JORDANNE Whiley feels a lack of fitness may have been to blame for her Wimbledon doubles exit.

The Halesowen wheelchair tennis star and Japan’s Yui Kamiji bid for a fifth Wimbledon ladies’ doubles title last week.

However, after a bright start and twice serving for the match in the second set, Whiley and Kamiji eventually slipped to a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1 loss to Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot.

Whiley, playing in her first Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2017, having started her international comeback in February this year after maternity leave, said: "At a set and 6-5 up it was probably one of the best games we’ve ever played, but Aniek and Diede started to play well, too, and they cut out a lot of errors.

“At the end of the day I’ve only been back six months and I’ve played and won a lot of finals in that time. But today was probably the first time since my comeback I’ve seen my fitness tested to this extent in a match, so maybe that was a factor.”

The doubles defeat followed her exit from the ladies' singles the day before as she lost 6-4, 6-1 to Kamiji.