EMILY WEBLEY-SMITH is hoping to return to Wimbledon next month.

The British No6, who grew up in Thornbury, could be a wildcard at the prestigious SW19 event and the 24-year-old also revealed she has got her sights on playing in the US Open in August.

Webley-Smith has a chance of playing in the Wimbledon qualifier at Roehampton which takes place a week before the start of Wimbledon, with wildcards for the event given out by the All England Club.

Her one appearance at the Championships came five years ago and she reached the second round, before losing to American Amy Frazier in three sets.

That was a personal highlight in Webley-Smith’s career and she is hoping to re-live that experience this year.

“It’s an incredibly special place, I’d love to play there this year,” she said.

“Hopefully later in the summer I’ll go to the States and I would love to play in the US open.”

Webley-Smith, whose career has been blighted by injuries, is looking forward to playing on grass for the first time in two years at the AEGON trophy, a $50k tournament held at Nottingham, which starts this Saturday.

“Grass is my favourite surface,” she said. “It suits my game and I’ve had my best moments in tennis on grass.

“There’s something traditional about it. I like to come forward, come to the net use the drop shot, and I’ve got a good serve so it suits how I play.”

Webley-Smith made her tennis comeback almost 12 months ago after a series of ankle injuries and has climbed 167 places up the World rankings to No308 since the turn of the year alone.

She has travelled all over the world playing in tournaments to get her ranking up and in March she won her first senior singles title in a $10k tournament in Las Palmas.

“It was lovely to win my first one - it was a long time coming,” said Webley-Smith.

“I’ve won a lot of doubles titles but to win a singles title is fantastic. It proves that the work does pay off when you least expect it.”

Webley-Smith has just returned from Indonesia, where she spent three weeks playing in tournaments, but before that an achilles injury kept her out of competition for five weeks.

That effectively ruined any hopes she had of qualifying for the French Open and the life member of Almondsbury tennis club was left frustrated at not being able to continue her progress.

She said: “After starting off this year pretty well, I’m disappointed to get something that, at the most important time, I could have done without.

“But it’s not all doom and gloom, I’m now sixth in the country and I’ve got the opportunity to have a good summer.”