Great Britain’s James Ward has returned to winning ways after playing his first competitive match since August.
The former world No.89 has missed six months of the tour after undergoing surgery to treat a knee injury. Ward only managed to play six tournaments last year due to knee problems as he fell outside of the top 500 on the ATP Emirates rankings. A position he hasn’t been in since 2008.
Ward’s latest comeback takes place this week at an ITF $25,000 event in the British town of Shrewsbury. The tournament features no players ranked inside the top 300 with Joris de Loore being the highest at 314th. Loore lost in the first round today.
“It’s nice to be at home and playing my first tournament at Shrewsbury, somewhere I’ve never been before, so I’m looking forward to it.” Ward told Shropshire Live earlier this week.
Playing his first round match on Tuesday, the former Davis Cup winner powered his way to a 6-2, 6-2, win over Spain’s Andres Artuñedo Martinavarro. A Spanish player who has been ranked as high as 293 in 2014.
.@JamesWardtennis is back with a win!
He defeats Andres Artunedo Martinavarro 6-2 6-2 to make the second round at the GB Pro Series Shrewsbury. 👏🎾 pic.twitter.com/1QGH9OufR8
— The Shrewsbury Club (@shrewsbury_club) 13 February 2018
The low-key return is Ward’s first taste of life on the Futures circuit since 2012, when he won a title in Chinese Taipei. It is hard to read into how significant his latest win is in terms of his current form. Although the priority for him now is getting matches under his belt.
“I’ve been back a couple of months, but nothing replicates playing matches and that’s why it’s a good stepping stone for me to start,” he said. “At the moment it’s my first match in six months, so it will be rusty, but I’ll just try and get through and see what happens.”
Known for his fast serve, the 31-year-old has won four Challenger titles so far in his career and reached the third round of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.
Ward will take on French 19-year-old Evan Furness in the second round of the Shrewsbury tournament.
