On Sunday afternoon, Henry Searle became the boys’ singles champion at Wimbledon, ending a 61-year wait for a British winner in that competition.
In beating Russia’s Yaroslav Demin in straight sets to lift the trophy, 17-year-old Searle emulated the 1962 triumph of Stanley Matthews Jr, son of the British footballing great. But just how good can Searle be?
His 6-4 6-4 victory over the fifth seed on Sunday was an impressive result, achieved through an assured performance, yet a junior grand-slam title is no guarantee of the same success at senior level.
Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Shapovalov and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are among the active men’s players to have been boys’ champions at Wimbledon, and all have enjoyed successful senior careers but without triumphing at the All England Club – or any other slam so far.
However, legends like Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg prove that it can be done; the former has a joint-record eight men’s titles at Wimbledon, while Borg won the tournament five times and fellow Swede Edberg did so twice. Pat Cash also lifted the boys’ trophy before winning it on the professional tour.
Of course, it would take a very bold fan to predict that Searle will match the accolades of those icons of the sport, but there is optimism that the Wolverhampton native can reach the men’s tour soon and kickstart his pro career, with the last year having been a successful one for him.
Last year, Searle won Britain’s 16 & Under Junior National Championship, and he reached the French Open quarter-finals this spring, losing to eventual champion Dino Prizmic. Then, this month, Searle defeated world junior No 1 Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in the first round at Wimbledon, and he did not drop a set en route to winning the title.
“This makes us go back to the drawing board a little bit,” said Searle’s coach Morgan Phillips after Sunday’s win. “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 also impressed at Wimbledon by dealing with the big stage well, having won the final on No 1 Court.
“It is amazing to play on Court One with such a special crowd and manage to get the job done,” he said. “It’s a pretty special feeling, and it is not going to come too often. I am going to try and enjoy it. It was amazing in front of this crowd today.”
