MATHEW James’ Wimbledon adventure is over – but the ace can return home with his head held high.
The Wrexham Tennis Academy star, having been given a wild card entry into the All England Club event, was handed the toughest of first-rounds draws as he was paired with Polish fourth-seed Jerzy Janowicz in the boys singles and American second-seeds Ryan Harrison and Bradley Klahn in the boys doubles.
But the 17-year-old, ranked 92 places lower in the junior world rankings than Janowicz in 97th, made the perfect start to Saturday’s Court Five clash by winning the first set 6-4.
However, the big-serving Janowicz, runner-up at this season’s Roland Garros Junior Championships and last season’s US Open Junior Championships, hit back to win the next two 6-2 6-2 to seal his place in the last 32.
James said: “I’ve not faced many serves like that – it was like a cannon being fired at you.
“He’s already ranked in the world’s top 700 for senior tennis so I knew he’d come out fighting after losing the first set.
“I stopped concentrating a little and he improved so much and those two factors combined badly for me.”
James, who trains full-time at Wrexham under coach Dan Sanders, then teamed up with Matthew Short to take on world number nine Harrison and world number 20 Klahn on Court Five on Monday.
The Brit duo more than held their own in the opening set, going down 7-6 (7-4) on a tie-break, before being swept aside 6-2 in the second.
James said: “I think we played quite well together considering we only met up last week.
“We haven’t really had much time to play together and the other guys were highly ranked.
“But I’m proud of how we played and I know my doubles can improve in the future.”
James will be too old to compete in next year’s boys events, but he is determined to win a place in the main draw alongside the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
James, from Mold, said: “My aim is to qualify for the main draw next year which will obviously be a very tough ask but I believe I can do it.
“I haven’t played on the senior tour yet but hopefully by the end of the year I will have picked up some ranking points and be well on my way.
“I’d like to qualify for the junior US Open in August – that will probably be one of my last junior tournaments so it would be nice to go out on a high.
“I’ve done all right in senior tournaments so far but it is completely different when you haven’t got juniors to fall back on.
“But I’m really looking forward to it.”
