HALESOWEN’S wheelchair tennis golden girl Jordanne Whiley is hoping to make history once again as she begins her Wimbledon campaign.
Whiley will team up with Yui Kamiji in a bid to become the first partnership to bag four doubles prize after claiming a hat-trick of Wimbledon ladies’ doubles wheelchair tennis titles in 2016.
She said: “I’m really excited to be playing back here with Yui in doubles. We’re not seeded this year as my ranking’s dropped, but we’ll be doing our best to get that fourth doubles title.”
As the pair are unseeded this year, the reigning champions face top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in the semi-finals after playing the Dutch duo in each of the last four championship finals.
If successful, the pair will face either British number one Lucy Shuker and Germany’s Sabine Elllerbrock or Dutch second seeds Marjolein Buis and Diede de Groot in the doubles final.
Whiley will also be pushing hard for the singles title and the 2015 US Open champion is bidding to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second successive year.
The British number two will be up against world number three de Groot in her first match on Thursday.
Whiley, who remains in the world top 10, added: “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.”
In the all-British ladies’ singles first round contest in 2016, Whiley met world number seven Shuker who will begin her ninth Wimbledon with a ladies’ singles match-up against current world number one – and Whiley’s doubles partner – Yui Kamiji.
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