On the eve of Wimbledon, David Ferrer seeded fifth, who was due to face Britain's James Ward has withdrawn from the tournament with an elbow injury.
James Ward will have been preparing tactics to try and defeat Ferrer and now they will have to change all this and focus on his new opponent Luca Vanni - WR 113, this is a great change for Ward to progress to round 2, and although it is a shame for the Spaniard, the timing of his unfortunate injury could turn out to be very lucky for Ward.
Here by virtue of a wildcard again, thanks to his heroics in the Davis Cup ties of the last three years (and twice against the Americans), many had hoped for a favourable first round opponent. When he was drawn to face Ferrer, the reaction of many was not an encouraging one filled with enthuasiasm for the Brit, but he still had an opportunity as Ferrer did not play well at Nottingham - being defeated in the first round, and he was the top seed in the event.
Ward will now need to change his tactis to face Vanni, who is just slightly lower ranked than Ward. Vanni does not seem to play many grass court tournaments, with his favourite surface being the clay, being Italian that is of little surprise and he has certainly performed well on the clay courts. Ward has the best chance I believe now of making it to round two, against a fairly even opponent as opposed to a mis-match in quality.
As for Ferrer, I wish him a speedy recovery back to full fitness. He is a good, very talented player and many tennis fans would hate to think he would never feature at Wimbledon again, at the prime age of 33.