Federer to take on emerging British talent
Roger Federer will continue his 2019 Wimbledon campaign as he meets British wildcard Jay Clarke in round two on Court One.
The eight time Wimbledon champion has never lost to a wildcard at any of the Grand Slams, but will be expected to face partisan home support for the 20 year old who is bidding to join Andy Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski and become the fourth Brit ever to beat the Swiss maestro.
In their first meeting, Clarke will go in as a massive underdog having never faced a top 10 player before. Sam Querrey is the highest ranked player the man from Derby has ever faced, being ranked 13th at the time at Queens in 2018.
The lowest ranked player Federer has ever lost to at a Grand Slam was world number 154 Mario Ancic in the first round of Wimbledon in 2002, a year before he won his maiden title. Currently ranked 15 places lower than Ancic was, Clarke will also hope to take this record off the Croatian former professional.
Federer was given a tough first round encounter with South African Lloyd George Harris when he lost the first set. But after this Federer breezed past his 86th ranked opponent to win 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2. Clarke also came through in four sets against Noah Rubin, albeit the American qualifier is ranked 13 place lower than Clarke who fought from a set down to win 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-4. It was Clarke’s first ever Grand Slam win, having last year suffered a very close five set defeat to former French Open semi finalist Ernest Gulbis in five sets.
Federer will hope to cruise on in the draw, which could see him face 27th seed Lucas Pouille of France in the third round.
Federer
Age: 37
ATP ranking: 3
Wimbledon seeding: 2
Career Wimbledon record: 96-12
Career Grand Slam record: 348-56
Career grass court record: 182-26
Clarke
Age: 20
ATP ranking: 169
Wimbledon seeding: Unseeded
Career Wimbledon record: 1-1
Career Grand Slam record: 1-1
Career gras court record: 2-5
To find out how to get tickets for Wimbledon this year read our 9 point guide here
For all the latest Wimbledon news before, during and after the tournament make sure you bookmark our ‘Wimbledon News’ section here
If you can’t visit the tournament then do the next best thing and read our guide on how to watch Wimbledon on television
To read more amazing articles like this you can explore Tennishead magazine here or you can subscribe for free to our email newsletter