They said Marcus Willis’s route to The Championships in 2016 was the stuff of fairytales – a once-in-a-lifetime story for a player ranked outside the top 700, whose game began firing at the right place and just the right time.
A year later, along comes Alex Ward.
Flying under the radar with Willis bidding to repeat his qualifying feat in 2017, Ward emerged as the only Briton to qualify for Wimbledon this year, joining compatriots Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund, Aljaz Bedene and wild cards Bryden Klein, Cameron Norrie and James Ward in the main draw.
For Ward, the experience is all the sweeter knowing he battled his way through three rounds at Roehampton to be there, having been awarded a wild card in 2016.
“It means everything – especially having qualified,” said the 27-year-old, who downed Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-1 in the final round. “I feel like I really deserve my place there.
“It feels incredible to be honest. I’d never won a match in Wimbledon qualifying before this year – I’d lost four times – and it feels unbelievable. I’m struggling to get my head around it.”
It’s been some struggle for the Northampton native since he faced David Goffin in the first round on his Wimbledon debut. Soon after, he picked up a wrist injury that kept him out of competition for six months.
“It was pretty serious,” said Ward. “I was seeing a fair few specialists to get different opinions, and nobody really knew what it was. In the end I had a cortisone injection that calmed the tendons down. Fortunately I didn’t have to have surgery.”
The absence saw Ward’s ranking plummet from 245 a year ago to 855 this week. He arrived at pre-qualifying on a seven-match losing streak, and needed a Willis-esque stroke of luck to reach the qualifying draw at all. He is the lowest ranked player to qualify for a Grand Slam since 1998.
“I didn’t even get through the pre-qualifying – I lost in the last round 7-6 in the third, and I’d had two match points,” Ward explained. “I thought that was it, then luckily they opened up two more wild cards spots.
“When I arrived at the play-offs I wasn’t feeling too confident – I actually lost the first set of the play-offs to someone who got a wild card into the playoffs, so it was really step-by-step. Each match got better.”
And how. Having battled back from a set down to beat Alex Gerasimov in the first round, Ward produced what he believes to be the performance of his life in the second round, downing No.6 seed Go Soeda 6-3, 6-1.
“I think that was the best match I’ve ever played, to be honest,” he said. “I played superb throughout. Today I started off a little bit slow, got broken in the first set, lost it, but got better and better as it went on.”
Ward can’t ignore the parallels between his own run and that of Willis, a good friend and former training partner back in their days based at the National Tennis Centre. But unlike last year’s qualifying sensation, he has no interest in an early meeting with a Grand Slam great.
“Some people have said, would you prefer Federer on Centre Court or a more winnable match, and I’d definitely want that – it’d be great to have a shot at it. Because I played last year in the main draw, it’s probably less of a fairy tale. But I did have [Willis’s run] in mind. For me, it’s perfect.”
Willis, hampered by the knee injury he suffered in the fading light against Liam Broady the night before, found Illya Marchenko simply too solid as he went down 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(4).
“I’m not saying I would have won, but it would have been nice to be at 100 per cent,” said the 26-year-old, who admitted he considered retiring midway through the second set. “I still went out a fought, and did everything I could, but on his service games I didn’t really have a sniff.”
For Clarke, the dream first appearance at qualifying quickly became a nightmare as he was a two-set lead evaporate in his first five-set match. The 18-year-old was understandably devastated after losing to world No.215 Sebastian Ofner 2-6, 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
“I had a few chances, but that’s it,” said Clarke, who saw a break point come and go at 4-4 in the third set. “Physically I didn’t feel too bad, but it was more mental. I wasn’t close to cramping or anything, but fatigue was starting to set in.”
Like Clarke, Ofner was in uncharted territory – playing his first qualifying tournament, and his first five-set match. “To qualify at the first time, it’s amazing,” said the 21-year-old. “And also at Wimbledon – it’s the event, for tennis.
“I have to say for the first two sets he played unbelievable,” added the Austrian. “He played really good grass court tennis, and I was struggling with his game. But he made more mistakes at the end, and that was the point where the match turned.”
All but two of the gentlemen’s singles qualifying berths are now filled ahead of Friday’s extra day of play at the Bank of England Sports Club. Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk cruised to victory over No.4 seed Lukas Lacko 7-5, 6-2, 6-3, while Lukas Rosol needed four sets to see off Darian King 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans reached the main draw for a fifth time after beating Austria’s Gerald Melzer 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, but seven matches went to five sets in the final round – including Stefano Travaglia’s comeback win over Canada’s Peter Polansky 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, an extra-innings wins for Sergiy Stakhovsky over Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-7(6), 6-4 8-6, and the comeback of the day from Andrew Whittington, who saved two match points before romping to a 4-6, 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(3) 6-0 victory over Denis Kudla.
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