Ed Corrie and 18-year-old Kyle Edmund will make their first appearances in the main draw of an ATP World Tour-level tournament after being awarded the final two wild cards into the Aegon Championships, which starts on Monday.
Corrie, 25 from Hertfordshire, has reached five Futures finals this year, winning three titles, to rise to a career-high ranking of No.325. Yorkshire-based Edmund has made significant strides of his own in the senior game, while also performing well in the juniors.
Leon Smith, the head of men’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, said: “Ed Corrie has not been long out of university but has already made strong progress in terms of matches won and points earned on tour this year. Kyle Edmund is also developing fast, and also winning ITF events, so this will be a chance for them both to pit his talents against some of the world’s best players.”
Earlier in the day, Dan Evans was also awarded a wild card and will line up alongside four of the World’s Top 8 players - No.2 Andy Murray, No.6 Tomas Berdych, No.7 Juan Martin del Potro and No.8 Jo Wilfried Tsonga. Four-time winner Lleyton Hewitt, defending champion Marin Cilic, and rising star Grigor Dimitrov will also compete for the title.
Evans performed heroically to beat Dmitry Tursunov in the deciding rubber of their Davis Cup tie with Russia in April. Britain came back from 0-2 to win 3-2. Yesterday, he scored one of the best Tour wins of his career to-date by defeating American Ryan Harrison 6-7(3) 6-0 7-6(5) in Nottingham, and today overcame compatriot Brydan Klein 6-2, 6-2.
“Dan has backed up his great performance in the Davis Cup in Coventry with another win against a top 100 player at Nottingham this week,” said Leon Smith. “His form is good, and his focus is on making the most of the opportunity he's been given here."
Murray and Berdych are already scheduled to be in action on finals day. Murray will team up with Tim Henman against Berdych and Ivan Lendl in Rally Against Cancer - an all-star doubles exhibition to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The charity supports The Royal Marsden, the world-leading cancer centre treating British tennis player Ross Hutchins. Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/RallyAgainstCancer2013
The Aegon Championships will be broadcast live, every day from 10th-16th June, on BBC Television and Eurosport.