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Tennis-Briton Ward lands biggest payday

(Adds quotes, background) By Pritha Sarkar LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - After four magical days at Wimbledon, British journeyman James Ward was guaranteed to pocket the biggest cheque of his career -- a princely sum of at least $120,000 for reaching the third round. The amount was almost $30,000 more than what he had earned during the rest of 2015. But it was ranking points, rather than money, that the 28-year-old wildcard really wanted after his victory over Jiri Vesely meant the home nation would have three singles players in the third round for the first time since 2002. "It's great. Obviously ranking goes up. Into third round of Wimbledon, I can't ask for anything more at the moment," said Ward, who is guaranteed to break into the world's top 100 after joining Andy Murray and Heather Watson in round three. "It's (being in the top 100) something you work for throughout your whole career. "Everyone's got bills to pay. I'm no different to anyone else in this tournament who is in this position. "But it's not really something I've thinking about. More worried about my ranking and achieving my goals than the prize money." After years of toiling in the lower-tier challenger circuit, playing on dusty courts in far-flung places such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, Uzbekistan -- to name just a few -- Ward is finally reaping the benefit of training with Murray. "It's always a good help spending time with him... which I've been lucky enough to do. Good habits rub off on you if you spend enough time around someone," said Ward. "He's been a big help to me and I'm grateful for that. He's always there supporting. He follows live streams of challengers, is always there to send you a message when you've done well, or pick you up when you need a bit of support. "It's nice to have that support from such a great player." Making the most of your lucky breaks is a mantra tennis players live by and Ward has certainly capitalised on his. "He was due to play (David) Ferrer in the first round, which is an extremely difficult draw," Murray said, referring to the Spanish world number seven who pulled out injured before the start of the grasscourt major. "Then playing a lucky loser in the first round, he's taken advantage of the opportunity. It was very important for him to capitalise on that. "He's won a couple of good matches. He has an opportunity again in the third round." And what does Arsenal fan Ward think it would be like if he did make it into the fourth round of a slam for the first time? "Winning third round would probably be like Arsenal winning the league next year," he grinned. "After that, we start thinking about Champions League finals." (Editing by Ed Osmond)