James Ward (tennis)
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| Full name | James Ward[1] |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Great Britain England |
| Residence | London, England |
| Born | 9 February 1987 London, England |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Turned pro | 2004 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | US$297,536 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 14–17 |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | 139 (22 August 2011) |
| Current ranking | 161 (16 January 2012) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 1R (2012) |
| French Open | Q1 (2010, 2011) |
| Wimbledon | 1R (2009, 2011) |
| US Open | Q1 (2009) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 2–4 |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | 233 (29 August 2011) |
| Current ranking | 270 (16 January 2012) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2006) |
| Last updated on: 13 January 2012. | |
James Ward (born 9 February 1987 in London) is a British tennis player, and British no. 2 behind Andy Murray. As of 22 August 2011 he is ranked 139 in the ATP singles rankings and 234 in doubles. He is mostly known for reaching the quarter finals of the 2010 Eastbourne International and the semi-finals of the 2011 Queen's Club Championship as a wildcard entry.
Career
He made his first tour appearance in Valencia in 2007 as a wild card but lost in the first round.
Ward qualified for only his second ATP tour event, the 2008 Stella Artois Championships at the Queen's Club in London. In the first round on 9 June he met former US Open and Australian Open champion, Russian player Marat Safin. Ward took the first set after breaking Safin in the third game of the match and managed to hold his serve for the rest of the set to take it 6–4. However Safin upped his game in the second set, gained an early break and won the set comfortably 6–1. Ward was also broken early in the deciding set losing 6–4, 1–6, 4–6.[2][3]
In 2009, he competed in the play-offs that were created by Davis Cup captain John Lloyd to find two more players for Great Britain to face Ukraine. In these, he competed in the previous longest match in tennis history, lasting 6 hours and 40 minutes, against fellow Brit Chris Eaton. Eaton won the match 6–3, 6–2, 6–7 (3–7), 2–6, 21–19.
In May that year he became the first British player to win a challenger title on clay since Tim Henman in 1995. He beat Carsten Ball in the final of the Sarasota Open in Florida, USA.[4] This win propelled him into the top 250 of the ATP's rankings.
In June 2010, Ward reached his first ever ATP World Tour quarter-final at The AEGON International, Eastbourne, UK. Ward beat 2nd seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez (who had beaten Rafael Nadal the week before) 6–3, 5–4 Retired. He followed it up with the other man to lose at the semi finals of Queens the week before, Rainer Schuettler, beating him 6–3, 7–6 (7–5). He was eventually beaten by the young Ukrainian talent Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets, 3–6, 4–6.
He was selected to take part in Great Britain's vital Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie vs Turkey, at Eastbourne, in July alongside Jamie Baker, Ken Skupski, Colin Fleming and Alex Ward. He contributed to the victory by winning both his singles matches (one a dead rubber) giving Great Britain a first Davis Cup win in three years.[5]
In March 2011, Ward played a key role in Great Britain's 4–1 win over Tunisia in the Euro/Africa II division of the Davis Cup, winning both his live singles rubbers, and ultimately clinching the victory with a 3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 8–6 victory over Malek Jaziri in the fourth rubber.
At the 2011 Queen's Club Championships, he reached the semi-final of an ATP tour event for the first time. He defeated fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets in the second round.[6] Ward followed this up by defeating defending champion and 13th seed Sam Querrey, coming from a set down to win in three sets to equal his run at Eastbourne in 2010. Ward then defeated Adrian Mannarino in three sets despite missing seven match points in the second set tiebreaker.[7] He was eventually defeated by Jo Wilfried Tsonga 6–3 7–6 (7), having held a set point in the second set tiebreaker.[8] At Wimbledon Ward entered as a wildcard, but lost in the first round to Michaël Llodra.[9] Following a short break, Ward's first tournament back was the Lexington Challenger. As top seed, Ward reached the final, losing to Wayne Odesnik. He was also runner-up in the doubles tournament. Two weeks later Ward won his second Challenger tournament of his career at the 2011 Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, defeating Robby Ginepri on 7 August. The win saw Ward rise to World number 144. On 15 August ward rose to a career high ranking 140. In January 2012 he qualified for his first Grand Slam outside of Wimbledon when he defeated Igor Sijsling 7–6 (7–5), 6–2 to qualify for the first round of the Australian open.
Career finals
Singles finals: 9 (6–3)
| Legend |
|---|
| ATP Challenger Tour (2–1) |
| ITF Men's Circuit (4–2) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 21 July 2008 |  Irun, Spain
|
Clay | Pablo Martin-Adalia
|
7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–4) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 22 September 2008 | Martos, Spain
|
Hard | Roberto Bautista-Agut
|
6–3, 3-6, 2-6 |
| Winner | 2. | 20 October 2008 |  Rodez, France
|
Hard | Guillermo Alcaide
|
6–3, 6-4 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 24 November 2008 |  Dubai, United Arab Emirates
|
Hard |  Filip Prpic
|
6–7(5–7), 1–6 |
| Winner | 3. | 11 May 2009 |  Sarasota, United States
|
Clay |  Carsten Ball
|
7–6(7–4), 4–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 4. | 4 July 2010 | Manchester, Great Britain
|
Grass | Jamie Baker
|
6–2, 7–6(7–5) |
| Winner | 5. | 30 August 2010 | Santander, Spain
|
Clay | Guillermo Olaso
|
7–5, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 24 July 2011 | Lexington, United States
|
Hard | Wayne Odesnik
|
5–7, 4–6 |
| Winner | 6. | 7 August 2011 |  Vancouver, Canada
|
Hard | Robby Ginepri
|
7–5, 6–4 |
Doubles finals: 5 (3–2)
| Legend |
|---|
| ATP Challenger Tour (2–1) |
| ITF Men's Circuit (1–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 11 June 2006 | Tenerife, Spain
|
Carpet |  Tony Holzinger
|
Jean-François Bachelot Nicolas Tourte
|
4-6, 3-6 |
| Winner | 1. | 4 August 2008 |  New Delhi, India
|
Hard | Joshua Goodall
|
 Tasuku Iwami Hiroki Kondo
|
6–4, 6–1 |
| Winner | 2. | 26 January 2009 | Germany
|
Carpet (i) | Joshua Goodall
|
 Nikolai Fidirko Neil Pauffley
|
4–6, 6-0, [10–4] |
| Winner | 3. | 3 May 2010 | Savannah, United States
|
Clay | Jamie Baker
|
Bobby Reynolds  Fritz Wolmarans
|
6–3, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 24 July 2011 | Lexington, United States
|
Hard | Michael Yani
|
Jordan Kerr David Martin
|
3–6, 4–6 |
References
- ^ "Search 1984 to 2006 – Birth, Marriage and Death indexes". Findmypast.com. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
- ^ "Safin survives scare to end Ward hopes". BBC Sport. 9 June 2008.
- ^ Hodgkinson, Mark (10 June 2008). "Battling James Ward worries Marat Safin". London: Telegraph Online. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ Harman, Neil (17 May 2009). "The Net Post: young James Ward emulates Tim Henman in his feat of clay". London: The Times. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ Brown, Oliver (10 July 2010). "Davis Cup 2010: Great Britain beat Turkey for first win in three years". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "Ward shocks Wawrinka at Queen's". BBC News. 7 June 2011.
- ^ "Ward battles into Queen's semis". BBC News. 10 June 2011.
- ^ "Britain's Ward denied by Tsonga". BBC News. 11 June 2011.
- ^ "Wimbledon 2011: No repeat of Queen's Club heroics as James Ward exits". The Guardian. London. 22 June 2011.
External links
- James Ward at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- {{ITF profile}} template using deprecated numeric ID.
- LTA Profile
- Official website for James Ward