Wednesday, June 16, 2010

No Englishman in Wimbledon draw

James Ward
James Ward reached the quarter-finals at Eastbourne

For the first time in its 133-year history there will be no English representative in the men's draw at Wimbledon next week.

Alex Bogdanovic, Daniel Evans and Josh Goodall were knocked out in qualifying and James Ward has been denied a wildcard entry.

Ward has reached the quarter-finals at Eastbourne this week, beating two players in the top 100.

The 23-year-old Londoner said: "It's a little bit disappointing".

Britain will be represented in the Wimbledon men's draw by Andy Murray, who is seeded four, and fellow Scot Jamie Baker, who was given a wildcard last week.

Ward chose to play at Eastbourne rather than qualify for Wimbledon through the qualifying rounds.

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The gamble has not paid off and Ward admitted: "It's a little bit disappointing not to get a wildcard because I've been in the top 250 for 18 months and only dropped off the week before the cut because of losing the points from the Sarasota Challenger I won last year.

"But what can I do? I don't make the decisions."

Ward, who turned professional in 2004, has beaten Spain's Feliciano Lopez and world number 72 Rainer Schuettler to reach the quarter-finals at the Aegon International in Eastbourne this week.

Although Baker is also outside the top 250, a blood disorder and an ankle ligament injury have hindered him in recent weeks.

Britain's former Davis Cup captain David Lloyd said the decision to overlook Ward may have been taken to save the blushes of Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper.

Lloyd said: "Maybe Roger Draper has done it for a reason so that they don't all lose in the first round and he loses his job. He can't get slaughtered now. He's not stupid."

He added: "I feel sorry for James Ward after doing so well this week. You would have thought that they would have kept one wildcard floating just in case someone did well, which obviously James has done."

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash called on Draper to resign.

When Draper was appointed in 2006 he promised to bring more British players into the top 100 of world tennis.

Cash said: "[Draper] should have had the guts to say 'Look, I've under-performed. I'm embarrassed to have done so little,' and leave.

"In any other company, any other business, they would say it's time for him to go. They [the LTA] are the laughing stock of the world as far as tennis associations go.

"It's just another year of the same old thing so things need to change at the top and the sooner the better."

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