Robert Dee - British Tennis Professional - Beltranena comes back to regain the record

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: Robert Dee - British Tennis Professional - Beltranena comes back to regain the record

JonH · All-time great

I wondered what had ever happened to Robert Dee and his story at the end of the day? Presumably he has retired from tennis? ITF says he ended up with a world ranking high of circa 1440 but I cannot see where he won a main draw match so was it his qualifying win in his 55th match that got him those points ?

I think I was inspired by Greg Howe's book, not that greg equals Robert Dee in terms of performance, but it raised the question!

And what of Michael Bishop the American mentioned , did he ever win a set anywhere?? From what I see, he only ever played GB grass futures and won no more than 2 games in a set...

-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 08:51:55 PM

Robin · Lower Club Player

JonH wrote:
I wondered what had ever happened to Robert Dee and his story at the end of the day? Presumably he has retired from tennis? ITF says he ended up with a world ranking high of circa 1440 but I cannot see where he won a main draw match so was it his qualifying win in his 55th match that got him those points ?

I think I was inspired by Greg Howe's book, not that greg equals Robert Dee in terms of performance, but it raised the question!

And what of Michael Bishop the American mentioned , did he ever win a set anywhere?? From what I see, he only ever played GB grass futures and won no more than 2 games in a set...

-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 08:51:55 PM

According to his website, he works in finance:

"I have been back in London for many years now, finished university and pursued a career in financial services and like all of you, always looking for the next adventure."

http://www.robertdee.org/

steven · Tennis legend

I think he retired from the pro tour in 2010. If I remember correctly, he tended to get his ranking points from Challenger main draw wild cards in South America back in the days when a Challenger R1 loss was worth a point (I think players like him may have been the impetus for the no points without a win policy the ATP ended up adopting)

Greg has a higher career high (1222) based on points from actual Futures main draw wins.

I don't think Bishop did ever win a set in an ATP-ranked event.

By the way, Diego Beltranena is still playing (and still losing) at the age of 38 - he averaged 1 game per set in 3 weeks of Mexican Futures qualifying last month - he's currently on a relatively short 28-match losing streak in Futures since beating Warman Guerra (Warman War in other words!) in Mexico City 3 years ago.

JonH · All-time great

steven wrote:
I think he retired from the pro tour in 2010. If I remember correctly, he tended to get his ranking points from Challenger main draw wild cards in South America back in the days when a Challenger R1 loss was worth a point (I think players like him may have been the impetus for the no points without a win policy the ATP ended up adopting)

Greg has a higher career high (1222) based on points from actual Futures main draw wins.

I don't think Bishop did ever win a set in an ATP-ranked event.

By the way, Diego Beltranena is still playing (and still losing) at the age of 38 - he averaged 1 game per set in 3 weeks of Mexican Futures qualifying last month - he's currently on a relatively short 28-match losing streak in Futures since beating Warman Guerra (Warman War in other words!) in Mexico City 3 years ago.

Wow! Loads of quick responses, thanks to all that replied... and great that Robert got those apologies from all the papers.

I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days! Is there a GB player which has a losing streak to talk of men or women that we could point to and say, "well done for trying!" ??!

-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 09:13:11 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
steven wrote:
I think he retired from the pro tour in 2010. If I remember correctly, he tended to get his ranking points from Challenger main draw wild cards in South America back in the days when a Challenger R1 loss was worth a point (I think players like him may have been the impetus for the no points without a win policy the ATP ended up adopting)

Greg has a higher career high (1222) based on points from actual Futures main draw wins.

I don't think Bishop did ever win a set in an ATP-ranked event.

By the way, Diego Beltranena is still playing (and still losing) at the age of 38 - he averaged 1 game per set in 3 weeks of Mexican Futures qualifying last month - he's currently on a relatively short 28-match losing streak in Futures since beating Warman Guerra (Warman War in other words!) in Mexico City 3 years ago.
Wow! Loads of quick responses, thanks to all that replied... and great that Robert got those apologies from all the papers.
I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days! Is there a GB player which has a losing streak to talk of men or women that we could point to and say, "well done for trying!" ??!

-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 09:13:11 PM

The depth of knowledge on this forum never ceases to amaze me. I am unfortunately unable to add to any of the above information except with regard to the "worst British Player" for which I would like to declare my candidacy .......

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

JonH wrote:
steven wrote:
I think he retired from the pro tour in 2010. If I remember correctly, he tended to get his ranking points from Challenger main draw wild cards in South America back in the days when a Challenger R1 loss was worth a point (I think players like him may have been the impetus for the no points without a win policy the ATP ended up adopting)

Greg has a higher career high (1222) based on points from actual Futures main draw wins.

I don't think Bishop did ever win a set in an ATP-ranked event.

By the way, Diego Beltranena is still playing (and still losing) at the age of 38 - he averaged 1 game per set in 3 weeks of Mexican Futures qualifying last month - he's currently on a relatively short 28-match losing streak in Futures since beating Warman Guerra (Warman War in other words!) in Mexico City 3 years ago.
Wow! Loads of quick responses, thanks to all that replied... and great that Robert got those apologies from all the papers.
I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days! Is there a GB player which has a losing streak to talk of men or women that we could point to and say, "well done for trying!" ??!

-- Edited by JonH on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 09:13:11 PM

James Allemby on the mens side must be there, hes been playing for years and managed 1 win at futures main draw to get a ranking against a Qatari wild card.

Quite a few on the womens side who regularly fail to make main draws. Top marks for effort for some of them though. I think a lot of coaching on the side and do it for fun more than anything. If I was a millionaire Id probably for looking for a ranking, although might be tougher these days.

Sheddie · administrator

Do we know for sure that Dee actually bought a wildcard into a challenger? I remember that was the speculation a decade ago, and there were stories about other players buying wildcards into challengers but I don't know if there was any substance behind this in his case, and if so, could be unfair to him.

Just something we should be careful of, as it was that sloppy reporting which landed so many new organisations in trouble back in the day. If they'd actually interviewed Dee before publishing their story, they'd have found out about the Spanish money tournaments he was winning matches in.

Dee was at the Bollettieri academy for a while, and says on his website: "Almost two years after arriving at Bollettieri I was granted a wild card at a Mexican challenger event. It wasnt as hard a match as I would have expected from a main draw challenger but it was my first time in such a high standard of tournament and I was playing a Mexican on home ground with hundreds of supporters cheering him on. The nerves kicked in pretty quickly!"

Given the considerable influence of the Bollettieri academy, and Dee's desire to test himself on the tour, it's quite possible that they spoke to the tournament director and procured him a wildcard for the event. I remember from Agassi's autobiography that they did those kind of negotiations for their players.

-- Edited by Sheddie on Wednesday 13th of June 2018 11:14:05 PM

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

A thread from 5 years ago is revived! That can't happen often.

If my memory serves me correctly, (according to what I read here) he got his ranking point from receiving a wild card into a Challenger event which his father's company sponsored. Other snippets of info that I can recall (don't have the inclination to search, and I'm not sure how far this bulletin board goes back) are: He played a doubles match at a Futures event with a British partner, can't remember who. Many of the Brits went to watch expecting circus type amusement. But Rob played competnetly and interest quickly waned. The was a comment that he was a decent guy, just out of depth at that level. I also remember a story of him complaining that he could never find the correct tension for his rackets.

If he was a footballer of the same level, he might have made a living playing in one of the lower divisions. The guy went the extra yard to be as good as he could be, he shouldn't be criticised for that. Anyway, back to Nottingham!

-- Edited by stevemcqueen on Thursday 14th of June 2018 09:02:36 AM

JonH · All-time great

Great to see all the interest in this. My interest was peeked reading the Greg Howe book. Greg sort of had parallels in so much as he was never going to be good enough to hit the heights but had a dream and lived it, and got a couple of ranking points in the process. My memory went back to Robert Dee because I recalled all the papers proclaiming him the worlds worst player etc. I had forgotten though about him winning apologies from them for getting it wrong.

I guess there must in reality be lots of these types of players , living the dream, decent players by most standards but not up to pro standards - Willem Boe-Wiegaard was one name that came to mind in that category, although I recall he might have actually beaten Greg Howe at some stage, not sure!?

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Jaggy1876 wrote:
James Allemby on the mens side must be there, hes been playing for years and managed 1 win at futures main draw to get a ranking against a Qatari wild card.

You can probably add Darryl Hale to the list, too: he's now 27 & unranked in both singles & doubles since 21st November 2016, according to the ATP! Hasn't won any of the matches he's played so far this year. cry

JonH · All-time great

Darryl hale, interesting shout. On itf he's won 5 qualifying round one matches in Uganda, Nigeria, USA, so not quite at the bottom. More importantly in 2016 November he beat beltranena, the man in the headline of this thread, 6-2 6-4 in a QR1 futures match!

But no ranking points yet!

christ · Futures qualifying

JonH wrote:
I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days!

Unfortunate phraseology - presumably you mean "least successful professional", rather than "worst".

JonH · All-time great

christ wrote:
JonH wrote:
I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days!
Unfortunate phraseology - presumably you mean "least successful professional", rather than "worst".

yes, quite right!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

christ wrote:
JonH wrote:
I wonder who might be regarded as the "worst British player" these days!
Unfortunate phraseology - presumably you mean "least successful professional", rather than "worst".

Are we not allowed to say that Andy was the 'best' British player last year then?

I mean, I take your point and 'least successful' is certainly more respectful (which is good) but, to be consistent, if we can use the word 'best', we can use the word 'worst'.