British teenager Henry Searle credited his Barmy Army for spurring him on to become the first home winner of the boys’ singles in 61 years.
The big-serving Searle, who hit a 134mph serve during the final which would have been a match for anyone in the men’s game, was too good for Yaroslav Demin in a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
It made him the first British champion in the event since the son of the late Sir Stanley Matthews won the title back in 1962.
Searle has been supported all fortnight by fans wearing ‘Henry’s Barmy Army’ T-shirts and was quick to single them out for praise.
“I think the Barmy Army have been exceptional from the start of the week till the end of the week,” he said. “Hopefully they can continue to be like that over the years.”
The 17-year-old was little known prior to the championships and had the toughest of draws in being pitted against the world No1 in his opening round match. He came through that – as he did the final – with relative ease, helped as he was by his monstrous serve on the grass.
Refreshingly, he did not know if he had ever hit a serve faster, a weapon of his game he argued was a knock-on effect of the Covid lockdown.
“I had quite a big growth spurt in lockdown,” he said. “It wasn’t really too much of a weapon before that. Took a while to get used to the longer limbs and the uncoordination but it seems to be ok now.”
A Rafa Nadal fan growing up, he got a good luck message from another promising British youngster before the match in Jack Draper.
And Searle is all too aware there will now be heightened expectation on him going forward. Asked for his next target, he said he had no idea, unsure even if he was playing in the next juniors grand slam, the US Open, next month.
He also readily admitted he needed to turn his attentions back to his A-levels.
As for this stunning Wimbledon run, he said: “I definitely came into the tournament with a little bit of confidence from the French Open and tournaments leading up into this. It ended up being pretty special.”
