Grass success builds Wimbledon hopes
Schoolkate, 24, won his first grass-court tournament, taking out the Ilkley Trophy in Yorkshire, a grass-court Challenger event, which moved the West Australian towards the edge of the game's top 100 with his win on Sunday.
He'll jump to 106 in the rankings but will still have to go through Wimbledon qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw.
He won't be at the Queen's Club with fellow Aussies Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, Aleksandar Vukic and Alex Bolt, but Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson will be fresh off tasking immediate success on grass in the Netherlands.
Olympic gold medallist Ebden linked up with Thompson to take out the ATP 250 grass-court title in 's-Hertogenbosch in their first tournament as a pairing.
Ebden is a Wimbledon doubles champion (2022) and Thompson a finalist (2024) – both results achieved alongside banned countryman Max Purcell – giving renewed hope of big things when they get to Queen's Club.
'It was a great week,' Thompson told atptour.com. 'For me, I had a tough one in singles. Second round, and I lost two match points, but it was a great opportunity for me to get back out on the doubles court.
'Playing with Matt, we gel well together. We play Davis Cup together, so it's enjoyable to play with each other. Hopefully, it's building for next week at Queen's.'
Ebden described the result as 'awesome' as a first outing.
'Especially playing out there with a fellow Aussie, we've shared a lot together over the years, and in Davis Cup particularly,' said Ebden, who also won the Australian Open 2024 doubles crown with Rohan Bopanna.
'To bring that on the tour and make a great start here with a title, we couldn't ask for more.'
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