London (AFP) – James Ward admitted he was relieved to finally silence the critics after the British wildcard made it to the Wimbledon third round for the first time.
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Bedene scrapped past veteran Czech battler Radek Stepanek in five sets while Ward claimed a four-set victory over Italy’s lucky loser Luca Vanni, the duo joining Liam Broady and Andy Murray in round two at SW19. Vesely has reached the third round of a grand slam just once in his career, which was last years Wimbledon.
“But it’s not really something I’ve thinking about”.
Ward’s next opponent is Vasek Pospisil, who knocked out Italy’s No 30 seed Fabio Fognini.
For Ward, the benefit goes way beyond the usual 60 seconds of fame which accompanies success at Wimbledon for a Briton with a name which is not “Murray”.
“A lot of stuff gets written about you in the press, why you can win in the Davis Cup and why can’t you win every other week”.
It was a win which will take him into the world’s top 100 for the first time and, for a sportsman who lives in a flat in Euston, provides a valuable pay-out of £77,000.
Bjorkman, who joined Murray’s coaching staff in March, admitted Ward will face a tricky but eminently winnable clash against world number 56 Pospisil, with a place in Wimbledon’s last 16 at stake. “It’s great for British tennis and it’s great for everyone involved that more people are winning matches and doing well”.
Ward proved with his Davis Cup victory over John Isner as Britain beat the United States that he can mix it with the game’s top stars, though, and channelled all that momentum again at SW19.
Andy Murray admits there were moments when he thought his top-level career might have been over a year ago.
Ward may have quashed the abuse from the British public and media, but silencing a perfectionist like ex- Wimbledon champion Murray could be harder.
The court temperatures may have been nudging towards record levels but Britain’s men avoided the traditional first-round meltdown, with James Ward also winning to ensure there are more than three of them in the second round for the first time since 2006. But you earn the right to do that throughout the course of the year.
British No 2 Aljaz Bedene was unable to follow Murray and Ward into the third round. Struggling with a left shoulder problem which required a medical time-out after he had taken the third set, he gave a disjointed performance.
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He was trailing 3-0 in the second set tie-break before pulling through and then after stumbling in the third, he recovered superbly breaking the Czech early in the fourth and then saving three break points in the next game. “Yeah, onwards and upwards”.
