British Davis Cup Players, Young Guns Awarded AEGON Championships Wild Cards

© Getty ImagesBritish Davis Cup player James Ward has been awarded a wild card.

The AEGON Championships has awarded its wild cards to two of Great Britain’s Davis Cup players and three of the most promising teenagers in the sport.

British duo James Ward and Jamie Baker are joined by 17-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic, 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison and the former Wimbledon boys champion, 19-year-old Grigor Dimitrov in the main draw of the event, which starts at The Queen’s Club in London on Monday.

Ward qualified for the ATP event in Chennai at the start of the year, and won a set against former World No.1 Marat Safin at The Queen’s Club in 2008, whilst Baker has made a stirring comeback from a life-threatening illness over the past year. The Scot had fallen as low as No. 982 in July of last year because of the illness-enforced lay-off, but has since shot up more than 700 places to No. 257.

Tomic has also made great strides over the past 18 months, jumping more than 500 places in the rankings to No.260, winning eight matches to lift a challenger title as a qualifier in February, and extending eventual semifinalist Marin Cilic to five sets in the Australian Open.

Dimitrov, currently ranked No. 338, won the the Wimbledon boys title in 2008 and reached the second round at the AEGON Championships last year, losing out narrowly to former World No.6 Gilles Simon of France.

Harrison, No.268, lists grass as his favourite surface, and is one of the great hopes of American tennis. He successfully qualified for the Delray Beach tournament earlier this year and is the highest ranked teenager in the United States.

“We always try to use our wild cards to give an opportunity to British players, young international prospects, or established players who are returning from illness or injury,” said Tournament Director, Chris Kermode.

“We had initially given a wild card to Mario Ancic, who has been out of the game for a long time through illness, but unfortunately he has sustained a back injury and had to pull out. Jamie Baker and James Ward have both performed well since returning from illness themselves, and the teenage trio of Bernard Tomic, Ryan Harrison and Grigor Dimitrov have all got enormous potential. We look forward to seeing how they perform against a world-class field here at the AEGON Championships.”

They join a line-up of players that includes defending champion Andy Murray, 2008 winner Rafael Nadal, four-time champion Andy Roddick and the current World No.3 Novak Djokovic.

Fernando Verdasco, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ernests Gulbis have all been forced to withdraw from the tournament because of injury. American duo Robby Ginepri and Taylor Dent, and the talented Japanese player Kei Nishikori, come into the field.
 
The AEGON Championships will be broadcast live, every day, on BBC Television and Eurosport.

NADAL WATCHMAKER RICHARD MILLE TO BE OFFICIAL TIMER IN 2010

Richard Mille, the watchmaking company that produces the watch worn by Rafael Nadal, is to be the Official Timer at the AEGON Championships in 2010.

It is a further commitment to the sport of tennis from Richard Mille, after the company produced the RM 027 Tourbillon for Nadal to wear. One of the world’s lightest mechanical tourbillon wristwatches, it allows Nadal total freedom of movement, and is worth £359,500. Nadal will wear the RM 027 Tourbillon watch during matches at the AEGON Championships.

The Spaniard will return to the tournament after missing out in 2009, in an attempt to emulate his remarkable achievements in 2008, when he became the first man ever to win the French Open, at The Queen’s Club and at Wimbledon in the same year.

RODDICK TO APPEAR ON FRIDAY NIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS

Andy Roddick will appear on the BBC 1 television show, Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, tonight at 10.35pm British time. The American, who also appeared on the show in 2007, joins rappers LL Cool J and Eminem on the show, which will be repeated at 1.05am on Sunday morning and available on the BBC iPlayer in the UK.

The show will also be broadcast on BBC America, in Canada, New Zealand, Scandinavia and South America.