hours a day and he loved it.

He then moved to the West Hants Club before going full-time with the JTC Academy after his exams in 2019, and the ability to focus solely on tennis is seemingly working and boosting his on-court progress.

“I struggled a lot with school and tennis,” said Pinnington Jones. “I struggled to do both and sit down and have to zone out from tennis and, 100 per cent, I have improved since no longer having the schoolwork.

"I remember I would have an English essay to do in the evenings and I couldn’t focus on court knowing I had to study later on. It is a job now and I love it and enjoy it.

“I am always working and looking at ways to get better and improve. It is my main priority now and I feel I have made strides in recent months. I am really pushing it and getting an understanding of the ins and outs of being a professional player.

“But, in some ways, it has come full circle. Now I don’t have the schoolwork, I am finding myself wanting to pick up hobbies because of the travelling, the time between matches and the time you need away from the game.”

This is where the chess comes in, and with a Junior Grand Slam trophy up for grabs in the coming week, it might be worth noting the oft-mooted suggestion that endgames favour an aggressive king.