Whiley ‘excited’ to launch Wimbledon campaign

Ickenham’s Jordanne Whiley opens her Wimbledon campaign on Thursday hoping to win her second wheelchair tennis Grand Slam singles title.

The 25-year-old has eight Grand Slam doubles crowns to her name, including from last year’s Wimbledon, but her solitary success in singles came at the 2015 US Open.

Whiley is playing in only her second event since a wrist injury caused her to withdraw from the season-ending Wheelchair Tennis Masters in December.

Her inactivity in the first half of 2017 means she is now ranked 11 in singles and 35 in doubles.

She faces the world number three Diede de Groot in her singles quarter-final, while she and partner Yui Kamiji – the reigning Wimbledon ladies’ doubles champions – begin their title defence against top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.

“Wimbledon is my favourite Grand Slam and I’ve got lots of super memories from the last few years, so obviously I want to do well and I’ll be giving it my all,” said Whiley.

“I’m really excited to be playing back here with Yui in doubles, too. We’re not seeded this year as my ranking’s dropped, but we’ll be doing our best to get that fourth doubles title.”