Earlier this year Sean Thornley received the Kent Player of the year award. In his acceptance speech, Sean made reference to his goal of playing at this years Wimbledon in the Doubles event which he hoped to receive a Wild Card to account for his and his Partner (David Rice of Hertfordshire) dramatic rise up the ATP doubles world ranking table. Their optimism was further enhanced in June when the Wild Cards were announced as their ATP rankings had risen to 264 (Sean) and 280 (David), from around 700 at the start of the year. This meant they were Britain’s most improved doubles pairing with only 12 players in the world their own age or younger that were at the time ranked higher.

Despite the disappointment of not receiving a Wild Card, Sean and David remained focused on their tennis and duly entered the Wimbledon qualifying competition knowing that they would have to win two matches against players ranked in the top 50 to 150 in the world. A tough ask, but in the first round Sean and David emerged victorious with a 6-2 6-4 win against the 6 seeds Purav Raja of India and his partner Brian Battistone of America. In their final qualifying match they beat Alessandro Motto of Italy and Stephane Robert of France 7-5 4-6 6-3. A huge achievement to hold their nerve, win the match and qualify for Wimbledon, especially bearing in mind their disappointment earlier in the week.

On the Friday before Wimbledon started the draws were concluded with Sean and David being drawn against Jamie Murray and Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, each with an ATP ranking in the top 50, nearly 200 places higher than either Sean or David.

Between qualifying and their first round match, Sean and David underwent intensive training on the Wimbledon practice courts under the watchful eye of Louis Cayer, Britain’s top doubles specialist coach, and Sean’s own coach Nick Cavaday. After holding their own in practice sets against the likes of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins and honing their skills beside players such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Sean and David were ready to perform well in their first round match.

On the day of the match Sean and David acquitted themselves really well with Sean serving consistently well and being very dominant in the rallies hitting many fiercely driven back hand winners. Despite this, Sean and David suffered only one break of serve only in each set resulting in them losing the match 3-6 5-7. The contest was featured in the national press the following day, not because of the match itself, but more because Jamie Murray belted a misdirected 115mph first serve straight onto the ear of his partner Sergiy Stakhovsky. This was towards the end of the second set, but Stakhovsky recovered sufficiently enough to claim the win.

Sean immensely enjoyed all the experiences of competing at Wimbledon and he has already admitted his determination to return next year.

Report by Dale Thornley.