04 July 2023 , 09:18
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Likened to Novak Djokovic as a junior, recommended to Rafael Nadal as a practice partner.
Compared to Gael Monfils for his athleticism, hailed as Britain’s best hope for life after Andy Murray. No surprise five years on that George Loffhagen is about to take centre stage at Wimbledon, drawn to play in-form Danish sixth seed Holger Rune.
Plenty that this is his senior debut at SW19, having walked away from the sport to work in a London bar for the best part of a year. “I was pulling pints and clearing tables,” says Loffhagen, now 22. “Struggling with the decision about whether to play or not.”
The Londoner had heard Jo Durie’s former coach, Alan Jones, say “this kid could turn into something very, very special”.
Such an assessment, perhaps unsurprisingly, weighed heavy as he struggled to translate junior potential into senior success,
Novak Djokovic won Australian Open despite playing with major hamstring tear
“I never ‘didn’t like’ tennis, it was just maybe the pressures and the expectations,” Loffhagen admits. “I was struggling with the decision about whether to play or not.”
He remembered back to 2016 and Tim Henman pointing Nadal in his direction when the Briton was asked by the Spanish great to suggest a player to help him tune up for grass. But when he weighed that against the lack of progress he felt he made subsequently he hung up his racquet and headed to the pub.
“Deep down I always thought I’d come back, because I didn’t want to be 40, wondering what could have been,” he says. "I was just doing something productive while I was deciding what to do - and have a little bit of money in my pocket, rather than sit in my room.
Loffhagen: “I was struggling with the decision about whether to play or not” (PA)“I feel I gained some maturity and perspective in that time out and that has helped me now I have come back.”
Twelve months after returning to the game Loffhagen is ranked 371. Clearly he will need to play the match of his life to trouble the feisty Rune.
Win or lose he will double his career earnings and having won two Futures events this year, in India and Nottingham, he is in the mood to give it a good go.
But he us up against an opponent who holds a winning record over Djokovic. Rune is not at Wimbledon for the strawberries.