British players are Wimbledon suffered a wretched start to Wimbledon as 10 players lost on the opening day of action.
The likes of Harriet Dart, Cameron Norrie, and Fran Jones were all beaten in their opening round of Wimbledon, although British fortunes were somewhat changed on day two.
Katie Boulter might have been defeated by qualifier Tyra Grant, but Katie Swan and Arthur Fery were able to pick up Wimbledon victories in round one.
Despite Britain going 14-2 after the first day and a half of Wimbledon, Tim Henman remained positive about the future of British tennis.
Speaking at Wimbledon, the former World No 4 said: “When you look at the individual matches, the vast majority were going to be the underdogs, and they came up short. There are two barometers in professional tennis.
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“There’s top 100, and that means you’re getting into the slams, and then there’s top 250.“We’ve had a few people drop out of the top 100. I think the top of the game has been a little unfortunate.”
Henman outlined three women’s players he’s incredible excited about at Wimbledon, despite their poor results at this year’s event.
“The group that excites me moving forward is that next group from 100 to 250. We’ve got the three young women (Hannah) Klugman, Mimi Xu and (Mika) Stojsavljevic. They have enormous potential for the future. So we do need to stay patient, and likewise on the men’s side.”
Henman then explained what the LTA are now focused on, heading out of Wimbledon, when it comes to the development of more British tennis stars.
“We want more in each (category), and they’ve done a much better job, certainly on the men’s side, of getting more and more players in that top 250,” he said.
“But the next step is to break through into the top 100. So that’s what you want to see continuing. So a really, really tough day, very disappointing. But it’s not all doom and gloom.”
Klugman, Xu, and Stojsavljevic are all highly rated by the LTA, but they were all given horrible first round ties at Wimbledon this year.
Klugman was defeated in straight sets by Barbora Krejčíková, while Mimi Xu took Daria Kasatkina to a deciding set before succumbing to defeat.
Stojsavljevic, meanwhile, saw her tournament ended at the hands of Olympic Gold Medalist and former Wimbledon finalist, Belinda Bencic.
Billy Harris, Toby Samuel, and Jacob Fearnley are all yet to play their first round matches at Wimbledon, so there is still chance for more success for Great Britain at their home Grand Slam.
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