Wimbledon’s Ross Hutchins fired an emotional broadside at the British press after he joined the long list of the nation’s casualties at SW19 this week.

Hutchins, along with partner Stephen Huss were seeded 16th for the men’s doubles tournament at the Championship, only to be sent packing in their first round clash by Prakash Amritraj and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 after a titanic tussle.

But with the likes of Anne Keothavong reduced to tears in press conferences this week, the former King’s College School pupil insists the media should be supporting the British hopefuls, rather than taking cheap potshots.

Hutchins said: “I think it is pretty pathetic actually.

“Wimbledon is a very easy field day for the negative journalists.

“It is quite strange that British people want British people to lose just so they can have a story.

“I do not know why they do it but it really does not help the players at all.

“When you lose they have a go and then the next year they want you to lose again so they can have another go at you.

“I know things are getting better but the question is how long can you keep saying that?

“The players are fitter, stronger and playing better - we just need to turn that into results.”

Hutchins’ clash ran into Wednesday afternoon having been called to a halt in near-darkness on Tuesday.

And having suffered a similar fate last year, the 23-year-old admitted he would have to learn to deal with the stop-start scenarios.

He added: “It is very tough when you come off the court and then have to start all over again.

“Both times the games have gone to five sets, and if you start a game at six you expect to get it done that night.

“But it is something that I have to get better at as we have lost both times.

“The games are really coming down to a handful of points.

“I do not know if we have to start doing something different but we have to start winning these points.”

Hutchins revealed he has no intention of calling a day on his partnership with Australian Huss, with the duo set to fly to America next month for a handful of tournaments.

And the Wimbledon star is hoping for an improvement.

Hutchins added: “We are going to keep playing together as we both enjoy it.

“We have had some good results this year, it is just disappointing we could not produce that here.

“But doubles tennis is incredibly fickle and the margins are so tight.

“We just need to keep working hard and the results will come.”