It’s over for Willis but Ward’s triumph keeps fairytale alive
WIMBLEDON lost Marcus Willis yesterday but found an immediate sprinkling of romance to replace him in Alex Ward, a player of even more humble status. At a ranking of 855, Ward is lower than Willis was last year when, at 772, he came through pre-qualifying to play Roger Federer in the second round. Ward, a 27-year-old from Northampton, feared last year that he might have to give up the game with a wrist injury. Now he has earned himself at least £35,000 by beating former top-50 player Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. Ward actually lost in the final round of pre-qualifying and thought his Wimbledon dream was over. He said: ‘I lost in that last round 7-6 in the third and I thought that was it. Then luckily they opened up two more wildcard spots into the main qualifying and gave me one of them. It really is unbelievable.’ A year ago he received a wildcard into the main draw, having nudged his ranking inside the top 250 before injuring his wrist injury. He said: ‘It was pretty serious. I saw quite a few specialists and no one knew what it was. Fortunately I didn’t have to have surgery and was back playing in January.’ Ward — no relation to Davis Cup player James — spends most of the time playing in the remoter outposts of the game’s lower tiers but now he could face anyone when the main draw is made today. He said: ‘Before here I think I was on a six or seven match losing streak. I was struggling. But I just got better and better each match and fortunately it has come together for the best tournament. This will mean everything, especially having qualified, I feel like I really deserve my place here. ‘There’s not much money in Futures tournaments. It’s tough down there but days like today make it all worthwhile.’ Willis lost 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 to Ukrainian Ilya Marchenko but said he was hampered by a foot injury sustained in his win over compatriot Liam Broady the day before. Jay Clarke, an 18-year-old from Derby, came agonisingly close to making the main draw but ran out of steam in his first five-set match, losing 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 to Austria’s Sebastian Ofner. The pair have the consolation of playing doubles next week. Katy Dunne, the last British woman in qualifying, fell 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.