Teenage tennis star Finn Bass is leaving the world of juniors behind in search of a professional career after exiting the Wimbledon boys’ doubles on Thursday.
Playing alongside Scot Aidan McHugh, Bass lost 6(3)-7 3-6 to Andrew Fenty and Yshai Oliel in the second round of the competition.
Already training full-time at the Junior Tennis Centre in Chiswick and being home schooled after five years at Millfield School, in Somerset, Bass is keen to find out how far he can go in the game.
But while many talented teenagers dream of the bright lights and trophies, Bass is realistic in knowing that for all his successes so far, the hard work has only just begun.
“My years at junior Wimbledon have been an incredible experience and hopefully I can come back here in a few years in the men’s,” said the 17-year-old.
“In the near future I’ve got a week off, a little bit of a rest, I’ll hang my rackets up for a little bit to recover, then back to training.
“I’m going to hit the Futures Circuit, so my first trip will be at the end of this month to Latvia, then back for a week of training and then a JTC Futures trip to Portugal for a couple of weeks.
“Then just grind out the Futures for the rest of the year and see where I’m at.
“My main goal is to turn pro. But I’m keeping the option open to go to college in America. It’s an alternative option if things don’t work out quickly.
“We all know how long it takes to transition into the pro circuit – you get the exceptions like Denis Shapovalov [2016 junior Wimbledon winner], where it clicks straight away, but that’s not reality.
“So I’m keeping the college route open as an alternative option.”
Bass lost out to Shapovalov in the second round of the singles last year, but did not compete in the individual event this time around, instead focussing on the doubles with McHugh, a regular hitting partner of the Murray brothers over the past few weeks.
And while Bass was frustrated to have lost in just the second round, he was pleased with their performance.
“I’m a little bit disappointed but happy at the same time. I thought we played well but didn’t take our chances, especially in the first set,” he added.
“We had 4-2 then 0-40 on their serve to get a double break to possibly serve for it at 5-2.
“It was kind of like that throughout the whole match, we had the chances but we couldn’t get over the finishing line.
“Then when they had theirs, they took theirs, so that’s tougher to take, when you know you could have won the match, it was so close.
“But we can’t kick ourselves. I thought we played very well and it was a very high level doubles match.”
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