James Ward

barcelona clay · Improver

James Ward

Grundon · Intermediate Club Player

If you try this thread there is a great interview with James and lots of info on him

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=61841&p=3&topicID=17157014

Count Zero · Tennis legend

he comes from england and trains in spain. i am sure otehrs can eb abit more specfic.

he is definalty one we are holding out hope for for the future, and most belive training in spain will serve him better than had he stayed here. i liked his game and his style, only saw him play on grass at queens which obviusly wanst his surface (then at any stage) and despiste hitting the ball very hard and well didnt have any point winning tactics devloped which cost him the match imo, hopefully that can be recitfed.

Salmon · Tennis legend

James trains at the Equelite tennis academy in Villena, which is a place near Alicante. The academy has been founded by and is owned by (as far as I know) Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Inc ase you want to know more about the academy, you can try the official site - http://www.equelite.com/main2.asp?lang=eng

It also has a nice blog maintained by its young players - http://equelite.blogspot.com/

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

From the Artois site:

Britain's James Ward honoured with Clive Bernstein Award

Britain's James Ward has been honoured with the Clive Bernstein Award for 2008 at The Artois Championships. The Clive Bernstein Award is given to the qualifier who makes the biggest impact at the tournament. The 21-year-old entered The Artois Championships qualifying tournament at No. 495 in the ATP rankings, but registered impressive victories over Switzerlands Stéphane Bohli, Ivo Klec of the Czech Republic and Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, ranked more than 300 places above him. He was rewarded with a first round clash against former World No. 1, Marat Safin, and took the two-time Grand Slam champion to three sets before losing 6-4 1-6 4-6. The presentation of a cheque for £1,500 was made on Centre Court today by Mrs Felicity Bernstein and Chris Kermode, tournament director of The Artois Championships.

Clive Bernstein was the first tournament director of the Stella Artois Championships.

* A nice little cheque to swell his bank account. I read in one or other of the London evening freebies earlier in the week that his parents are no longer able to support him financially: his father apparently had a brain tumour, from which, thankfully, he has now recovered!

Salmon · Tennis legend

£1,500 is a lot for a Futures level player.

Well done to him.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

It will certainly keep the wolf from the door for a while - well done, James!

Josh · Challenger level

James Ward is going to be on TalkSport tonigh some time before 10. Here's a link where you can listen online

http://new.talksport.net/mediaplayer/media_player.asp?sListenLive=yes&c=&t=&preroll=on

Most of the time they're just talking about football but hopefully Wardy will have something good to say. They were billing it as a successful tennis player coming from a working class background.

Drew · Jun 4, 2009

Ta Josh will give it a go.

Drew · Jun 4, 2009

Article just finished....

Seems very level headed...been training at Queens ready for next week.

Some points discussed with James...

Q- You are the GB No 4 behind who...Murray, Boggo and who else ?
A - Josh Goodall

Q- Im sure you will be better than him soon?
A - We will see

Q- Is tennis to elitist in this country?
A- Very much so. Much more than Spain.

Q- How did you get to be so good ?
A- Had to move to Spain and played at the JCF Academy

Q- What kind of player are you?
A- Attacking baseliner...like to come into the net though

Q- Who is your tennis hero ?
A - Sampras

Q- Do you think Federer is better than Pete?
A- I think he (Fed) is the best player ever.

Q - Ambition for the summer /
A- Looking forward to playing at the Aegon event and Wimbledon of course.

Sorry its not the complete interview but had a child to tuck into bed also (7 yrs old today and still a bit hyper)

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Bit confused by the questions, did they genuinely just not reasearch who the british number 3 was? And you cant ask a player if they will be better than sum1 soon lol.

Other than that it sounds like a fair interview, thanks for the transcript. He didnt really give a lot away tho, did he? :P

LouieG · County player

Currently 4th(?) alternate for the Australian Open. Do you think he'll get in?

Floody78 · Junior player

Currently 4th but Tipsarevic likely to withdraw.

Touch and go!

LouieG · County player

2 more withdrawals imminent allegedly

FriendofLouieG · Lower Club Player

Istomin, Stepanek, Bautista-Agut, Monfils & Tsonga - all recovering from injuries. Istomin is a knee injury - pulled out of Paris Masters earlier this year. Tsonga has pulled out of Hopman Cup already....Monfils has dodgy knees and Stepanek has been struggling for some time. Bautista-Agut finished season but was reportedly 'not 100%' at Paris Masters.

Melbourne is a long way to come if you are not 100% fit!