2004 Jul 19 - Bogdanovic wins first Challenger

Alex Bogdanovic is starting to prove his potential as he racked up the first Challenger event of his career - the LTA Manchester Trophy - with a comprehensive 6-1 6-3 defeat of Slovak Michal Mertinak in the final.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) dropped all funding for Alex before the Wimbledon Championships leaving him to prove to the LTA that he has the correct attitude and single-minded determination to become a top British tennis player.

Alex was unfortunate enough to meet defending champion Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon and the 6-3 6-3 6-0 score-line did not reflect his confident and well balanced performance.

After the match Alex said:

"Everything has turned round since I got a wildcard for Wimbledon. Before that I was struggling, and my confidence was low.

"But though I lost to Roger Federer in the first round, I took a lot of positives out of the match. I've been a different player since."

The significance of Alex's recent form is that he is now a world top 200 tennis player and is up to fourth in the British rakings - behind Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Arvind Parmar.