Henry Searle’s Wimbledon exploits will force his coaching team to “go back to the drawing board”.
The 17-year-old from Wolverhampton became the first British winner of the Wimbledon boys’ singles title since Stanley Matthews, the son of the great footballer, in 1962.
Searle – who hit an incredible 134mph serve on his way to the title – now has his eyes on the men’s game.
But Morgan Phillips, the head coach at the Lawn Tennis Association’s national academy in Loughborough who has worked with Searle since September, will not make any hasty decisions.
“This makes us go back to the drawing board a little bit,” he said.
“When you say that it’s normally not in a positive way, but this is a very unusual ‘back to the drawing board’ situation because we have to reassess the plan and strategy for him going forward.
“Junior tennis is a massive platform going into the men’s game and that’s what I’ve worked in for a good amount of years now, the transition from junior to men’s and making them understand the big journey that’s ahead.
“So there will be definitely an element of him going into the lower tier of professional tennis.
“But also there’s a new system with the junior ranking. If you get top-10 then you get fast tracked into some Challenger events. That’s a big incentive for us as well.”
Searle’s 6-4 6-4 victory over fifth seed Yaroslav Demin on Court One, cheered on by ‘Henry’s Barmy Army’ consisting of his friends and family, capped a hugely impressive tournament.
He downed world junior number one Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in the first round and did not drop a set on his way to the title while barely seeming fazed by the attention or playing on the show courts.
Searle has come a long way since the start of the year, when he was not ranked highly enough for direct entry into the Australian Open junior tournament and his team took the decision to not travel for the qualifiers.
Phillips said: “He could’ve played qualies but we looked at the schedule and thought there would be more benefit in preparing him to go to South America and do a really good physical training block as well.
“We were looking bigger picture all the time with him. At the moment it’s working and we’ve got to keep working in that way.”
He then went to the French Open where he lost to eventual champion Dino Prizmic in the quarter-finals.
But Phillips saw enough to believe Searle had a good chance of a long run at Wimbledon.
“I never had a doubt about his ability, especially after the French Open,” he added.
“What we saw out there was very, very strong. The guy he lost to in the quarter-finals is going to be top-100 pretty soon in my opinion.
“So for me Henry was the second best player in that tournament. I think that gave us a lot of confidence.
“But it was getting him to peak for this tournament and we seemed to have got it right. Full credit to him.”
Jarry defeats Paul to set up Zverev showdown in Italian Open final
Nicolas Jarry defeated Tommy Paul in three sets on Friday to set up a showdown with Alexander Zverev in the Italian Open final.
The men's world number 24 prevailed 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in a little under three hours in Rome to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final.
Jarry earned the only break of serve in the eighth game of the opening set, but Paul - who dropped just one set in four matches en route to this stage - hit back in the second.
Birthday boy Paul lost serve to trail 4-2 at one stage, but he produced one of the shots of the tournament at the ideal moment and soon dragged it back to 4-4.
A gruelling set concluded with Paul taking the tie-break 7-3, but Jarry was unperturbed and won the deciding set with his fifth match point to see off Paul in a gruelling contest.
Data Debrief:
Jarry is the third male Chilean in the Open Era to reach the singles final of the Italian Open after Marcelo Rios (1997-98) and Fernando Gonzalez (2007).
The 28-year-old registered 13 aces against Paul to his opponent's seven and hit 35 winners to 19 in a deserved victory.
Zverev ends Tabilo's dream run to reach Italian Open final
Alexander Zverev fought back from the brink to reach the Italian Open final on Friday, overcoming Alejandro Tabilo by a 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 scoreline in the last four.
Zverev was punished for a slow start as Tabilo took the opener within 32 minutes, but the German fought back in a one-hour, 15-minute slog of a second set.
The 2017 Italian Open champion put his foot down from 3-3 in the second-set tie-break, with Tabilo potentially feeling the effects of a fine run that included a last-32 upset of Novak Djokovic.
Zverev upped the intensity in the final set and won a huge 94 per cent of points behind his first serve as his opponent wilted, the third seed reaching the Rome final for a third time.
Data Debrief: Zverev draws level with Becker
Zverev will now face either Nicolas Jarry or Tommy Paul in Sunday's final, which will be his 11th at ATP 1000 Masters level.
That tally pulls him level with Boris Becker for most such finals by a German player since the format's 1990 introduction.
Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open.
Having defeated Collins en route to the final of the Madrid Open, which she lost to Swiatek, Sabalenka repeated the trick with a straight sets win over the American in Thursday's semi-final.
And the Belarusian's reward will be an immediate rematch with Swiatek.
The duo have met 10 times, including in Madrid earlier this month, with Swiatek winning seven times and Sabalenka claiming three victories.
This will be Sabalenka's first appearance in the Italian Open final.
She is the sixth player, along with Simona Halep (2017), Dinara Safina (2009), Serena Williams (2013), Ons Jabeur (2022), and Swiatek (2024) to have reached the final of both Madrid and Rome in the same season.
Data Debrief: Perfect record
Collins is the only player against whom Sabalenka has registered six wins without a loss in WTA events, while only against Maria Sakkari and Elise Mertens does she have more wins in her career in such events (seven each).
The final will mark the fourth meeting on clay between Swiatek and Sabalenka as world number one and two, equalling Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most meetings on the surface as the WTA's top-two ranked players.
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