British tennis players, as a collective, failed to convince at Wimbledon this year.
Only four of the 17 players competing across the men’s and women’s singles draws advanced to the second round.
Arthur Fery was the only player to advance further, reaching the semi-finals.
Where will Arthur Fery be ranked at the end of the year?
He's up 78 places from 114th!
In the doubles draws, Henry Patten was the shining light for UK tennis. Alongside Harri Heliovaara, Patten won the men’s doubles title.
Following Wimbledon, British players bounced back emphatically, with Jacob Fearnley, Jan Choinski and Henry Searle all winning events in the aftermath.
Six more British players have now won professional tennis events.
Francesca Jones and Alicia Dudeney were among the six British title winners this week
Francesca Jones won her third career WTA 125 singles trophy at the ATV Bancomat Open earlier this week.
Jones, the world number 113, defeated Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-1 in the final.
Jones will hope to win back-to-back titles when she competes in Palermo this week [she is the number one seed].
Alicia Dudeney also impressed this week, winning her biggest title to date at the Nottingham Challenger.
Dudeney secured her fifth title of this year with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over compatriot Naiktha Bains.
“I feel great, I think I played some really good tennis this week,” Dudeney told the Lawn Tennis Association.
“Playing some bigger tournaments on grass [over the summer] and seeing the higher level definitely gave me motivation to keep improving my game and I think it’s given me a lot of confidence that I brought this week.”
A collection of other British players have also won significant titles in the past week.
Paired with Elixane Lechemia, Alicia Barnett won the Kitzbuhel Open Women’s Doubles event.
Brooke Black won the Nottingham Challenger Women’s Doubles tournament with Angela Okutoyi.
Dahnon Ward, 20, won the WC1000 Leuven Wheelchair Singles event.
Rahul Dhaka also triumphed this week, capturing the M15 Monastir Men’s Doubles title alongside American Lachlan Vickery.
Who were the British number ones 20 years ago?
In 2006, British men’s tennis was in a state of flux.
Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, two former top five ATP players, were both coming towards the end of their careers; while Andy Murray was emerging as the nation’s next star.
Henman, Rusedski and Murray all held the British number one spot in 2006.
Anne Keothavong was the female British number one at the end of 2006.
Ranked 166th on the WTA Tour, Keothavong led 176th-ranked Melanie South.
