It turned out to be quite a day for James Ward on No.2 Court. First and foremost came the thrill for this wild card of marching into the third round at the 2015 Championships for the first time by defeating a much higher-rated opponent in Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3.
It was a victory which lifted the 28-year-old well inside the world’s top 100, a mark he has long striven to achieve. And he is guaranteed prize money of at least £77,000.
Clearly Ward is happy about the money. “Everyone has got bills to pay,” he said. “But that is not really something I am thinking about. I am not that sort of person. What is great is that my ranking goes inside the top 100 after this. That’s something you work for your whole career, something I look to build on.”
James Ward
Ward’s only previous claim to fame in the mind of the British sporting public came through his successes as No.2 to Andy Murray in the Davis Cup. This week has proved that there are other talents to the man besides representing his country at tennis. “People wanted to know why I couldn’t do well and win every other week as well,” he said. “It’s not as easy as that. There’s a lot of good players out there and everyone is trying to do well.”
What is great is that my ranking goes inside the top 100 after this
But it was Ward who did especially well. In Vesely he was facing someone who had been world junior champion and had risen as high as No.35 in the rankings, so he needed to play well – and did just that. His huge serve was a massive plus, particularly in a dominant opening set when the Czech was struggling to combat the speed on the grass, and failing dismally. A set ahead in 25 minutes, Ward had already struck five aces, committed only three unforced errors, landed 74 per cent of first serves on target and dropped just four points on serve.
Now the trick was to build on that and to the delight of the crowd, none more so that his father Jim, a London cabbie, that is what Ward did, holding serve comfortably and failing only to cash in on a flurry of break points which would have seen him comfortably two sets up. Instead he was subjected to the angst of a tie-break in which he trailed 3-0 before winning seven of the next eight points.
The worried Vesely promptly took a toilet break to regroup, something which worked for him. He broke the Ward serve for the first (and only) time and despite having treatment on a sore left shoulder got back into contention by capturing the third set.
Clearly Ward was tiring. The first serves were landing less frequently but his determination saw him through. To loud cheers, he broke for a 3-1 lead. Now all he needed to do was hold serve three more times which he managed, fighting off a couple of break points in the process. He arrived at the brink with his 15th ace of the match, at which Vesely obligingly netted a forehand. “To bounce back and come through after playing an average third set showed a lot of character and I was happy with that.” And so was a packed court, none more so than his father.
