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

DJ · County player

RE: Robert Dee - British Tennis Professional

steven · Tennis legend

It's certainly a potential souce of funding that even Fitzy hadn't thought of! wink

More seriously, I'm all for press inaccuracy being exposed, but maybe he's taking this a bit too far - you'd have thought he gained more out of the media coverage as a whole than he lost.

jazar · Junior player

i expect that rob actually has nothing to do with this and its his father's doing

steven · Tennis legend

Fair enough

Salmon · Tennis legend

Hehe, Robert doesn't hold the record any more.

Mexico F7 2008 -

First qualies round :

Marc Rigal-Perez [Unr] of Spain beat Diego Beltranena [Unr] of Guatemala by 6-0 6-1.

Link to draw - http://www.itftennis.com/mens/tournaments/drawsheetbyround.asp?tournament=1100017621&event=1100100048

In case this has been posted before, I'm sorry. But I couldn't find anything!

steven · Tennis legend

Thank you! How did I not notice that when I was following Kyle and Jonny through qualifying this week?

So Beltranena comes back after not having played for three years (!) to reclaim the record outright. Brilliant! At least one of them really wants it! Or maybe he thought that if the Deester could win one, so could he ... or maybe he just wanted all the media coverage. (sorry Diego, only British losers get that much coverage!)

You can just imagine the interview, can't you ...

"Well, when I retire, I think my recordo it's safe forever, no? Then this Roberto Dee, he come and igual it. He no show enough respect, no? So I think, vamos, I will show him what the true perseverance is and get my name in the press en todo el mundo too, no? And I showed the upstart ingles, I showed him good, no!

So it's 55 and counting for Diego ...

I've noticed that we have a new Brit showing some promise called Amar Vora (lost 1 & 3, 0 & 2, 0 & 0 and 0 & 0 so far), but he's such a long way off.

Armchair · County player

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

Akhenaten · Pro player

James ARMSTRONG is showing good potential.
3 games from 8 matches. Impressive stuff.

There's also a young American lad, John LACKEY (just 62), showing rare form.
0 games from 7 matches.

steven · Tennis legend

Gosh, Armstrong slipped under the radar. He certainly has potential. As for Lackey, that's insane! Weideman must have thought he'd won the lottery when he drew him two weeks in a row.

Having said that, Lackey plays less than four tournaments a year, not really Dee-level persistence!

Edit: it's just dawned on me that 62 is Lackey's AGE. I've got another couple of decades to think about starting out on the circuit then! wink

That's brilliant though. biggrin

-- Edited by steven at 12:54, 2008-05-13

Salmon · Tennis legend

62!

How did you 'find' him, Akhenaten? Read about him somewhere or came across him in a draw?

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 16:13, 2008-05-13

Akhenaten · Pro player

It's from my database.

Here's some other age facts...

The oldest player (since 2002) is the Cuban, Iser GIGATO who was 65 when he lost 6-0 6-0 in 1st round qualies in USA F4 2002.

The 2nd oldest is Sandy VANEYCK (64) of the US, who lost in Japan in 2006, 6-0 6-0.

The oldest to win a game is another American, Rick FRIED (62) who lost 6-1 6-0 in Honolulu in 2003.

The oldest player to win a set is Jack CARNAN (58) of Rwanda, who lost 4-6 6-1 7-5 to a Ugandan 16-year-old Danniel Ruyange in 2002's Rwanda F1.

The oldest to play in an ATP event (& also won a set) is Parker SCHOFIELD (57).

The oldest to play in a main draw is the Russian, Vladimir PEREGUDOV (56), who played in 2003's Kuwait F1. He got a bye in the 1st round qualie, then lost 6-2 3-6 4-3 ret. to 48-year-old Romanian Gheorge Barbu in the qualifying round. This is also the biggest combined age of players, a whooping 105 years old. Peregudov then got into the main draw as a lucky loser and lost 6-0 6-0 to a 19yo Kuwaiti.

The oldest to win a match is the Argentine, Fernando SASTRE (52), who won his 1st round qualie match in an Italian Challenger, 7-6(1) 6-4.

The biggest age difference in a match is 61yo John LACKEY versus 17yo Aaron KRISAN (USA) in 2007. Lackey of course lost 6-0 6-0.

The biggest age range in a main draw is the afore-mentioned Gheorghe BARBU (48) vs a 17-year-old Amadeus FULFORD-JONES in the 1st Round of 2003's Kuwait F2. Amadeus won 6-2 6-1.

-- Edited by Akhenaten at 10:24, 2008-05-14

steven · Tennis legend

Fascinating stuff, thanks! I can see DJ digging out his racquets and registering for his IPIN as we speak.

N.B. I'm not meaning to imply by this that DJ is ancient, but I remember seeing on his profile that he was retired, so may be looking for a second career as a tennis pro, so he seems like a reasonable example to use!

Akhenaten · Pro player

Did you know Great Britain has the World No. 4 and the World No. 7.

Robert J. CARUANA & Gerald S. ELLS in the World Mens Over 85 Tennis rankings. biggrin

Caruana (85) beat Ells (87) in the final at Wimbledon last August.

steven · Tennis legend

It's not like there are only a handful of over-85 players either - in a tournament in Menton this March, Caruana double-bagelled a 90-year-old Italian, won 1 & 0 against a 91-year-old Frenchman and then won 7-6 0-6 12-10 against an 85-year-old Dutchman. If you wanted some evidence of tennis keeping you fit in old age ...

jazar · Junior player

Akhenaten wrote:

Did you know Great Britain has the World No. 4 and the World No. 7.

Robert J. CARUANA & Gerald S. ELLS in the World Mens Over 85 Tennis rankings.

Caruana (85) beat Ells (87) in the final at Wimbledon last August.

thats not that hard to do, considering most people in that age group are dead