Peniston £100k richer as Queen’s run finally ends
On a day when spectators were fainting in the heat at Queen’s Club, Britain’s last hope, Ryan Peniston, also suffered a late collapse, losing 12 of the last 14 points to go down to Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic by a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 margin.
Still, the little-known Peniston had done a great deal to keep interest in this event alive. His unexpected run to the quarter-finals helped cover for the fact that a number of more famous players – including Nick Kyrgios, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-aliassime – had all defected to the rival German event in Halle, responding to deep cuts in the Lawn Tennis Association budget for appearance fees.
By reaching the quarter-finals here, Peniston also made up for many months of low-paid slog around Futures and Challenger events in nations from Greece to Kazakhstan. He earned about £50,000 in prize money, to add to another guaranteed £50,000 that he will pick up at Wimbledon next week after receiving a wild-card invitation into the main draw.
“It’s a lot of money for someone like myself,” said Peniston, who came into Queen’s ranked at No180 in the world but has climbed more than 30 places through his two victories over top-50 opponents.
“It’s definitely going to help a lot. The next step is being able to afford a physical trainer on the road, which I think is super-important.”
Peniston is 26, a late-developing left-hander from Southend, where his father, Paul, was a train driver.
He credited his parents for their financial sacrifices during his teenage years, which he spent training at an academy on the French Riviera.
“I’m very thankful that they were able to do that, as tennis can be quite an expensive sport sometimes,” he said.
As a child, Peniston survived a rare cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, although he was so small at the time – undergoing surgery and chemotherapy between the ages of one and three – that he has no memories of the illness.
His father told the Southend Echo: “You don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve nearly lost it and we’ve always had to be strong. That always plays on my mind. I can get really angry with him sometimes but then I think back and I’m thankful he’s here. He’s always had that fighting spirit.”
Meanwhile, Birmingham also waved farewell to its last British representative when Katie Boulter lost 6-4, 6-1 to 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep.