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

Silver · County player

RE: Robert Dee equals the record - will he break it next week?

jazar · Junior player

hey there everyone. i'm the guy from MTF who knows rob

steven · Tennis legend

Hi Jazar

- we're hoping he has a sense of humour (?!)

jazar · Junior player

he does have a sense of humour and this is the kind of thing i reckon he'd find funny, if it was happening to someone else, lol. i think he'll probably see the funny side of it and may well appreciate the following he has

steven · Tennis legend

That's good, and the "if it was happening to someone else" had me LOL.

The fascinating thing about him is, despite having lost 108 sets on the trot, it seems like he's quite a bit better than a lot of the more infamous players because (unlike the players who gave up completely once it was no longer possible to buy a ranking point through a Challenger main draw WC) he does manage to make quite a few sets competitive and he hasn't been bagelled any more frequently than many of the other players who do Futures qualifying.

I'm sure there are people in Futures qualifying he could beat if only he managed to get drawn against them! Of course the perfect scenario would be if he did get someone he could beat ... after just one more loss.

I imagine that if someone had said when he started out that by 2008 he'd have made enough of a name for himself to have equalled a world record, be one of the best-known tennis players outside the top 500 in GB, have his own fan club and Facebook appreciation society AND been the subject of a lead tennis story in the Times, not to mention having been instrumental in getting the ATP ranking system changed he'd probably have taken it! Funny how things turn out ...

-- Edited by steven at 21:48, 2008-03-09

jazar · Junior player

given that he has trained at bolletieri's for a year or two he's got to be a better player than when he left. maybe he's just had 54 consecutive really bad draws.

he's actually managed to get games off players like andre ghem and andreas haider-maurer who are top 250 players, so thats a good achievement

i'm sure other players would kill for the he's getting, though obviously they (and i'm sure rob as well) would like the attention for something a little more positive.

jazar · Junior player

maybe ability is not the problem, its just nerves that are holding him back

Bladetiger · Pro player

jazar wrote:

maybe ability is not the problem, its just nerves that are holding him back

steven · Tennis legend

Assuming there's a 128 player qualifying draw in Castelldefels, we should get the draw on Thursday.

Will Robert be there? Has the card got there? Will it be time to uncork the champagne because the record goes this time? Or will it be time to uncork the champagne as he gets his first set? (N.B. this means that if he's there, the bubbly being on ice for the end of the match is a must one way or the other - it's a win-win thing!

)

I'd say the odds (in decimal, where 2.00 is evens) would be about 2.00, 1.50, 2.02 (since it can only go if he's there) and 50.00 respectively.

-- Edited by steven at 01:17, 2008-03-13

RedCabbage · Club Coach

I'll take the 2.02 odds! (Since I reckon you meant 1.02 ;) )

I'm sure it'll be a shining beacon on the British Successes thread whatever the outcome.

steven · Tennis legend

No, 2.02 if there's only a 1 in 2 chance that he actually enters.

Anyway, false alarm, qualifying in Castelldefels is a 64-draw so sign-in is Friday evening.

steven · Tennis legend

jazar wrote:
given that he has trained at bolletieri's for a year or two he's got to be a better player than when he left. maybe he's just had 54 consecutive really bad draws.

he's actually managed to get games off players like andre ghem and andreas haider-maurer who are top 250 players, so thats a good achievement

i'm sure other players would kill for the he's getting, though obviously they (and i'm sure rob as well) would like the attention for something a little more positive.

I doubt he's had 54 consecutive really bad draws, but equally given that he doesn't get double-bagelled often and has managed to make quite a few sets competitive, I'm pretty sure there are players who take part in Futures qualifying whom he could beat, it's just hard to get drawn against them. He's clearly the best of the three Brits who were mentioned in the Times article about bought WCs too.

The one thing that marks Rob out from the legions of players losing matches in Futures qualifying is how long he has persevered.

jazar · Junior player

i think the times should be alerted of his potential achievement so they can write another article on him

steven · Tennis legend

Judging by the way they picked up the Count's comment about taking racquets to the LTA to be flown out to Boggo in Argentina (which as far as I know was only every brought up on this board), I doubt there's any need to alert them.

In any case, talking about him on a tennis board is a bit of fun (not least because I think we're reasonably balanced about it as well as having a laugh), but an article in a national newspaper making it sound like he's the worst tennis player in the whole world (as I imagine it would) might be a bit harsh! Then again, I'm not convinced he isn't happy with the fame/notoriety, so maybe he wouldn't mind.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i also made mention on the AM board too :(