Understandably the main focus during the early days of The Championships centred on Andy Murray and whether he would finally play his singles match and then Jack Draper making his debut on Centre Court as the British No.1, in many ways overshadowed the performances of the other Brits on the outside courts.
Being just one point away is brutal Paul JubbPaul Jubb, Billy Harris Jan Choinski, Charlie Broom, Liam Broady, all produced excellent performances but were just unable to tip the balance when it mattered to secure that crucial victory.
Jubb, who reached the semi-finals of the Mallorca Championships last week, was ‘gutted’ following his 1-6 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4 7-5 defeat to Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild after holding a two-set lead and a match point.
“I’m just gutted,” Jubb, world ranked at 201 said after coming so close to causing an upset by claiming his first win at Wimbledon.
“Being just one point away is brutal,” he added.
“This is definitely where I feel I belong. My level is there. I’m good enough to compete in the top 100 and beat top 100 guys.”
His momentum was broken by three rain delays but didn’t make them an excuse.
“It was obviously frustrating, and after the second one, he played well,” the 24-year-old, who shares a flat with Jack Draper, added.
“I don’t feel like I played bad. He started putting more balls in court, playing more aggressive, hardly missing, but also hitting more winners. So maybe it helped him kind of regroup.
“I felt like actually I did a decent job of not coming out too low. When he came back from the rain delay, he earned it.”
Billy Harris was another player who caught the eye in the lead up weeks to The Championships when he reached the quarter-final of the at Queen’s, defeating world No.32 Tomas Martin Etcheverry en route, before making the last four of the Eastbourne International a week later.
His efforts earned the 29-year-old a boost in his rankings to 116 but he was unable to carry on his good form in SW19, going down 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3 to world No. 63 Jaume Munar of Spain.
“I am definitely disappointed,” Harris said. “Going into the match after the last couple of weeks, I felt like it was a winnable match.
“He played well, he played better than the other Spanish or South American guys that I have played on grass. A couple of those guys that I’ve played don’t move as well as he did today. He played a good match and overall he played a bit better than me.
“It was nice to walk out there for my first match in the main draw. A great feeling at the start and obviously when you lose it’s not quite the same. I went out there feeling good about my game but I was beaten by the better guy on the day.”
Liam Broady will partner Billy Harris in the doubles (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Harris will have another chance to experience Wimbledon’s manicured lawns when he plays men’s doubles with compatriot Liam Broady who fell to the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2.
In fairness to Broad, he has not had the best build up having missed a large chunk of the season with an ankle injury and to cap it all, suffered a blow to his head on his car boot-lid when picking up a can of tennis balls resulting in him experiencing migraines which make his eyes watery.
‘They went a little bit funny this morning,” the 30-year-old from Stockport admitted. “Fortunately for me, I felt well enough to play. I’m glad I did. I am pleased. I am pleased that I got through the match and that I did manage to find some semblance of the tennis that I know I can play.
“I knew I had banged my head, but that’s how I figured out that I had the concussion – it was the day after during practice I got a really bad migraine, and then all the other symptoms came on. I struggled the last couple of weeks with migraines and dizziness.
“You know you don’t want to make a fool of yourself, and you don’t want anything bad to happen on court, especially when you are taking a wildcard. I don’t know if it was just the nerves and the stress that kind of overwhelmed me a bit.”
Charlie Broom will partner Arthur Fery in the doubles (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for LTA)
Charlie Broom had a particularly strong opponent, namely the three-time grand slam champion from Switzerland, Stan Wawrinka so it was not surprising to see him fall at the first hurdle.
“I am trying not to see it as losing, but learning,” the 26-year-old from St Albans said following his 6-3 7-5 6-4 loss after letting a 5-2 lead slip in the second set. “(I need to) just use all the experience I’ve gained from playing him and on that court in front of a British crowd.”
Broom will be back later this week to play doubles with Arthur Fery, who also missed big chances. The French-born 21-year-old, whose mother is a former tennis professional, struggled with fitness in his second-ever five-set match against Germany’s Daniel Altmeier.
‘I didn’t manage to close the match off,’ he said following his 4-6 7-6(6) 1-6 6-3 loss. “I think that kind of bit me. Fourth and fifth I was obviously struggling physically. He’s got a lot more experience playing best of five matches. It’s a frustrating one because I felt like I was the better player on court for the most part.”
Last year’s Boys champion, Henry Searle, the youngest player in the draw showed plenty of spirit as he took his game to the American Marcos Giron, no doubt surprising him by taking the first set.
However, the 18-year-old from Wolverhampton, the first Brit to lift the junior title in 61 years, was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 on his debut in the men’s main draw, commenting that the experience had been on a “different scale” to the juniors.
Speaking afterwards, Searle said: “I gave what I had and fought as hard as possible, but it wasn’t enough to get over the line.”
“I played some of my best tennis in the first set, then he kind of settled and started playing better,” he added.
There was also no joy for Jan Choinski, 28-year-old with a Polish-German heritage, who battled valiantly against Luciano Darderi of Italy joining many of his compatriots with a five-set loss.
Currently ranked 174, he lost 7-5 4-6 2-6 7-5 6-2 to a player ranked 140 places above him.
There is one very positive result namely that of Jacob Fearnley who clinched a tremendous win over Spain’s Alejandro Moro Canas during a third set 26-point tiebreak.
His 7-5 6-4 7-6(12) victory however, has a big drawback, He now faces the world No.2 and seven-time champion in round two and admitted he had no idea as to how to beat Novak Djokovic!
“I’m juts going to try and enjoy it, put my game out on the court and see what happens. I don’t think there are many tactics going into that match.”
