Spanish duo in Goodall's sights (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Spanish duo in Goodall's sights

1:00pm Monday 21st June 2010 in

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BASINGSTOKE tennis ace Josh Goodall has been handed a tricky start to his Wimbledon doubles campaign.

The 24-year-old will play alongside Jamie Delgado at the tournament after the pair were given a wildcard – but the draw has not been kind to them.

Goodall is ranked 253 in the world doubles rankings, while his partner, 33-year-old Delgado, is ranked 110.

And the first round will see them take on the Spanish pairing of Nicolas Almagro and Santiago Ventura, who are ranked at 53 and 48 in the world respectively.

24-year-old Almagro is 18th in the singles rankings, while Ventura, who is 30, has five doubles titles to his name, including two this season.

The pair reached the final at a tournament in Argentina last year but their best surface is clay, meaning that all is not necessarily lost for Goodall and Delgado.

However, if they do win, they are likely to meet number four seeds and former US Open champions Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi, who will be among the favourites for the title.

Indian Bhupathi is a former world number one in doubles with 45 titles to his name, while Mirnyi, from Belarus, has won 36 doubles titles in his career.

Bhupathi is ranked seven in the world in doubles, with Mirnyi 12th.

Goodall will only appear in the doubles at Wimbledon after missing out on a place in the singles.

He was not awarded a wildcard and lost in the second round of qualifying at Roehampton.

Although Goodall beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round, he went down 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 to Russian Evgany Kirilov in his next match.

This will be the first time since 2004 that Goodall has not played the singles but he is hoping to make up for this with a good performance in the doubles.