Henry Searle’s Wimbledon exploits will force his coaching team to “go back to the drawing board”.
The 17-year-old from Wolverhampton became the first British winner of the Wimbledon boys’ singles title since Stanley Matthews, the son of the great footballer, in 1962.
Searle – who hit an incredible 134mph serve on his way to the title – now has his eyes on the men’s game.
But Morgan Phillips, the head coach at the Lawn Tennis Association’s national academy in Loughborough who has worked with Searle since September, will not make any hasty decisions.
“This makes us go back to the drawing board a little bit,” he said.
“When you say that it’s normally not in a positive way, but this is a very unusual ‘back to the drawing board’ situation because we have to reassess the plan and strategy for him going forward.
“Junior tennis is a massive platform going into the men’s game and that’s what I’ve worked in for a good amount of years now, the transition from junior to men’s and making them understand the big journey that’s ahead.
“So there will be definitely an element of him going into the lower tier of professional tennis.
“But also there’s a new system with the junior ranking. If you get top-10 then you get fast tracked into some Challenger events. That’s a big incentive for us as well.”
Searle’s 6-4 6-4 victory over fifth seed Yaroslav Demin on Court One, cheered on by ‘Henry’s Barmy Army’ consisting of his friends and family, capped a hugely impressive tournament.
He downed world junior number one Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in the first round and did not drop a set on his way to the title while barely seeming fazed by the attention or playing on the show courts.
Searle has come a long way since the start of the year, when he was not ranked highly enough for direct entry into the Australian Open junior tournament and his team took the decision to not travel for the qualifiers.
Phillips said: “He could’ve played qualies but we looked at the schedule and thought there would be more benefit in preparing him to go to South America and do a really good physical training block as well.
“We were looking bigger picture all the time with him. At the moment it’s working and we’ve got to keep working in that way.”
He then went to the French Open where he lost to eventual champion Dino Prizmic in the quarter-finals.
But Phillips saw enough to believe Searle had a good chance of a long run at Wimbledon.
“I never had a doubt about his ability, especially after the French Open,” he added.
“What we saw out there was very, very strong. The guy he lost to in the quarter-finals is going to be top-100 pretty soon in my opinion.
“So for me Henry was the second best player in that tournament. I think that gave us a lot of confidence.
“But it was getting him to peak for this tournament and we seemed to have got it right. Full credit to him.”
Zverev overcomes injury scare to maintain Italian Open charge
Alexander Zverev moved a step closer to his second Italian Open title with a hard-fought 6-4 6-3 quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz, overcoming an injury scare en route to the last four.
Zverev – who triumphed on the clay in Rome back in 2017 – produced a dominant serving performance against another heavy hitter in Fritz, but only after an awkward fall early on.
The German sought medical attention after falling on his stomach in the third service game of the match, the slip leaving him bleeding from both hands.
However, he soon shook off that knock and did not allow Fritz a single break point in a deeply impressive display, setting up a semi-final meeting with Chile's Alejandro Tabilo – the conqueror of Novak Djokovic – for Friday.
Data Debrief: Zverev gathering momentum
Zverev, the lone former champion remaining in the men's draw, is surely the favourite to win a tournament characterised by unfortunate withdrawals and shock defeats for the biggest names.
Seven of Zverev's 21 tour-level titles have come on clay, and he is yet to drop a single set in Rome this year. His three-year wait for an ATP 1000 title could soon be over.
Sabalenka overcomes injury concerns to reach Rome semi-finals
Aryna Sabalenka is through to her second Italian Open semi-final after a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday.
The Belarusian, who recovered from a lower back injury sustained in her previous match against Elina Svitolina, breezed through 6-2, 6-4 after just 72 minutes on the court.
Sabalenka broke her serve in the third and fifth games, with Ostapenko opening the door with two double faults, while a single break in the seventh game settled the second set.
The second seed almost let it slip with her only double fault but came back with two big serves to close out the win.
Sabalenka will face Danielle Collins or Victoria Azarenka in the semi-final on Friday.
Data Debrief: Top 10
Sabalenka (10) has become only the second player to reach 10 or more WTA-1000 semi-finals since the start of the 2020 season, along with Iga Swiatek (16).
With Sabalenka joining Swiatek and Coco Gauff, it is the first time the WTA’s top three players have reached the semi-final at the same WTA event since Roland Garros in 2013 – excluding the WTA Tour Finals.
Sabalenka has spent the most time out on the court in WTA clay events in 2024, with this match bringing her up to 25 hours and 34 minutes.
Gauff sets up Swiatek semi-final meeting after downing Zheng in Rome
Coco Gauff will have the chance to down world number one Iga Swiatek after progressing to the Italian Open semi-finals with Tuesday's victory over Qinwen Zheng.
The 20-year-old breezed into the last-four draw in Rome after her straight-sets victory over Zheng, winning 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
Gauff faced just one break point throughout the match, failing to hold her serve at 5-3 up as seven-seed Zhen battled back in the first set.
Yet Gauff eased through the tie-break and never looked back from there on, teeing up a meeting with Swiatek, who overcame Madison Keys in straight sets in her quarter-final clash.
Data Debrief: Young Gauff powers on
No player has won more matches than Gauff (61) in WTA-1000 events before turning 21, since the introduction of the format in 2009, as the American moved past Caroline Wozniacki (60) with victory here.
Wozniacki (eight) is also the only player to manage more WTA-1000 semi-final appearances before her 21th birthday, with Gauff's last-four qualification here taking her onto six – one ahead of Swiatek.
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