Fleet’s Lucy Shuker will head into her Wimbledon wheelchair doubles campaign with plenty of confidence after taking positives from an opening round singles defeat.
Shuker faced a tough opening test against Aniek van Koot in her opening round match on Wednesday, having been handed a wildcard into the main draw by the All England Club.
Her Dutch opponent – also her doubles partner at SW19 this year – has won their last 12 meetings, but it was the Brit on the front foot early on.
Shuker dropped just two games in the opening set, but after a quick break following the opening set Van Koot was in fine form in the second and third sets, the 2019 champion prevailing 2-6 6-1 6-2.
“There’s lots of positives to take. The first set, I think my first serve percentage was high – it was causing her more problems,” said Shuker.
“After the break, when she’d been to the toilet, she started serving better, jamming me up so I couldn’t get quite such a good return. It allowed her to dictate the points.
“All in all, I’m kind of happy with my performance. Singles is always going to be tough for me – with my reach, I’m so limited – but I think compared to last year, there’s lots of positives.
“I love being back here. It’s extremely tough on the grass but it’s Wimbledon, there’s so much history here. It’s an honour to play here – I’m excited to go again for the doubles.”
Shuker will be back on Thursday for her doubles alongside Van Koot, who has won that discipline on three occasions at the All England Club.
She added: “Singles and doubles, it’s great to have two attempts here.
“I think Aniek is a great player – she’s won this before a few years back. She’s coming back from injury, and you can’t underestimate someone at all, especially of her calibre.
“I’m excited to partner up with her and be on the same side of the net!”
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