NOT FOR the first time in his career, Basingstoke-born tennis player Josh Goodall is going to have to fight his way through the qualifying tournament to make the first round at Wimbledon.

Back in 2006, the 24-year-old did just that on the courts at Roehampton, but in recent years he has been granted a wild card by the Lawn Tennis Association to the top grass court event in the world.

Last year, Goodall had a titanic battle with Frenchmen Michael Llodra before going down in five sets on the new number two court.

However , the former Cranbourne pupil has recently slipped down the world ranking to 350, which now makes him British number six.

That will certainly spur him as will the chance to make his fifth appearance in the main singles main at SW19, on his favourite surface If if he fails to make it to the singles, Goodall will still be competing at Wimbledon in the doubles event with fellow Brit and experienced doubles specalist Jamie Delgado.

The pair most recently played at the Nottingham Challenger, making it to the semi-final, where they lost to Britain’s top pair of Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming.

They are currently the third best British pair behind Jonathan Marray and Jamie Murray, who have also given a wildcard into Wimbledon.

Last year at Wimbledon, Delgado and Marray made it to the last 16 of the men’s doubles before being knocked out by eventual winners and number two seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.

Given a good draw avoiding the big guns early on in the competition, there is no reason to think that Goodall and Delgado will not do just as well this year.