Connor Green is eager to prevent history repeating itself as he targets a place at Finals Day of the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships.

In each of the last two years, the teenager has narrowly missed out in the quarter-finals, on both occasions in one of the most memorable matches of the event.

Two years ago, at the age of 16, Green pushed Tom Jarvis to six games, drawing praise from an opponent who went on to take the Men’s Singles title for a second time.

Last year was even closer, Green saving a match point in the sixth game against Chris Doran, before missing three of his own in the seventh as Doran won 12-10 to end a match which weighed in at a hefty 71min 20sec in length.

Green, now 18, admits there is still a lingering sense of frustration around those matches.

“Going into the match with Tom, I wasn’t trying to think too much about who I was playing,” he says. “I was just trying to focus on what I was going to do going into the match.

“Tom had won Nationals the year before and I knew it was going to be a very difficult match for me, so I was trying to just focus on the simple things. I was trying to enjoy it as well because that was the first time I played any of the senior team, though I really wanted to win, obviously.

“The match against Chris was probably a bit tougher. I mean, I had a few match points, I’d never made it to semi-finals . . . I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to win. So, yeah, that one hurt a lot.

“I know I say I want to enjoy it when I’m playing, but ultimately I want to win the matches, so there’s definitely a frustration. I don’t let it overwhelm me, but I think it’s normal – I want to win every match I play, and if I don’t then it’s not the best.”

If he is to feature on Finals Day, when the singles semi-finals and final are played, Green will likely have to beat one of Liam Pitchford, Paul Drinkhall, Jarvis or Sam Walker in the quarters.

He said: “It’s a great opportunity to play the Senior boys. It’s not very often that you get the opportunity to play them and the chance to be around them.

“I try and go in with a very open mind, I think. I have goals and targets, but I don’t put too much expectation on myself. I want to play well, do the stuff that I’ve been working on well and just see where that takes me.

“I do want to make the semi-final and make it to the Sunday. But I also don’t want to go through the tournament playing in a bad way either.”

There have been some memorable experiences since Green was last on court at the Nationals – including beating world No 142 Eric Jouti at the WTT Feeder Manchester, where he went on to lose to Jarvis once again in the main draw.

Green then made his Senior major event debut at the European Championships last October, where he came from 2-0 down to push world No 95 Benedek Olah to a deciding game in the preliminary round, having got through the earlier group stage.

And earlier this year, Green became the first English player to reach an Under-19 final at a WTT event, beating three higher-ranked players and saving match points in both the quarter and semi-finals at the WTT Youth Contender Tunis.

“The whole set-up was really good at Manchester and there were a lot of fans in the crowd,” he says. “My family were in the crowd as well and they don’t get to watch me play too often, so altogether it was a great experience.

“The WTT was just a very tiring day, lots of them were five-setters, so it was a very long day. But that was very good, I won some close matches and beat some good players along the way.

“So I think it’ll give me confidence – going deep in tournaments always gives you a bit of confidence.”

There is definitely a sense of a growing career around Green – as well as his WTT success he is playing National One level in France with the Nantes club.

He comes across as level-headed, focused and a student of the game. He enjoys working at the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield with Head Coach John Murphy and Head of Performance Development Gavin Evans, analysing video of opponents and looking at aspects of their games he can exploit.

And he is highly motivated by England hosting the 2026 World Team Championships in London, alongside other major events such as Star Contender London later this year.

“It’s very motivating and I definitely want to try and be part of part of the team that goes into the Star Contender and plays the World Championships in London as well,” he says. “So yeah, it definitely motivates me to try to push myself harder and try to break into the team.

“If the set-up in Sheffield keeps progressing and people keep moving there and we get a good training group, it can be really good for everyone. I think practising together in a good environment can only benefit everyone.”

Off the table, he tries to switch off from table tennis. He is doing an Economics A-Level and also follows hometown club Nottingham Forest, currently riding high in the Premier League and, at the time we spoke, fresh from beating defending champions Manchester City in their previous match.

“I like to spend some time with friends, then some other things away from table tennis as well,” he says, “and that really helps me relax and then I feel better the next day when I go and train – rather than just constantly thinking about table tennis.

“I’m doing an A-Level in economics this year. I want to be one of the best players in the world, but if that doesn’t happen and I’m not where I want to be, then at least I have something to fall back on and I can go to university or I can go get an apprenticeship or something like that. It’s also a good distraction in the evenings.

“I like watching YouTube and Netflix and all that sort of stuff and I go to watch football sometimes. I went to Newcastle away the other week.”

Can Forest complete a brilliant season by qualifying for the Champions League?

“I think so now – I think that result at the weekend makes it a lot easier for us,” he says. “It was a bit flat before that as well because we weren’t playing too good for a month or so. Our remaining fixtures aren’t too bad.”

As for his own immediate dream, what would he want the post-Nationals report to say about him?

“Ideally, I want it to say Connor Green won the Nationals, that’d be the perfect world,” he replies.

“If not winning, then he’s fighting a lot, fighting for every ball . . . good attitude when he’s playing. That’s the sort of thing I’d want to see written about me.”