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Johannesburg - Buoyed by his best-ever world ranking and reaching the fourth round at six Grand Slams, South African tennis ace Kevin Anderson will head into the next week’s Wimbledon with some confidence.
“I’m definitely looking forward to this tournament starting, I’ve been working really hard as I have over a number of years of constantly trying to find areas of my game I can improve on," Anderson said in a conference call to the media on Tuesday.
“Making the fourth round at a few slams... I think it is something I can take into this Wimbledon.
"Reaching a new career-high ranking is something to be happy about and it comes off a really good week of tennis so that is something I am really happy about."
Anderson beat French Open champion Stan Wawrinka en-route to the final at the Queen’s Club over the weekend where he was beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the final by Briton Andy Murray.
At last year's Wimbledon tournament the Scot thwarted Anderson’s plans of becoming the first South African to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Wayne Ferreira in 1994.
Anderson reached a career-high singles ranking of No 14 in the world, climbing three spots in the ATP rankings after he reached the final at the Queen’s Club.
The gangling South African has reached in six Grand Slam fourth rounds since 2013 and will be looking to get the monkey off his back and in the process edge closer to a Top 10 world ranking.
“Just having that experience, I play against these guys a lot, my record has not been what I want it to be (against the top-ranked players),” Anderson said.
“I think that has been one of the obstacles that has stopped me from moving up into the Top 10 and higher.
“That is a goal of ours, to have better success against the top-ranked guys in the world, it is never easy and no matter what surface you get them on.
“I know I’ve done it before, so that gives me confidence and you just have to be patient.”
The big-serving Anderson said although breaking through the Top 10 was not the main driving force, it did feature as added motivation.
“It is definitely on my mind (reaching the Top 10) but at the same time I think it is a by-product of various other things,” he said.
“So it is about taking care of as many details as I can, staying healthy and just playing each match as it comes.
“But I think you have that motivation at the back of your mind with that goal in mind, but in terms of a goal I am looking at that and it will come with a lot of satisfaction if it comes.”
