HARPENDEN tennis ace Ed Corrie is preparing to play on the hallowed Wimbledon turf.

The 25-year-old, who is trained by his brother Tom at Gosling International High Performance Tennis Centre, made his first appearance in the main draw of an ATP World Tour-level tournament after being awarded one of the final two wild cards into the Aegon Championships.

Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan and he was knocked out in the first round by Serhiy Stakhovsky (6-4, 7-6) at Queen’s. He is now focussed on Wimbledon, and is awaiting a decision from the All England Club as to whether his ranking has earned him a wild card into the main draw or qualifiers.

Corrie goes into the competition hoping to crack the top 100 professional players, a dream he shares with his brother and coaches at Gosling.

Speaking ahead of is Aegon exit Corrie said: “Since joining Gosling I have made massive progress. My ambition is to be top 100 in the world, this will be my first event on the tour and so I am really looking forward to the challenge.

“I appreciate the opportunity presented by the wildcard and my goal is to improve my game and therefore my ranking so that I will be in by right in future years.”

Corrie has reached five Futures finals this year, winning three titles, to rise to a career-high ranking of No.325.

His coach/brother Tom added: “Since we were young I have always believed in Ed and since he turned professional 18 months ago, my belief that he can be a top 100 player has only been strengthened.

“Ed has an excellent work ethic and I knew that if we combined that with what I have learned and am continuing to learn coaching at Gosling, Ed can fulfil his goals.”

“Ed’s opportunity to play Queens is a brilliant step in the right direction…but it won’t be the end of his tennis journey.”

Matt Wilcocks, director of tennis at Gosling, is in a unique position of seeing the brothers train day in, day out and believes their lofty ambitious are “entirely realistic”.

“Queens represents a significant milestone on their respective journeys,” he said.

“Ed has been based at Gosling for 18 months and Tom has been one of the coaching team for over five years, both bring massive energy to the club and the manner they go about their jobs and the success they are having as a direct of their effort and improvement is inspiring and motivating to everyone in the club.”

To find out more about the opportunities to hire courts, join the club or sign up for one of Gosling Tennis courses email jackieoneill@goslingsports.co.uk or call 01707 331056.