'This is surreal': Great Britain's Searle stumps top seed Prado Angelo
Before starting his post-match press conference, victorious Briton Henry Searle was encouraged to hear that Chris Woakes and Mark Wood were steering England to victory in the third Ashes Test match at Headingley.
By the time he had finished his media duties, England had dragged themselves back into contention in the series, meaning Searle had two victories to celebrate after recording his maiden Wimbledon win at the Junior Championships.
And it was not just any triumph. Searle dispatched Bolivian top seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, who will tomorrow assume top spot in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys’ rankings.
Wolverhampton’s Searle, who is currently ranked No. 25 in the junior world rankings, defeated Prado Angelo in straight sets, 7-6(6) 6-3, and will now face Indian qualifier Manas Dhamne for a place in round three.
That said, there was much talk pre-match that if there was to be an upset today, in terms of rankings a least, it could well be Searle who delivered given he has had far more exposure to grass-court tennis than Prado Angelo. His on-court quality also came into the equation.
“It was pretty surreal to get my first Wimbledon win against the No. 1 seed and I enjoyed the whole experience so much,” said Searle. “I played and lost to the No. 2 seed here last year, but took a lot from that defeat and used it to my advantage today.
“I have a lot of family and friends here from Wolverhampton and it is amazing to have the backing of the home crowd, regardless of the score, and that is something else I used to my advantage.
“It has always been a dream of mine to compete at Wimbledon and to get the win today is fantastic. The opposition is always so strong at Junior Grand Slams, but I definitely had some confidence coming into this match.”
It was not to be for Prado Angelo today, but it would be remiss to ignore his stellar achievement in working his way to the summit of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings – the first player from Bolivia to do so.
He also made history at Roland Garros last month by becoming the first player from Bolivia to reach a Junior Grand Slam singles final, while victory today would have secured a further milestone.
Had Prado Angelo overcome Searle, he would have assumed the status of the first player from Bolivia to win a Junior Grand Slam singles match at Wimbledon since Mario Martinez in 1978.
The 18-year-old clearly has potential and last year he was supported in his professional ambitions through the receipt of a Grand Slam Player Grant, financed by the Grand Slam Player Development Programme.
Today was a tough day but, in short, plenty of mileage remains in Prado Angelo's tennis journey.
A full list of results from the 2023 Junior Championships, Wimbledon is available here.