Retour
Canterbury’s Ruben Harris has ended his first full season in senior wheelchair tennis at a career-high rank of world No.52.
Nineteen-year-old Harris wrapped up his maiden senior campaign with victory in the Abingdon WC50 tournament over the weekend - his first senior singles title - and moved up eight places in the rankings.
The two-time LTA junior wheelchair player-of-the-year was seeded fourth and made a fine start, dropping just one game as he raced past Croatia’s Anto Joskic and Ireland’s Garreth Greene before he needed to dig deeper in the semi-final to overcome top seed Timothee Da Costa Santos of France 7-6, 6-2.
Harris took that confidence into his third singles final of 2026 and, despite being forced into a third set by Frenchman Clement Miranda, he finished strongly to prevail 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. The two teamed up in the doubles, finishing runners-up.
“I went in to the tournament feeling confident and I’m really happy with how I performed over the whole weekend,” Harris said.
“[In the semi-final] I went 5-4 down in the first set against the top seed, and then I was 4-1 down in the tie-break before managing to come back and win. I felt more confident after that.
“I’m delighted to win my first senior singles title at home in Britain. I’ve played in Abingdon the last few years and so I know the venue well.
“This year has mainly been about establishing myself in the seniors, building my ranking and playing some of the best players. That’s my season done now for 2026 and I’ll start again in Bolton next year.”
Based at the University of Kent Tennis Centre in Canterbury, former French Open and US Open junior boys’ doubles champion Harris started the year at the LTA’s WC100 Bolton Indoor tournament, where he reached the second round.
Canterbury’s Ellen Tribley was also a winner at Abingdon, taking the women’s consolation singles having lost out in three sets in her opening main draw match.