UK Pro League victory for Cambridge tennis player Harry Wendelken

Cambridge tennis star Harry Wendelken hailed the UK Pro League for providing the perfect tonic to recent illnesses after claiming Week 5 victory in London.

Wendelken, 20, did not drop a set all week as he cruised to victory at the National Tennis Centre in leafy Roehampton, defeating Max Basing in Saturday’s final.

The world number 628 has had to battle multiple illnesses in his quest to break onto the Futures circuit – and ultimately the ATP Tour – in recent months.

But having played five high-level matches, Wendelken praised the competition for providing him with further opportunities to improve his game, despite battling a chest infection on his way to victory.

He said: “This is probably some of the best tennis I’ve played. I’ve been having a tough time the past couple of months with illnesses and stuff like that. I actually have a chest infection at the moment, and I’m taking antibiotics this week.

“I’m really happy and pleased that I managed to put in performances day after day this week as it’s not easy to play well every day and I feel like I’ve done that.

“I feel like it gives people a lot of opportunities to play matches, as I feel like when you play Futures it takes you some time to start playing well in tournaments.

“The UK Pro League gives you that ability to play lots of matches and feel good on the court, and that’s how I approach it.”

The Premier League of British tennis, the innovative format is the only season-long competition for the UK’s top professionals and brings them together for seven weeks of action to qualify for the UK Pro League Finals Week in November.

Saturday’s 6-1 7-6(2) victory over Basing proved the icing on the cake for Wendelken, who had been one of the standout performers throughout the week at the NTC.

And despite being pleased with his performance, he believes the scoreline could have been a lot closer.

Wendelken, who is now in Sintra where he will take part in two Futures events before returning to the UK, added: “I was very happy with how I played - I don’t think I could have done much different.

“I had a really good start in the first set and ended up winning it by the scoreline quite easily, but Max really made me battle hard and I feel like it could have been much closer, just a few points here and there.

“The second set I thought he started playing a bit better, I just tried to compose myself in the tiebreak, just settle myself as I was a bit shaky. I tried to make a lot of balls and that’s what I did.”

With nearly half a million pounds of prize money up for grabs across the season, all the thrills and spills are broadcast live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and UKproleague.tv. News and updates across the season can be found at ukproleague.com