British hope Dan Cox is within sight of a surprise third Wimbledon appearance and this time it will not come at the expense of his mental health.
The 25 year old from Lincolnshire overcame a rankings gap of 427 places in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker in the first round of qualifying on Tuesday.
Two more wins would see Cox book his place at the All England Club.
The last time he played at Wimbledon, in 2014, it appeared things had never been better. His ranking was just outside the top 200, more than 300 places higher than it is now. But the reality was different.
“It was a difficult time,” he said. “I travelled a lot to get my ranking up to try to get into Wimbledon and it took its toll on my body and mentally it was very tough.
“Travelling all that time, spending a lot of money. Afterwards I needed to take a break because I didn’t feel well mentally. Obviously I can’t afford to pay a coach to travel with me and it was just the stress of everyday life on the tour. Being away from home, being on your own, it kind of drives you nuts, you go a bit crazy in the head.
“I tried to take as much pressure off myself as I could and just tried to remember why I started playing. I didn’t start playing to put myself through this.
“I played the game just because I enjoy playing and right now that’s how I feel. From that experience I’m just trying to keep myself enjoying it and not trying to work myself into a hole again.”
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Read also: Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard defies rain to advance at Eastbourne
Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska took a shortcut into the third round of the WTA Eastbourne event when Croatian opponent Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired ill trailing 6-4, 2-1.
Radwanska, the 2008 champion, needed just 47 minutes at Devonshire Park to advance.
She moves directly into a showdown with former fellow Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard after the unseeded Canadian booked her spot with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Romanian 15th seed Irina Begu.
“I love the grass and I’m really glad to be back here,” Radwanska said.
Bouchard is also up for the challenge.
“I’ve had some results that I wasn’t satisfied with, so coming into this week I really kicked myself in the butt,” she said.
“I told myself to go after it and not have any regrets.”
France’s Kristina Mladenovic earned an upset by beating Swiss fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 7-5.
Caroline Wozniacki beat seventh seed Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-1. Double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, the No 5 seed beat Hungarian Timea Babos 6-4, 7-6, while Slovak 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova advanced against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-3.
Damir Dzumhur eliminated the defending champion from the Nottingham Open on Tuesday, and then lost in straight sets a few hours later.
The Bosnian beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, winning the third set after the match was suspended by darkness on Monday. But in his second-round match, Dzumhur lost Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4.
Also, former top-10 player Mikhail Youzhny, who won the last of his 10 titles in 2013, beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-4 in the second round, while Dudi Sela of Israel defeated third-seeded Joao Sousa 6-3, 7-6.
Other winners included Sam Querrey, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andreas Seppi, Gilles Muller and Marcos Baghdatis.
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