British hope Jay Clarke plans Roger Federer shock after singles bow at Wimbledon

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James Olley3 July 2019

Jay Clarke is determined not to be a one-hit wonder – but to avoid that fate at this year’s Wimbledon he will have to knock out the eight-time champion Roger Federer.

The 20-year-old inadvertently underlined the contrasting experiences between himself and Thursday’s opponent when reflecting on Federer’s influence over his career.

“He won the juniors the year I was born,” said Clarke. That was 1998 and it would only be five more years before Federer won the first of 20 Grand Slam titles in a career widely heralded as the greatest ever witnessed.

Clarke reached the mixed doubles semi-finals at SW19 last year and the men’s doubles third round 2017 but Tuesday’s 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win over American Noah Rubin was his first singles success here and the British No4 said: “I was on a six-match losing streak going into Wimbledon.

"I kept telling everyone, ‘no, I'm actually playing some of the best tennis I've ever played but the results don't show it quite yet.'

“I don't think it's abnormal now for guys my age to win matches in Slams any more or to win matches in ATPs. It's obviously nice to win a first match but ideally I wouldn't just want it to be a one-time thing.”

Federer showed a little vulnerability in being slow into stride against Lloyd Harris, dropping the first set in uncharacteristically sloppy fashion before winning the next three for the loss of just five games.

Clarke, the world No164, plans to take advice from Harris, Andy Murray, Dan Evans and others with match experience against Federer but he is far from overawed at the prospect of a show-court outing against the No2 seed.

PA

“Obviously on Centre Court, you could be embarrassed,” he said. “He could obviously kill any player like he did yesterday from a set down. That's never nice.

“I'll go out there and just play my game. That's the best test to actually see where I'm at. If I start doing stuff I don't normally do, then I wouldn't really learn anything.

“Upsets happen all the time. If he has a bad day and I play great, then obviously there was a chance there that could happen.”

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