Ward Looking to Take a Step Up
British tennis player, James Ward, says he wants to take a step up following some impressive performances for Great Britain in the Davis Cup.
Ward played a large part in the recent Davis Cup win over Turkey and he now wants to improve as a singles player so he can start taking part in more high profile events.
Ward is currently way down in the rankings for British players but he believes he has the game to climb the British and World rankings so he can start playing big ATP tour tournaments and eventually grand slams.
Ward has a lot going for him and there are many positive elements to his game. However, he has to remember that he can only take one step at a time because there are a lot of good players trying to act on their ambitions in global tennis at the moment.
His Game
His game is all about pace and energy. These are attributes that he can use to grind down his opponents and move them around the court to make them tired very quickly. He often makes up for a lack of quality during games by using his hustle and bustle to create chances around the court.
His first serve is very good and accurate. Although his serve is not the fastest in the world, he does hit a lot of first serves in and that means he has more easy points where the only shot he hits is his serve.
Ward said: "Hopefully I'll get to the top 100 as soon as possible but there's a process to go through and a lot of hard work to be done to reach that stage. But I'm putting the hard work in and hopefully the next few weeks in the States will be good ones."
Up Hill
It is encouraging to see that Ward is very determined to put the hard work in because this is the only way that he stands any chance of getting better. Tennis has never seen a more gifted generation of players and this means that it will be hard for Ward to try and make an impression.
Qualifying rounds for big tournaments are likely to be much more intense than most matches he has experienced before in his life. This may come as a shock to the player but it will have to be something that he can cope with if he wants a place on the ATP tour.
He added: "I'm not going to put any pressure on myself but I think within the next year and a half I can be knocking on the door of being a top 100 player."
Betting Advice
Be very wary about backing Ward when he comes up against players who are ranked much higher than he is. The only way that he'll take part in bigger tournaments outside of the United Kingdom is to prove that he is the best at the level just below the top one hundred players.
At the moment he is a very good player playing at the standard that he does. He is well worth a few bets for his next few matches because he is very good at the standard he plays at. This means you can utilise this and make money now before he starts playing more intense matches that he is less likely to win.
If you can get a special bet on him to make the top one hundred in the world within the time that he says he will do it then go for it. He clearly has the vision and hunger to prove that there is substance to his claims.
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