Yeah i m so confused i saw a beeb article saying he had retired

Mackin is a bit of a surprise.... but maybe he entered the qualifying before he retired, and then has forgotten to tell the organisers that he isn't playing, presuming that with him annoucing his retirement, he would be withdrawn from the list

May has a chance against Lacko, as the courts suit s/v, and Lacko lost in straights to Rusedski last week, so may struggle against them

Luzzi is an out and out clay courter, so Rushby has a chance to get the upset, as does Eaton against Salamanca

Alan is 1st on Court 13
May is 2nd on Court 14
James is 2nd on Court 13
Bammy v Childs is 3rd on Court 13
Rushby is 3rd on Court 14
Irwin and Ward dubs is 5th on Court 13

Mackin, wow!


Hopefully he'll qualify and then beat Nadal. Then he will surely make a comeback.

Great to see Alan Mackin back from 'retirement' for this!  I wonder if he's missing his tennis and wants to see if it's worth starting again or if this is just a chance to make some money without having to travel very far, in which case, fair enough.

Anyway, here's the draw with comparative rankings for anyone who is interested. Obviously the rankings will change on Monday morning, but probably not by that much:

QR1: (WC) James Ward WR 679 v Go Soeda (JPN) WR 214 - seeds in this section are (q6) Giraldo & (q22) Ulihrach
QR1: (WC) Richard Irwin WR 822 v Sam Warburg (USA) WR 207 - winner to play winner of the match below
QR1: (WC) Jim May WR 964 v (q30) Lukas Lacko (SVK) WR 158 - the other seed in this section is (q7) Kim
QR1: (WC) Tom Rushby WR 589 v (q8) Federico Luzzi (ITA) WR 119 - in same section as Brewer
QR1: (WC) David Brewer WR 926 v Zack Fleishman (USA) WR 169 - the other seed in this section is (q28) Andujar
QR1: (WC) Lee Childs WR 406 v (WC) Neil Bamford WR 859 - seeds in this section are (q29) Kubot & (q9) Economidis
QR1: (WC) Chris Eaton WR 771 v Carlos Salamanca (COL) WR 298 - seeds in this section are (q14) Zverev & (q20) Galvani
QR1: Alan Mackin WR 259 v Nicolas Tourte (FRA) WR 225 - seeds in this section are (q23) Ascione & (q16) Zib

Chances? Well, Mackin himself for a start, May against Lacko, who was taken apart by serve & volleyer Greg last week, Rushby and Eaton playing clay-courters (N.B. Salamanca lost to May at Surbiton) and we must get one through to QR2 from Childs v Bammy. I doubt we will end up with more than 2 or 3 in QR2, but there will be some interesting matches to follow.

Here's the schedule for Monday, including Court 15 matches which I've managed to get hold of by guessing the URL of the pdf version - the main schedule page stops after the first match on Court 15 and won't open the pdf link at the moment:

1st (11.00 BST): Alan (C13), Chris (C15)
2nd (c. 12.30 BST): James (C13), Jim (C14), Richard (C15)
3rd (c. 14.00 BST): Lee v Neil (C13), Tom (C14), David (C15)
4th: -
5th (c. 17.00 BST): Irwin/Ward (C13), Flan/Rushby (C14)

mackin prob playing just coz he pockets over £1.5k just for turning up, and think he enjoys sw19 now after last year's epic vs baghdatis!