To the delight of Andy Murray, he will no longer be the sole focus of the British media during this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
This year there will be 15 British players taking part, eight in the men’s and seven in the women’s. Before the tournament started, a duo of players had already created history in the tournament. Johanna Konta will be the first British woman to be seeded in the tournament since Jo Durie in 1984 and British No.23 Marcus won six rounds of qualifying to become the lowest ranked player to play in the main draw (without the use of a protected ranking) since 2000.
Out of the 15 entrants, eight of them made the draw with a direct entry or via qualifying. To put this number in perspective, only three Brits were able to achieve this last year. This year British tennis has celebrated milestones such as Konta reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, Kyle Edmund picking up his first top-10 win against Gilles Simon, Dan Evans winning two Challenger titles and Naomi Broady reaching the semifinals of the Kuala Lumpur Open.
The poster boy of British Tennis, Andy Murray, has praised the current surge in triumphs by his teammates. In an article written for the BBC, the world No.2 believes that some has the ability to ‘spring some surprises’ at Wimbledon.
“With 15 British players involved in the singles competitions at Wimbledon this year, and the recent success in doubles for my brother Jamie and Dom Inglot, it does feel like there’s a bit of a feelgood factor around British tennis at the moment.” Murray wrote.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect, but this tournament is a big chance for some of them to make their mark and you just hope they do themselves justice, because it’s tough working your way up through the rankings.”
A lot has happened since the dark days of Wimbledon 2010 when Murray became the only British player to reach the second round at the tournament, the lowest number of British wins in the tournament’s long history. The British Lawn Tennis Association came under a tsunami of criticism from the media and some doubted that British tennis would see another surge.
Fortunately, six years later, critics have been proven wrong. The country now has seven top-100 players (four men and three women) and are the current Davis Cup champions. Andy Murray is no longer the key focus of British tennis. A position that both him and millions of other Brits are ecstatic about.
The British 15 and their first round matches
Men
James Ward v Novak Djokovic SRB
Kyle Edmund Vs Adrian Mannarino FRA
Brydan Klein (WC) Vs Nicolas Mahut FRA
Alexander Ward (WC) Vs David Goffin (11) BEL
Marcus William (Q) Vs Ricardas Berankis LTU
Dan Evans Vs Jan-Lennard Struff GER
Aljaz Bedene Vs Richard Gasquet (7) FRA
Andy Murray (2) Vs Liam Broady (WC)
Women
Heather Watson Vs Annika Beck GER
Tara Moore (WC) Vs Alison Van Uytvanck BEL
Katie Swan (WC) Vs Timea Babos
Johanna Konta (16) Vs Monica Puig PUR
Laura Robson (WC) Vs Angelique Kerber GER
Naomi Broady Vs Elina Svitolina (17) UKR
