Who knows, the next British Wimbledon champion may be found here!
As the first graduate of the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative, the trail-blazing community tennis programme run by the All England Club, Jasmine Asghar is taking her first steps on the path up the rankings.
She is the first graduate of the initiative to do so.
The WJTI, run by the All England Club, is a unique scheme that broadens the base at grassroots level through inspirational visits to about 60 state primary schools in Merton and Wandsworth every year.
I’m starting from the bottom and working my way up. By next year I want to be at least top 500
Head coach Dan Bloxham and his team literally put rackets in the hands of young children for the first time and then follow up on interest by offering players the chance to develop their skills and enjoy the game in coaching sessions held at the Club. The aim is to maximise the potential of its members as both tennis players and young people and show how participation in sport can develop life skills and offer exciting opportunities.
It is to them that Jasmine owes her introduction to tennis, which soon accelerated into a passion for the game. Following her first appearance here in 2013, the 17-year-old from New Malden – who styles herself #teamjazzgar on Twitter (with the note ‘Very fond of hitting a furry yellow ball over a net... When and if I manage to do so!’) – played in the opening round of the girls’ doubles with Eden Richardson.
The British girls were a wild card entry drawn against the No.3 seeds from Hungary, Dalma Galfi and Fanni Stollar. The match went the way of the rankings with the British girls losing in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, but Jasmine declared the match fun and a vital step in familiarising herself with the professional environment of elite-level tennis.
“It was a great experience, and it’s a shame we didn’t win,” she said. “We were playing very good players, but we had a blast out there. It does get more intimidating [as you progress to play against the world’s top-ranked players], but it gets more fun at the same time. I was just thinking this is what it could be like in the future if I can do it now. ”
Jasmine, currently world No.1,098, has set herself a target of reaching the top 500 on the WTA world rankings by the beginning of 2016. She's made several steps forward during the grass-court season, reaching the second qualifying round of the AEGON Eastbourne Trophy before Wimbledon.
“I’m starting from the bottom and working my way up. By next year I want to be at least top 500 and then work my way up from there.
"I have loved it here because I used to come here when I was younger.”
Her partner, Eden, was herself a member of the International Club of Great Britain team in last year’s IC World-wide Junior Challenge finals staged at Wimbledon. So there's plenty of British promise lining up to take on the world’s best in the future.
