Wimbledon Ryan Peniston: Young Essex tennis star who survived childhood cancer wins Wimbledon wildcard

A young tennis star from Essex, who battled cancer as a child, will make his debut at Wimbledon this summer. Ryan Peniston, 26, from Southend-on-Sea, will compete in the prestigious tournament alongside British tennis greats Andy Murray and Emma Radacanu.

Peniston has become the name on every tennis fan's lips recently, after his incredible performance at Queen's, where he beat the top seed and French Open finalist Casper Rudd to reach the quarterfinals in his first ATP tour-level tournament. He also competed at Eastbourne reaching the quarterfinals again.

Now, the young sportsman will take on one of the most important tennis competitions in the world as a wildcard, but with his current ATP ranking of 147, he's one of the dark horses to beat, having climbed 33 places in the world rankings this year alone.

Parents of Archie Battersbee to take case over life support to Court of Appeal

Peniston is also using his profile as Britain's brightest new tennis star to raise awareness of childhood cancer, which he himself battled as a young boy. At only a year old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer which affected his skin. Peniston fought rhabdomyosarcoma as a child, which is a kind of cancer which forms in the skin tissue.

Peniston spent almost two years in hospital as a baby having chemotherapy. But now, he's using his platform to raise awareness of the condition, and to help those suffering like he and his family did.

According to the Express, before he competed at Eastbourne, he said: “100 per cent that’s one of the big things that I’d like to do in my career. Kind of like to spread awareness and do what I can to help people going through similar things.”

He's also very excited about his Wimbledon debut. “It’s