Aljaz Bedene

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Aljaz Bedene

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Pretty certain Aljaz did not ask as he is only a couple of spots out in Halle and Queens anyway so logically he is certain to make the cut for at least one once the inevitable withdrawals occur. He is closer in Halle and more likely to play there as the Daily Mail brigade seemed to get quite agitated about that during the Dan Evans storm in a teacup.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Ah, that makes sense, although I kinda think if he's British why isn't he playing the UK grass court season.

He's between Dan and Kyle in the rankings, but he's had a good run of late, so I'm not sure if that ranking will have kicked in for entries yet.

indiana · Tennis legend

He's a British professional tennis player. If Halle offers better prospects, fair enough.

Normally outside the top one or two our players are just happy to get WCs for Queens ( and they clearly won't get them for Halle ). Aljaz, by his ranking will possibly have choices. So on tennis grounds as you say his position "makes sense".

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Also worth mentioning that although Halle has it's big names, Federer being one, the entry list for Queens looks more like a Masters event this year and for someone not entirely comfortable on the grass Aljaz probably figures he has a better chance of winning a match or two in Germany before he heads to the UK to join Edvo in the Main Draw at Eastbourne.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

But what about the grass season being the highlight for British players and wanting to play infront of a British crowd as often as possible. As a guy who was in tears over not being able to convert for Davis Cup, you'd think he'd aspire to play Queens, even if it meant taking on qualies.

JonH · All-time great

If they offered him a Queens wild card it would sort itself out - I personally think they should if they offer evo and kyle wc entry, why not Aljaz. Same rank level currently, shown his commitment to Britain I feel, quite a known name as a draw. Bad show they don't make the offer at same time as Dan or kyle.

steven · Tennis legend

Whatever 'side' people are on in all this, I don't understand why Aljaz maybe playing Halle instead of Queen's is at all controversial. Why shouldn't he play the event where he is more likely to be able to get points (I'd be more than happy to see other Brits doing that too) and in any case, he seems to be entered for both, so if he ends up as a DA for one of them and doesn't need a wild card, potentially freeing one up for another Brit (maybe not given how much Queen's likes giving their wild cards to non-Brits, but that's not Aljaz's fault), surely that can only be a good thing from a GB point of view?

When Anne Keothavong played 's-Hertogenbosch in 2008 instead of holding out for a wild card for Eastbourne, people on this board were describing it as a clever and also unselfish thing to do - see britishtennis.activeboard.com/t18054318/week-25-s-hertogenbosch-tier-iii-2008/

JonH · All-time great

steven wrote:
Whatever 'side' people are on in all this, I don't understand why Aljaz maybe playing Halle instead of Queen's is at all controversial. Why shouldn't he play the event where he is more likely to be able to get points (I'd be more than happy to see other Brits doing that too) and in any case, he seems to be entered for both, so if he ends up as a DA for one of them and doesn't need a wild card, potentially freeing one up for another Brit (maybe not given how much Queen's likes giving their wild cards to non-Brits, but that's not Aljaz's fault), surely that can only be a good thing from a GB point of view?

When Anne Keothavong played 's-Hertogenbosch in 2008 instead of holding out for a wild card for Eastbourne, people on this board were describing it as a clever and also unselfish thing to do - see britishtennis.activeboard.com/t18054318/week-25-s-hertogenbosch-tier-iii-2008/

Hi Steven - its a fair point. But what I dont understand therefore is why they would offer Kyle and Dan wildcards - they were equally high up the DA list as Aljaz and so the same would pertain ie they would probably get in directly and free up the space for someone else. Maybe i am missing something!

that aside, I don't personally mind Aljaz playing wherever he can get in and make some points - as someone said, he is a pro and that is his main objective. But I guess I was concerned at what appeared to be preferential treatment of Dan and Kyle. Which is of course the Queens TD's prerogative, but nonetheless confused me

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

For all we know he may not have applied for a WC and Dan and Kyle did. Or he may have been offered one and just preferred to try his hand in the weaker field at Halle. No way of knowing really but I suspect it isn't a snub but reflects his personal choice to play where he thinks he is most likely to pick up some points.

JonH · All-time great

The Optimist wrote:
For all we know he may not have applied for a WC and Dan and Kyle did. Or he may have been offered one and just preferred to try his hand in the weaker field at Halle. No way of knowing really but I suspect it isn't a snub but reflects his personal choice to play where he thinks he is most likely to pick up some points.

fair point. So long as they all play somewhere , it will work out in the end. If all else fails, Ilkley is the same week biggrin

JonH · All-time great

Looks like goffin and gasquet are both out for a couple of weeks so likely they will free up a space in halle and Queens - so Aljaz should become 2nd alt halle and 3Rd Queens. Not official withdrawals yet but goffin coach saying he needs a couple of weeks off.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

An interesting paragraph near the end of Alyson Rudd's report on Aljaz's win over Dzumhur in Thursday's Times:

Leon Smith, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain, was courtside and no doubt hoping that an appeal against the International Tennis Federation ruling that Bedene is ineligible to play for his adopted country will be successful. There was evidence that the player himself is keen to try when he stated that he hoped Smith had been impressed with his performance, and he revealed that the pair would discuss his future once Wimbledon was over.

I've never understood why the ITF was so inflexible in the first place. It's not as if it would have opened the flood gates to a constant stream of similar applications. disbelief

Oakland2002 · All-time great

As a pragmatist we could really do with him. To be caught on the cusp of a rule change like this is brutal regardless of your views.

embee · Junior player

Aljaz Bedene grateful for support