Jay Alexander Clarke (born 27 July 1998) is a British

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player. In 2017, on a Wimbledon wildcard, Clarke and

Marcus Willis Marcus Willis (born 9 October 1990) is a British professional tennis player. Willis made his tour debut at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships after qualifying for the main draw, where he gained recognition after playing against Roger Federer in t ...

beat the defending doubles champions and second seeds,

Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at t ...

and

Pierre-Hugues Herbert Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...

, in five sets, to progress to the third round. Clarke has won four Futures titles and two Challenger titles.

Early and personal life

Clarke has an older brother Curtis (by four years) and an older sister Yasmin (by nine years), who are both former professional tennis players, and all were coached by their father Earol. Clarke is from

Pear Tree, Derby Pear Tree (or Peartree) is an inner city suburb of the city of Derby, in Derbyshire, England, located about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of the city centre. It is split between the Arboretum and Normanton electoral wards. Neighbouring areas in ...

Junior career

2012

Playing in the Great Britain Under 14 boys team, with Samuel Ferguson, they won the European Winter Cup defeating Sweden in the final. Clarke won two Tennis Europe 14U Grade 1 events to become the 14U No.1 in Europe. Consequently, Clarke gained the May AEGON Junior Player of the Month Award.

2015

Clarke was the no 1 ranked British junior, living and training in Stockholm.

Senior career

2016–2017

Clarke has risen from an ATP singles ranking of No. 1,621 in the world in June 2016 to a career high of No. 219 achieved on 4 December 2017. He trained with

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...

before the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

and travelled with the Great Britain Davis Cup team for their tie against France. Clarke received a singles wild card for the 2017 Wimbledon qualifiers but lost in the final round. Clarke was awarded a wildcard to the doubles main draw with

, where they reached the third round after upsetting the defending champions and second seeds

and

in a five-setter.

2018

Clarke made his ATP main draw debut at the

Queen's Club Championships The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

where he was given a wildcard into the singles event, he lost in straight sets to the American fifth seed

Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...

. Clarke was awarded a wild card to the main draw of the 2018

Wimbledon Championship The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is play ...

for his grand slam singles debut. Clarke reached the semi-finals in the

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known ...

with Harriet Dart beating the first seeds in the third round.

ATP Challengers and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 13 (7 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Jay 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Derby English male tennis players British male tennis players Tennis people from Derbyshire