A straight-sets first round defeat in the Wimbledon men’s doubles looked like the first significant setback to the partnership that has emerged from Jonny O’Mara’s friendship with Luke Bambridge, but the man from Arbroath was far from discouraged.
Victory in their first ATP tournament at Eastbourne last week had followed up on a previous success in a Challenger event in Surbiton but the two 23-year-olds had known they were up against it here when they were drawn against defending champions and second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, but there was satisfaction to be drawn from the respect they were shown.
“I think they knew they were in for a match because they were on it from ball one. I’m pretty impressed with how they played,” O’Mara said.
“It was always going to be a tough match for us because we’re not quite at that level yet. We’re hoping we can get there and we’ve already shown last week at Eastbourne that we can play at that sort of level, but we have to show it consistently.
“It just came down to a few points here and there and it was frustrating to go down in straight sets because I thought we played pretty well. They won the tournament here last year, though, so for us to get to that level it’s another couple of years of hard work and I believe we can.
“We played the third team in the world last week and beat them, so we weren’t going in there to just be on the court and see what we could do, but we’re still young. They’ve been on tour however long, we’ve been playing doubles now for a year, so it is good to see that we can definitely compete there and with the intensity they were bringing and how pumped they were when they were winning the big points, it shows that maybe they were a little bit scared of us.
“We’re two wildcards coming in here, but in a few years I can’t see why we can’t be where they are. It’s started very well.”
Friends before being put together on court last year, they know they must put pragmatism first as they look to develop their careers.
“You have to see it as a business because it is a business. We’re out here trying to make a living, so you have to put your friendship aside and focus on what’s best for you tennis wise.
“That’s what we’re doing and it’s started unbelievably well. We’ve been putting in some hard work throughout the whole year and getting some good results, so it’s a shame to go out here first round, but we’ll take a few days off now and we’ll be ready to get back on it in a couple of weeks,” said O’Mara.
Challenging as tour life may be, O’Mara also paid tribute to his countrymen who have blazed the trail for Scottish tennis players, in particular the older of the Murray brothers for his championing of doubles, saying: “Both Murrays have been great to us. Jamie’s given us a lot of help doubles wise and Andy congratulated us on last week. We are very lucky that the LTA take such a good stand on doubles and I think that is down to Jamie as well.”
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