TENNIS Scotland issued a letter last week to parents of the children in their performance groups to insist they had a robust new plan for their development and further re-assurance for concerned followers of the sport in Scotland came in the performances of Anna Brogan and Maia Lumsden at Wimbledon yesterday.
In early afternoon at SW19, this pair of 17-year-olds from the Glasgow area - friends who came through the Scottish system together but who have been spending time in Bradenton, Florida, recently - recorded quick fire victories against the competition's No 1 and No 3 seeds respectively.
Brogan got the ball rolling with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic out on Court No 14 which she said was the finest moment of her career. Brogan, who has been working with Laura Robson's former coach Mauricio Haddad, said she was delighted to repay the investment of her parents, who fund her US-based development.
"I am very lucky to have mum and dad," said Brogan. "They just tell me to work hard and don't put any pressure on me. It is great to be able to show them why I am doing it and why they are doing it."
Rather than pad her stats in the juniors, Brogan is out there doing the hard yards in futures events at places such as Manzanillo, Mexico. She is already Britain's No 11 tennis player, and feels being out in the real world has made all the difference. "It doesn't get much better than that," she said. "That is what you play tennis for. It is only juniors or whatever but beating the No 1 seed at Wimbledon, that is what it is all about. I kept hearing my twin brother Martin, he was really loud, and dad Tony. I am doing fine."
Then it was time for Lumsden, with whom she had practised more in two weeks in England prior to this tournament, than she had out in months in Florida, to join the party. For the second successive year she recorded a straight sets victory against Dalma Galfi of Hungary, a 16-year-old whose highest combined ranking has been No 3 in the world. She took the victory 7-5, 6-3 and now faces another Floridian in the form of Tornado Black, a highly-rated 17-year-old.
"I saw Anna was a set up before I went on, but when we saw the draw both of us thought it was going to be tough," said Lumsden, a client of IMG who had been training under the auspices of Nick Bolletieri at IMG Academy, but whose build-up for the week had been done alongside Marcel du Coudray, a Tennis Scotland coach who is leaving the country for Poland. "When we were younger we used to practise together all the time. But we have been practising together a bit more in the last few weeks. Even though she was a big seed, I knew my game plan so I wasn't too scared or anything. I was happy with my game plan."
Next up for Lumsden is Tornado Black, the extravagantly named US youngster who has been rated one of the biggest talents in the game. "When I was Under 14 I played her twice in Team Tennis at Tarbes, I won one and lost one, so this could be the decider I guess. I want to try to back up that win and progress as far as I can."
The only Scottish entrant in the boys event, wild card Ewan Moore, of Prestwick, had no easy task either, taking on No 6 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile. Ultimately, he came up short, by a 7-6 (2), 6-3 scoreline, but not before subjecting him to a first set tie break.
In all, there were four Scottish winners on the day, because Jamie Murray and his Aussie doubles partner John Peers won a five-set thriller 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 3-6, 8-6 against last year's winners Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil, extending the Canadian's day to ten hours of tennis and tiring him out ahead of the challenge of taking on his brother in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Jamie, who is back on today in his first-ever men's doubles Wimbledon quarter final, made light of an incident where Peers escaped despite a shot appearing to strike him. "I don't know how or why the umpire didn't see it," said Jamie, "but it is a grey area, some people own up, some don't."
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