Rickmansworth tennis starlet Eliz Maloney is determined to make the most of the lessons learned during her second round loss at Junior Wimbledon.

The 16-year-old was defeated 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 by America’s Ann Li in the second round of the girls’ competition, having beaten Mexico’s Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round.

The Harefield Academy pupil, who also teamed up with fellow Brit Maria Boudin to contest the girls’ doubles, was making her Wimbledon debut and was taken aback by the size of the event.

“Obviously I’m a bit disappointed, it was a close match, but this has just been a really good experience, coming in and winning my first match is a good stepping stone for future tournaments,” said the Junior Tennis Coaching Northwood player.

“I’ve got one junior Wimbledon left as I’m 17 in a few months.

“I can take quite a bit of confidence from this, because both players I played were quite a bit higher ranked than me.

“I had two good matches and I think both matches could have gone either way.

“I’ve been impressed by how professionally everything is run, you don’t get this at any other tournament.

“Obviously having a crowd is different, too, it’s really great. You’re almost treated like mini pros, which is pretty cool.”

The teenager, who has just completed her AS levels, will spend the remainder of the summer working on her game and trying to improve her ranking.

And she knows exactly what to focus on to assure her Wimbledon appearance was not a one off.

“Playing at and qualifying for some of the other junior slams is definitely a goal for the next year or so,” she concluded.

“I like faster courts, so hard courts are my preferred surface, although I quite like grass too - I don’t have a big favourite.

“If you keep working hard then good things come. In my own game, especially on grass it’s really clear when you don’t take the ball on.

“I’m trying to be more aggressive and going for my shots. Here, when I didn’t, then the girls are too good and will take advantage of that.

“I’m just working on staying up the court, being aggressive and moving better to enable me to do that.”

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