First Wimbledon whets appetite for Barnes (From Bucks Free Press)

First Wimbledon whets appetite for Barnes

10:40am Friday 3rd July 2009

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MARLOW’S Alastair Barnes has vowed to learn his lessons following this year’s Junior Wimbledon outings and bounce back stronger for the experience in 2010.

The 18-year-old crashed out of his Junior Wimbledon debut at the first hurdle when he lost in straight sets 7-6, 6-2 with fellow Brit Oliver Golding against French duo Julien Obry and Adrien Puget in the boys doubles.

Barnes was one match away from making his singles debut at the All England Club at the qualifiers last week but lost in three sets to Germany’s Kevin Krawietz.

But Barnes – the British number one junior – insists he is relishing the chance to mix it with the big boys in world tennis when he makes his senior bow over the summer.

He said: “I’ve got a couple of grass court tournaments coming up so I want to get a few ranking points on the board and move my way up the ATP board as soon as possible.

“I’d like to be top 800 before the end of the year – I’ve not played many mens events recently, I have been concentrating on the juniors so I really want to make my mark now.

“I’m going to play full time now and my aim is to get into the top 100 in the world.”

Barnes and Golding pushed Obry and Puget all the way in their SW19 doubles encounter on Tuesday but after losing a tight tie-break the British pair buckled.

And world number 74 Barnes insists nerves cost him a place in the second round.

He said: “I was pretty nervous at the start because it was my first match at the Championships.

“I played alright and so did my partner but it was a difficult match to be honest.

“For the first three or four games, I just literally couldn’t move and I couldn’t feel my legs. I served first to ease my nerves but it didn’t really work.

“But it will be great to get some seniors matches under my belt now. I want to try and get as much confidence as I can and see what happens.”

Leading life assurance and pensions company AEGON is lead partner of British Tennis and is backing the sport at all levels, from grassroots to world class tennis events.

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