Wimbledon Round up
As we say goodbye to the All England Club for another year, we wanted to reflect on this year’s Championships and report on some of the fantastic results achieved by our Grantees and Alumni.
It was wonderful to see the fans back at Wimbledon and, whether watching at home or in the actual grounds, it was incredibly special to have the tournament back this year and the excitement was evident to see!
Tennis First was very well presented in all the draws this year, so here is round up of results.
In the Ladies’ Singles events, who could have missed the tremendous efforts of Emma Raducanu, just 18 and a Wild Card into the main draw for the first time? Emma was well and truly catapulted into the public eye and the British media and fans have understandably got very excited about this rising star of British tennis, although we have been excited about her for a very long time now! Emma had a terrific tournament, making it into the fourth round and we are all very proud of her mature performance.
Katie Boulter (also a Wild Card) got through her first-round match, only to come across 2nd seed Sabalenka in the second round, who she took a set off before finally falling to the future semi-finalist. Jodie Burrage, Katie Swan and Harriet Dart all came up against tough first round opponents but battled bravely in their first Main Draw experiences.
In the Mens’ Singles, Jack Draper, with a level-head way beyond his 19 years, took a set off the World Number 1 and eventual Champion, Djokovic, on his Wimbledon debut on Centre Court and showed great promise for the future. Liam Broady reached the second round, where he lost in four sets to the 9th seed, Diego Schwartzman and Jay Clarke (also a Wild Card) battled bravely in his first round match.
In the Doubles events, Joe Salisbury and his partner, Rajeev Ram, had some terrific matches before falling to the Number 1 seeds from Croatia, Mektic and Pavic, in four tight sets. Harriet Dart, showing what a fabulous Doubles player she is, reached the third round of the Ladies Doubles event with Heather Watson, and then on to the Mixed Doubles finals with partner Joe Salisbury. Although they missed out on actually lifting the trophy, they should both be incredibly proud of their fantastic achievements over the fortnight.
On to the Juniors and with a host of talented young players, it was great to see many being award Wild Cards into the main draw. In the Girls events, Hephzibah Oluwadare, Amelia Bissett, Mimi Xu and Isabelle Lacy all came out in the first round and Eva Shaw reached the second round. All the girls notched up incredible experiences along the way for such young players. Rana Stoiber, Kylie Bilchev and Matilda Mutavdzic all had fantastic weeks, making the third round of the draw and showing that the future of British tennis is very bright indeed.
In the Boys’ event, Derrick Chen and Lui Maxted made the second round of the draw, Fabio Nestola and Louis Bowden came out in the first round and Jack Pinnington Jones reached the quarter finals. Again, there is much to be excited about with this cohort coming through.
All in all, it’s been a fantastic fortnight from a British (and Tennis First) point of view and it’s been wonderful to have it back! Well done to all involved in a fantastic Championships.
(Photos courtesy of the LTA)
