Great Britain's rising starStarting the year from outside the world’s top 500 with no career titles, Ed Corrie has made a stunning arrival onto the Great British tennis scene winning his first three ITF Futures titles and making the finals of five of his eight tournament appearances. After being selected as a reserve by Leon Smith for Great Britain’s crucial Davis Cup encounter with Russia, Corrie revealed the secrets to his 2013 success.
“This year is the first year I have been able to have a long pre-season because I was at university in the United States before. “I graduated in December 2011 so last year was really my first year of full time playing and so at the end of last year and the beginning of this year I had about a seven week pre-season block where we got a lot of good work done and I think that has made a big difference.” Title rush With the work put in, the rewards soon followed. In February, Corrie toppled Ryan Harrison’s younger brother Christian at Preston’s South Ribble Tennis Centre. “I had been searching for my first futures for all of last year and I made a few semis and a final. I was looking forward to winning one of those and then Preston was great, I played well and the final was 7-5 in the third set so it felt really good to come through that. Corrie didn’t waste any more time looking for a second title as he almost backed up his Preston run the next week in Sheffield only for Harrison to turn the tables and defeat the Englishman in a final set tie-break. “He’s incredibly consistent, really fast, really tough and mentally just sticks at it all day, every day. "The Preston and Sheffield finals were two really good matches, I was pleased with how I played and obviously just got one and just came up short in the other". Consistency continued for the Harpenden based player who won two further titles in Wirral and Bath. That consistent high performance has not gone unnoticed either, “that has been the thing I have been most pleased with, it is pretty demanding to make a final, win one and back it up again because obviously you don’t get many days off. “Your body gets a little fatigued and you have got to keep pushing so it was really enjoyable to keep it rolling and stay confident". Call-up |
Corrie cheers on Davis Cup teammates in Coventry
Corrie's 2013 results heading into the Davis Cup
|
The continual flow of points clearly caught the eye of one man who got in contact with Corrie recently. “Leon called me to let me know I was his fifth man and I was really pleased. People had mentioned it to me as a possibility but I didn’t really want to entertain those thoughts because it was out of my control. It is going to be awesome, I can’t wait”.
The experience of being part of a Davis Cup team in front of a home crowd will be a big leap for Corrie who has not been a part of international tournaments on this scale before. An opportunity he is relishing as a chance to improve, “It is going to be great to practice with guys of that quality, Ward, Baker and the two doubles guys so I’m looking forward to that. Being up close and personal in a Davis Cup tie will just be a great experience to get under my belt so that hopefully when I do get picked to play a match for the team I will be able to just take it in my stride”.
Future Plans
After the tie, the 25-year-old plans to take time out from the Great British circuit and will instead travel to Greece to play three hard-court futures events before returning home to prepare for the grass court season. “I’m very much looking forward to June on the grass, hopefully I will get some opportunities to play some of the big events and then I am really looking forward to get stuck into a lot of challengers, because of my ranking increase, in July and August”.
For someone who has burst onto the scene so dramatically in recent months Corrie is correct to take things one step at a time but he did reveal a burning desire to get himself into the Australian Open qualifiers, an achievement which will require his world ranking to improve to around the 250 mark.
If the first few months of this year are anything to go by, we could be hearing a lot more of this new addition to the Great British tennis scene, we look forward to hopefully seeing him on the grass at Queen’s Club next month.
The experience of being part of a Davis Cup team in front of a home crowd will be a big leap for Corrie who has not been a part of international tournaments on this scale before. An opportunity he is relishing as a chance to improve, “It is going to be great to practice with guys of that quality, Ward, Baker and the two doubles guys so I’m looking forward to that. Being up close and personal in a Davis Cup tie will just be a great experience to get under my belt so that hopefully when I do get picked to play a match for the team I will be able to just take it in my stride”.
Future Plans
After the tie, the 25-year-old plans to take time out from the Great British circuit and will instead travel to Greece to play three hard-court futures events before returning home to prepare for the grass court season. “I’m very much looking forward to June on the grass, hopefully I will get some opportunities to play some of the big events and then I am really looking forward to get stuck into a lot of challengers, because of my ranking increase, in July and August”.
For someone who has burst onto the scene so dramatically in recent months Corrie is correct to take things one step at a time but he did reveal a burning desire to get himself into the Australian Open qualifiers, an achievement which will require his world ranking to improve to around the 250 mark.
If the first few months of this year are anything to go by, we could be hearing a lot more of this new addition to the Great British tennis scene, we look forward to hopefully seeing him on the grass at Queen’s Club next month.