Mimi Xu insists the best is still to come from her at Wimbledon as she booked her place in the second round of the girls’ singles in style.
The 16-year-old needed less than an hour to get past Joy de Zeeuw of Netherlands, winning 6-1 6-1 on Court 8.
Xu is making her fourth appearance at the All England Club and reached the last 16 in her last two visits, but admitted that taking to the famous lawns never gets any less daunting.
But the Swansea star believes more time on court will only help her improve her game as she targets another deep run.
“I am really pleased to play well, play my style and get the win,” she said.
“I have set the tone of what I want to do on court. I know I can do it, especially with the nerves. “Once I get more court time, familiarise myself with all the feelings, I think I will just keep getting better.
“No matter how hard I try and get in the zone and forget about the nerves, walking onto the court it’s always the same feeling. I have been here four times and it’s the exact same feeling every single time It’s like you forget how to play tennis. What helps is that the fans are all behind you.”
Xu made a dream start on Monday morning, easing through the first round with a confident performance against De Zeeuw.
The 16-year-old arrives in SW19 with plenty of confidence following recent success that have seen her break into the top 10 of the ITF Junior Rankings.
Xu reached the doubles quarter final of the French Open alongside Hannah Klugman and the singles quarter final of the Australian Open as well as clinching the 18U Lexus Junior National Championships title with victory over Klugman in April.
She also competed in Wimbledon qualifying for the women’s main draw, losing narrowly to Ipek Oz.
“I am really confident in my game at the moment,” she added. “I just know if I keep committing tom my game plan, keep moving my feet, keep thinking positively, I will get my game on court and hopefully that leads to some nice results.
“I was on show court one [in qualifying] and it was amazing. The crowd was so nice. I played really well but didn’t get over the line. I played really well and it gave me confidence that I can do really well in the juniors.
“I expect myself to keep putting my game onto the court, not so much for the outcome but for my further development.
“I will look to play some women’s tournaments after Wimbledon. Of course it would be nice to get some results now but I want to keep developing.”
Xu has been busy off the court too, recently completing her maths A-Level two years early and the teenager has no plans to stop there as she hopes to maintain her love of studying alongside tennis.
She said: “I found it so anti-climactic. I need something to do, I was stressed about exams before but afterwards I was like ‘What do I do with my time?’ I am going to do biology and economics now.
“I like studying. In my free time I just like to study, I don’t know what else to do in my free time. It’s something different to tennis so it keeps my mind working.
“My tutor has been amazing. Whenever I have time I will have a lesson with her and it makes it a lot easier when I am away.”
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