She is the best tennis player in the Caribbean in her age group.

And now 13-year-old Bermudian Tyler Smith has been taken on board by the International Tennis Federation.

David Lambert, head of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association, said this week that the ITF had picked Smith to take part in training camps and tournaments in South America early next year.

He said: "Tyler has been accepted to participate in the ITF Central American and Caribbean Junior Team of 2010. What it means is that from January 14-17, Tyler will be involved with a training camp in Cali, Columbia and then from the 18-24 (January) she will play in a tournament at the same venue.

"From there she moves on to Ecuador where she will play in a tournament from February 1-7 and then she flies to Lima, Peru later in February for a tournament and after that she moves to another tournament in Bolivia.

"It really is fantastic news for Tyler and Bermuda. All of this is sponsored by ITF and the BLTA will be co-sponsors – we will provide additional funds mostly for incidental purposes.

"But the vast majority of the cost will be taken up by the ITF who pay for it out of their Grand Slam Development Fund – this is money raised during the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open."

Smith has won numerous international tournaments this year including those in Barbados and Panama and she also won Bermuda's own ITF Bank of Bermuda Foundation Tournament last summer.

"She only went 13 years old a little while ago and she is the number one player in the 13 and Under division in the Caribbean," said Lambert. "Right now she is playing in the Eddie Herr International Junior Tournament at the IMG/Bollettieri Academies in Bradenton, Florida. Next week she will be travelling to the Orange Bowl (in Florida). Then she gets back to Bermuda on December 17 but she is then on the move again. Tyler is definitely one of the best prospects we have ever had in Bermuda. She has such a professional outlook."

Smith is currently attending the Adams/Flynn Tennis Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida which takes players up to 19 years old.

In fact Smith persuaded her family to let her leave Bermuda to attend the academy when she was only 10-years-old.

Earlier this year her mother Alison said: "She knew what she wanted to do with her life early on. I was the one who was worried about her going away at such a young age but Tyler knew what she wanted.

"Tyler always said she wanted to become a professional player and she is working hard towards that. She has been out on the courts since she was two years old when I was out practising. Now she comes home for a few weeks and then it is off the Island again playing."

In fact, Smith was instrumental in Bermuda winning the Caribbean 13 and Under Championships in Trinidad for the first time earlier this year.

She along with Chris Rego and Clementine Keyes came up trumps.

And this past summer the ITF picked Smith to attend a regional training camp in Cuba.

Lambert said: "Tyler is starting to spend more and more time with the ITF. She is being recognised by the governing body of tennis and they obviously see a future in Tyler. We are seeing more and more invitations coming in for Tyler to travel (to tournaments and camps). She is very focused and she is a tremendous example to our juniors in Bermuda. They can see how she has adjusted to the international way of competing."

BLTA vice-president Coleridge Place, who has trained many of Bermuda's juniors, said that Smith has what it takes to make it.

"She is mentally strong and she has a weapon – every player needs a weapon and that weapon for Tyler is the forehand," he said earlier this year while watching the youngster rip balls down the line at the Elbow Beach courts.