By Tony Fairbairn At Wimbledon
- Ella McDonald spoke to Britwatch Sports about her second round singles exit at Wimbledon in what is her penultimate Grand Slam Juniors event.
LONDON, ENGLAND – Ella McDonald spoke to Britwatch Sports about her second round singles exit at Wimbledon and revealed that this year will be her final year on the Juniors circuit.
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Ella McDonald is one of Britain’s youngest rising start on the Juniors circuit having won 40 matches on the Juniors circuit last year. McDonald was seeded 11th for Wimbledon this year and had high hopes to make a deep run at SW19.
However the 17 year-old was simply outplayed in her second round match losing to Dane Rebecca Munk Mortensen, who actually has a higher WTA ranking than McDonald. It was a close contest in the first set before McDonald lost 7-5 6-3 and after the match the 17 year-old told Britwatch Sports told that she was ‘gutted’ but credited the aggressive Dane for her performance.
“Well, yeah I’m obviously pretty gutted to have lost that match but fair play to my opponent, she played very well and I hope she progresses even further,” McDonald said after the match.
“But yeah it wasn’t really my day today, she was just a lot stronger than I was. Yeah I took a fall early on in the first set as well and the second set but it was OK. It was a bit bad on my thigh but I’m going to go and check it out so it will be okay.”
McDonald’s fall in both sets was evidence of the work the Brit needs to do to adapt to different surfaces as she has had a positive last few weeks. The Brit’s grass court season included an opportunity to play at Eastbourne qualifying where she lost in straight sets to world number 53 Linda Fruhvirtova.
Speaking after the match McDonald admitted that it was a great experience as she hopes to learn and improve for the future.
“Yeah I mean all of these matches are just great experience for me,” McDonald explained.
“Like I know some stuff that I need to work on and off court. So yeah I’m taking every match just day by day and just trying to learn from there.”
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McDonald looking to future after finishing Juniors circuit
Now McDonald has her eyes set on future goals as she looks to continue improving her game ahead of adapting to the main tour. McDonald is currently ranked outside the top 1000 in the world and is the 36th best player in Britain as now the 17 year-old looks ahead to bigger things ahead.
Speaking after her second round match at SW19, McDonald revealed that this year will be her last year on the Juniors circuit and will be playing some Futures events in the near future.
“It’s my last year of Juniors so will probably turn my focus on playing some Futures events in the near-by future,” McDonald said.
“I will go to the US Juniors open. Yeah things are just getting sorted right now, just trying to sort out tournament schedule and training blocks and stuff to keep improving.”
As McDonald focuses on her own development, it’s not just the 17 year-old who has made big waves at this year’s Wimbledon. That’s because 12 Brits won their first round singles matches in the Juniors events, the most for 23 years.
A feat that McDonald acknowledged as she spoke about the friendship and camaraderie around the group.
“Yeah I mean it’s great to see that there’s a lot of Juniors,” McDonald cheerfully admitted.
“We’re all of us are good friends so really happy that we’re all pushing each other on and wish them all the best today because we’re all playing later. Yeah most of them are my friends so it’s really nice to see them and vice-versa they’ll be supporting me as well which is nice.”
McDonald will hope the friendships continue to inspire her form as she plays her final Grand Slam at Juniors level at the US Open in September.
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