London cabbie’s son James Ward arrived at Wimbledon as a journeyman but the British No2 now has every right to feel comfortable among the elite at this year’s Championships.
That was the compliment paid by American 10th seed Mardy Fish, who was facing Ward, and a vocal home crowd, for a place in the third round of the men’s singles on Court One today.
Ward is no stranger to Fish, who beat the 25-year-old, ranked 173rd in the world, in straight sets and for the loss of only three games in their only previous meeting at the Atlanta Tournament in 2010. On that occasion, Ward was granted a wild card entry, as was the case for him at the AEGON Championship at Queen’s Club last year.
Fish was among those who marvelled as Ward, then at 216 in the rankings, secured stunning wins over then world No14 Stanislas Wawrinka and defending champion Sam Querrey on the way to the semi-finals where his glorious run was halted by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Fish, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year and a straight-sets winner over Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Tuesday, said: “I remember watching James play well at Queen’s and I watched a bit of his first-round match here against Pablo Andujar [world No36] when I got home from the courts.
“He has a good grass-court game and he has that sort of confidence about him that is good for him. You can’t take anyone lightly at this stage of the tournament, it doesn’t work like that. James is here for a reason, he’s in the second round for a reason.
“He beat a really good player in the first round, so he’ll be tough for sure.”
Ward, a wild card this week, is in the vanguard of a mini-British tennis revival at this year’s Championships and he won’t be short of support. Ahead of the clash, Fish said: “I’ve never played a British guy at Wimbledon, so that part will be unexpected.
“But I have played a lot of away ties in Davis Cup and a lot of matches where you’re the favourite or the underdog and the crowd is with you or against. So in that regard I don’t think it will be very different.”
The encouragement of the crowd failed to work a miracle for British No3 Jamie Baker, who last night was beaten 7-6, 6-4, 7-5 in his rain-delayed first-round clash with 30th seed Andy Roddick, of the United States.
