Wimbledon wildcard Fast-rising British prospects for success at SW19 this summer include Ryan Peniston.
Following a straightforward three-set triumph over Henri Laaksonen on Court 12, fans will undoubtedly rush to Court 3 early to secure the best seats for the 26-year-second-round old’s matchup with American foe Steve Johnson.
Peniston has now earned more than $146,000 this month from his last eight starts at Queens and Eastbourne.
This will rise with each victory he scores at Wimbledon, and if he triumphs in today’s match, his earnings might even treble.
His trip to the storied grass courts of the All England Club, however, has not been without difficulty.
Life gave him a severe blow when he was a baby and spent eight months in the hospital battling a rare cancer.
Peniston, a one-year-old from Great Wakering in Essex, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a disease that develops in soft tissue, and had surgery and two rounds of chemotherapy.
He later said that the illness had a “big impact” on his life and made him a “late bloomer,” postponing the start of his growth until he was 15 years old.
It said that he was “always approximately foot smaller than all my friends” up to his mid-teens.
That presented unique difficulties for a beginning tennis player, he acknowledged.
They were all expanding, getting larger serves, and doing everything. He admitted to the Times, “I was struggling just trying to run around and collect the balls.”
“I think it definitely made me tougher as a person and a player.” Actually, it’s a blessing in disguise.
Peniston, though, hails from honorable, reliable blood. Even though Peniston entered a tennis academy in France at the age of 13 before transferring to the University of Memphis tennis program, his ex-train driver father Paul, 66, said that he was mostly in charge of coaching the Wimbledon wildcard “till 18 months ago.”
After a neighbor complained that Peniston was slamming apples across their fence with a tennis racket, Paul detailed teaching his three sons the game of tennis at a nearby park. This is when he first became aware of Peniston’s innate talent.
It’s interesting to note that the rest of his family works in healthcare. His mother Penny, who is also 66, manages a ward, and he has two brothers: Harry, 28, a junior doctor, and Sam, 31, a paediatric nurse.
Peniston was described by Penny as a “motivated fighter” who “doesn’t take anything for granted” and “just wants to work hard and simply play tennis,” which is what he enjoys doing the most.
Peniston may be a wildcard, but only from this week, he is assured of at least £100,000 in prize money.
Peniston stated, “I’m waiting for someone to pinch me and wake up back in May sometime,” following his first-round match yesterday. To be honest, I’m just enjoying every moment of it.
“I’m definitely going to celebrate with my family after the event, and we’ll have a good time together,” he continued.
Every day during training, he added, he simply “thought about it and kind of visualized it.”
Even when I wasn’t on the court, I would be daydreaming about it. It’s strange to me that it actually happened.
People would frequently inquire, “You play tennis?,” when I was younger, around the age of a teenager.
One day I’ll run into you at Wimbledon. I would frequently respond, “Yeah, yeah, hopefully, hopefully.”
It’s unbelievable to merely claim it happened at this point.