Slam success & ranking rises - how British tennis thrived in 2024

For astir 2 decades, Andy Murray has been the benchmark of British tennis success.

The erstwhile satellite fig 1 hanging up his racquet has allowed others to drawback a greater stock of the limelight.

As the nation's starring players hole for the caller season, BBC Sport reflects connected the British occurrence stories successful 2024 - and you tin take the subordinate who has impressed you the most.

This twelvemonth has been a coming of property for Jack Draper.

His US Open semi-final tally drew the attraction of a wider audience, but that breakthrough had been months successful the making.

In June, the 23-year-old left-hander won his archetypal ATP Tour rubric successful Stuttgart and became the caller British men's fig one.

That led to a career-best large show successful New York, breaking into the world's apical 20 and winning his biggest vocation rubric successful Vienna.

Becoming amended equipped physically to woody with the rigours of the ATP Tour has been a cardinal to his success, though helium is inactive moving connected solving the issues that person led to on-court sickness.

"I consciousness similar I've changed truthful overmuch arsenic a idiosyncratic successful the past six months," Draper said.

"I'm hoping arsenic clip goes connected I'll beryllium capable to negociate these things amended and go the subordinate I privation to be."

The legendary Billie Jean King precocious said radical should "pay much attention" to British women's fig 1 Katie Boulter.

Boulter expressed her gratitude astatine being recognised by 1 of the sport's icons, adding she was blessed to "fly nether the radar".

Remarkably the 28-year-old is inactive capable to bash that, contempt breaking into the world's apical 25 and winning 2 WTA titles - including the biggest of her career truthful far.

What has stopped her gaining much attraction is the deficiency of a heavy tally astatine a major. Another factor, perhaps, has been the involvement successful Emma Raducanu's comeback.

"I cognize I tin get to wherever I privation to," said Boulter, who did not scope the 3rd circular of a Grand Slam tourney successful 2024.

"I'm not going to springiness you immoderate numbers to archer you what my targets adjacent twelvemonth are, but I'm aiming high."

Eight years agone Henry Patten was moving astatine Wimbledon arsenic an IBM information collector connected the extracurricular courts.

Now, the 28-year-old is the SW19 men's doubles champion.

It has been a stunning emergence for a subordinate who began the twelvemonth good extracurricular the apical 100 and had small ATP Tour pedigree.

Then helium linked up with Finland's Harri Heliovaara. They claimed the rubric successful Marrakech successful their archetypal tourney together, earlier triumphing successful Lyon and Stockholm either broadside of Wimbledon.

"It has been a twelvemonth of firsts and determination are truthful galore things which I'm arrogant we've been capable to achieve," says Patten, who made his Davis Cup debut successful September.

Few extracurricular of British tennis circles would person heard of Jacob Fearnley oregon Sonay Kartal earlier this year.

Little implicit a twelvemonth ago, 23-year-old Fearnley was unranked successful the nonrecreational game. He finished the play arsenic a apical 100 player.

Winning 4 ATP Challenger titles led to the 5th biggest ascent successful the men's rankings since 2000.

Kartal's emergence has besides been sharp.

The 23-year-old began the twelvemonth extracurricular the apical 250 and feared she would miss the remainder of the play due to the fact that of illness.

After respective infirmary visits, Kartal was fixed the go-ahead to instrumentality successful April. Now the satellite fig 85 is celebrating the champion twelvemonth of her career aft winning a maiden WTA title.

Like Fearnley, the reward is nonstop introduction into a Grand Slam main gully for the archetypal clip astatine the upcoming Australian Open.

Even with a wealthiness of occurrence down him, Alfie Hewett felt the unit arsenic helium aimed to yet onshore the Wimbledon wheelchair men's singles rubric and implicit a vocation Grand Slam.

Hewett overcame the "heavy weight" connected his shoulders to bushed Spain's Martin de la Puenta and secured different doubles triumph alongside Gordon Reid connected the "best day" of his life.

With 1 vocation ambition ticked off, the 26-year-old fulfilled different by winning Paralympic golden with Reid successful Paris.

"To beryllium sitting present with the 2 things we targeted astatine the commencement of the twelvemonth is thing I'm precise arrogant of," Hewett told BBC Look East.

"I'm not definite what the adjacent section is - I'm going to proceed playing for sure, but I conscionable privation to bask it."

The task for British tennis is processing the adjacent procreation of endowment and avoiding another 35-year wait for a Grand Slam singles champion.

The performances of the British juniors this twelvemonth - across singles, doubles and squad events, external - person provided optimism.

Mika Stojsavljevic, who turned 16 past week, won the US Open girls' singles title, portion 17-year-old Mimi Xu and 18-year-old Charlie Robertson reached the past 4 successful New York.

Henry Searle, 18, who won the Wimbledon boys' singles successful 2023, and 15-year-old Hannah Klugman, victor of the prestigious Orange Bowl inferior championships past year, person continued making strides.

"Success successful inferior tennis is decidedly a beardown indicator of semipermanent imaginable but, of course, it is nary guarantee," said Iain Bates, the LTA's caput of women's tennis.

"Seeing younger players reaching the backmost extremity of inferior Slams is simply a motion of the wellness of the pathway."