Wimbledon 2015: How did the Brit Pack perform? And what hopes for the future?....
The One-Two Crunch. Straight from Markham Hill....
Wimbledon began one week later this year to give the players an extra week of play on grass prior to the tournament.
Our hopes for a champion lie with Andy Murray, but what can we hope for from the rest of the Brit pack?
I was fortunately invited to the first day and watched Djokovic beat Kohlschriber, Sharapova beat the British Johanna Konta (a really tough first round draw for her) and Wawrinka beat Sousa.
Other 1st round losers were Liam Broady’s sister Naomi, Laura Robson, the British No2 (who had just returned to the circuit after 18 months off due to injury), Alijaz Bedene, Kyle Edmunds and Brydan Klein.
Some of you will recognise all these names but others may not be familiar with the newbies, so let me tell you about them.
Alijaz Bedene is ranked in the top 100 and only injury has prevented him from threatening the top 50. He was born in Slovenia but has recently gained British citizenship. The British tennis players have not taken kindly to his inclusion in the Brit pack (as was the case with Greg Rusedski).
Brydan Klein was once an Australian but now a Brit. Rumour has it that the Aussies had grown tired of his on-court behaviour, which included a six-months ban for muttering a racial slur. He did manage to behave himself at this year’s tournament but possibly one to watch in the future.
James Ward and Heather Watson delighted us by achieving their personal bests by getting through to the 3rd round.
James Ward took Vasili Pospisil to a thrilling 5th set, only to lose 6 games to 8; nonetheless he has achieved his aim of getting into the top 100. He will now get straight into tournaments rather than having to qualify.
I saw Heather Watson’s win over Daniela Hantuchova and thought she had recovered from her ill health and was playing very well. Unfortunately she came up against this year’s winner Serena Williams in her 3rd round match. She had us all on the edge of our seats when she went 3 games to 0 ahead in the third set, but Serena like a true champion came back to win the set.
Andy Murray kept our hopes alive throughout the first week and into the second. He kept our hopes of a champion alive until the semi-finals, where he was unfortunately beaten by Roger Federer.
A lot of tennis club members play doubles and this year the BBC covered all the matches in which Jamie Murray and John Peers (an Aussie) seeded No13 played, Jamie raised our hopes of a grand slam win by making it to the Mens' doubles final. Beating the No3 seeds Pospisil and Sock, the No8 seeds Peya and Soares as they progressed through the tournament. Sadly they lost in the final to the No4 seeds Roger and Tecau; they never really got into the match.
I followed the junior members of the Brit pack as they are hopefully our future tennis champions.
I thought you might like to know the names to watch out for .....
Sadly none of the British entrants in the Boys’ singles tournament made it through the first round.
The girls however had more success; Maia Lumsden made it to the second round, Anna Brogan to the third and Katie Swan (seeded 5) to the quarter finals.
That’s it for another year of Wimbledon; I am off to the Australian Open in 2016 and hope to see Andy Murray lift the trophy.
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Carole Markham