Week 23 - Surbiton Trophy [$ 50K] 2008.

Joe Bateman · Social player

RE: Week 23 - Surbiton Trophy [$ 50K] 2008.

steven · Tennis legend

Joe Bateman wrote:

This is a total joke, it now means I have wasted a £70 7 day travelcard for the week. God knows how I'm going to get there without paying a whole new ticket, as my travelcard is only good for Surbiton/clapham junction. So I wonder if I can get an additional ticket for Clapham Junction to London Victoria and then get the tube? Obviously don't want to pay £27 (for that time of day) for a return to Victoria. Any ideas on what my possible options are, and what are you doing FD?

-- Edited by Joe Bateman at 19:43, 2008-06-03

The easiest way to get to the NTC is to change at Clapham Junction and take the train to Barnes (about 10 minutes, so it shouldn't cost much), then it's either a 15-20 minute walk or 10 minutes by bus + 5-10 minutes walk.

Try putting Station or Stop = Clapham Junction and Postcode = SW15 5JQ into http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2 and it'll give you full details, except that when it says the train has final destination Waterloo, it doesn't mean you can take just any Waterloo train - it'll probably say Richmond on it and probably (though don't take my word for this without checking when you get there) go from Platform 5 or 6.

-- Edited by steven at 19:59, 2008-06-03

Count Zero · Tennis legend

boggo confirmed that it is on outdoor hard at the ntc :(

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Joe Bateman wrote:

This is a total joke, it now means I have wasted a £70 7 day travelcard for the week. God knows how I'm going to get there without paying a whole new ticket, as my travelcard is only good for Surbiton/clapham junction. So I wonder if I can get an additional ticket for Clapham Junction to London Victoria and then get the tube? Obviously don't want to pay £27 (for that time of day) for a return to Victoria. Any ideas on what my possible options are, and what are you doing FD?

-- Edited by Joe Bateman at 19:43, 2008-06-03

Just checking nationalrail now to find out the best way in by train, or whether it would be easier to drive in....

National Tennis Centre is in Roehampton, and according to the website the nearest train station is Barnes, which is a 15 minute walk away.

Eastbourne to Barnes looks quite easy as there is plenty of trains that run to it, so I'd probably take the 8.18 to Victoria or the 8.56 to Victoria and then change at Clapham Junction for a train to Barnes which gets in at either 10.11 or 10.42.

Don't know what Barnes is like as a rail station, but if it's like Berryfields (where I get on and off the train for Surbiton) you don't need the ticket to get out of the station as there are no barriers, but if it's like Surbiton then you do.

Either you could risk it and see whether you can get lucky with the type of station, or just buy a day return from Clapham to Barnes, as the Surbiton ticket will still cover the Eastbourne to Clapham part of the journey which should only cost a few quid... in fact it costs £2.90 so that's all you'd need to spend tomorrow.

steven · Tennis legend

So now they're saying that the weather should be ok to play outdoors tomorrow, but the covers/drainage at Surbiton is so bad that they can't play on the courts there?

As if the grass season wasn't short enough!

After all the home tournaments they've withdrawn this year, the least the LTA could do for the home players would have been to make sure the courts/covers at Surbiton were of a sufficient standard to allow play on the courts on a fine day in a tournament where they traditionally punch above their weight.

If they were saying the weather was going to be bad all week and they had to move it to indoors at the NTC, that would make a more sense - it would also probably be less of a disadvantage to the grass court players than playing on outdoor hard.

Perhaps it's all the ploy to make people glad that Surbiton's not going to happen any more, or another weapon pulled out of the LTA's arsenal in the fight to stop any GB players getting 'easy' points? ("woohoo, we've stuffed them there, eh!")

Silly (?) conspiracy theories aside, and pending a better explanation, this seems almost unbelievably incompetent! bleh

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

The covers at Surbiton aren't inadiquate.... they don't exist!!!

And the fact play was called off for the day around 1130ish today, with good weather predicted for the rest of the day means that they must be very soaked and drainage not great, as the official told me that they were too wet to play on regardless of what happened with the weather over the rest of the day.

Surbiton is just a tennis club though... the bigger and more incompetent problem in my view is that it seems the grass courts at Roehampton aren't being used. Even allowing for the fact there are only 4 courts, so maybe some matches may have had to be played on another surface (maybe the doubles draw), surely the grass courts should be used if they exist.

So either at the NTC the grass courts aren't used as there's only 4 of them, or the worse explanation that they haven't got covers for them, or they just forgot to put the covers on them, which would be incompetence at it's best.

And there's no problem with the weather, as every site predicts no rain for tomorrow.

Sheddie · administrator

Have sent emails to Paul and Roger about getting access to cover tomorrow's play at the NTC ! I mentioned the 10,000 hits our coverage has received so far !

Joe, maybe you could pm me the phone number of the press officer so I could ring about this ?......just in case my emails get no reply

Joe Bateman · Social player

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Joe Bateman wrote:

This is a total joke, it now means I have wasted a £70 7 day travelcard for the week. God knows how I'm going to get there without paying a whole new ticket, as my travelcard is only good for Surbiton/clapham junction. So I wonder if I can get an additional ticket for Clapham Junction to London Victoria and then get the tube? Obviously don't want to pay £27 (for that time of day) for a return to Victoria. Any ideas on what my possible options are, and what are you doing FD?

-- Edited by Joe Bateman at 19:43, 2008-06-03

Just checking nationalrail now to find out the best way in by train, or whether it would be easier to drive in....

National Tennis Centre is in Roehampton, and according to the website the nearest train station is Barnes, which is a 15 minute walk away.

Eastbourne to Barnes looks quite easy as there is plenty of trains that run to it, so I'd probably take the 8.18 to Victoria or the 8.56 to Victoria and then change at Clapham Junction for a train to Barnes which gets in at either 10.11 or 10.42.

Don't know what Barnes is like as a rail station, but if it's like Berryfields (where I get on and off the train for Surbiton) you don't need the ticket to get out of the station as there are no barriers, but if it's like Surbiton then you do.

Either you could risk it and see whether you can get lucky with the type of station, or just buy a day return from Clapham to Barnes, as the Surbiton ticket will still cover the Eastbourne to Clapham part of the journey which should only cost a few quid... in fact it costs £2.90 so that's all you'd need to spend tomorrow.

Yeah after posting I had a look at the location of the centre, and found the same as you. Thanks for the information though. Indeed its an easier journey than Surbiton. I was just worried I was going to have to get the tube, and with a huge photography bag I was dreading that early in the morning.

Gonna see if I can maybe get a ticket ahead of time tomorrow, so ask at Hampden Park station if I can get a ticket for Clapham Junction to Barnes, or if I have to buy it at Clapham Junction. Either way, its only 10 minute connection (with regular trains) and also a short (0.7 mile walk).

As annoying as all of this is, I had wished I could see a hardcourt event in the UK, so my wish has come true for at least a day!!

Only negative thing about the journey is lack of trains between about 8 to 9am, which means I either get the 8am and arrive extremely early, or get the 9am and leave it tight. Whats your choice going to be? :D

Count Zero · Tennis legend

from the lta:
With better weather forecasted for Wednesday, the mens and womens first round main draws will both get under way. However, due to the volume of rain in Surbiton over the last couple of days, play is scheduled to take place at the National Tennis Centre once again with a combination of indoor and outdoor courts available.

i have to say i really dont know what to say. this is just a total joke from the lta.

Joe Bateman · Social player

Sheddie wrote:

Have sent emails to Paul and Roger about getting access to cover tomorrow's play at the NTC ! I mentioned the 10,000 hits our coverage has received so far !

Joe, maybe you could pm me the phone number of the press officer so I could ring about this ?......just in case my emails get no reply

Details sent. There is a press officer who I have sent you the details of (Chris), rather than Rhian (the LTA National press officer). As Chris seems to be around now instead of Rhian.

PS Always best to ring the LTA!

-- Edited by Joe Bateman at 20:22, 2008-06-03

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Hmm, this isn't turning out to be the best tournament is it?

Hopefully our players (and all the players actually) can sort themselves out and don't suffer too much from being mucked about this much.

As for the covers and drainage, surely it isn't that difficult to provide and it's not like Surbiton has never put on a tournament like this before, or that rain in early June in England is completely unheard of.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Joe Bateman wrote:
Yeah after posting I had a look at the location of the centre, and found the same as you. Thanks for the information though. Indeed its an easier journey than Surbiton. I was just worried I was going to have to get the tube, and with a huge photography bag I was dreading that early in the morning.

Gonna see if I can maybe get a ticket ahead of time tomorrow, so ask at Hampden Park station if I can get a ticket for Clapham Junction to Barnes, or if I have to buy it at Clapham Junction. Either way, its only 10 minute connection (with regular trains) and also a short (0.7 mile walk).

As annoying as all of this is, I had wished I could see a hardcourt event in the UK, so my wish has come true for at least a day!!

Only negative thing about the journey is lack of trains between about 8 to 9am, which means I either get the 8am and arrive extremely early, or get the 9am and leave it tight. Whats your choice going to be? :D

There's a 10-15 minute wait at Clapham anyway so you could easily get a ticket there and not have much trouble in getting back to the train in time.

I was thinking of getting the 8.18 train as there's no taxi rank at Barnes so want to get there early enough to be able to walk to the grounds before 11am, even with me managing to get lost. (but that doesn't stop at Hampden Park.... well, technically it does as it goes to Eastbourne first and then back up North)

It gets to Barnes at 10.11, so with a 15-20 minute walk to the grounds it would only be 30 minutes early, but by the time you've found the media centre, the courts etc. play would be almost ready to begin.

Joe Bateman · Social player

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Joe Bateman wrote:
Yeah after posting I had a look at the location of the centre, and found the same as you. Thanks for the information though. Indeed its an easier journey than Surbiton. I was just worried I was going to have to get the tube, and with a huge photography bag I was dreading that early in the morning.

Gonna see if I can maybe get a ticket ahead of time tomorrow, so ask at Hampden Park station if I can get a ticket for Clapham Junction to Barnes, or if I have to buy it at Clapham Junction. Either way, its only 10 minute connection (with regular trains) and also a short (0.7 mile walk).

As annoying as all of this is, I had wished I could see a hardcourt event in the UK, so my wish has come true for at least a day!!

Only negative thing about the journey is lack of trains between about 8 to 9am, which means I either get the 8am and arrive extremely early, or get the 9am and leave it tight. Whats your choice going to be? :D

There's a 10-15 minute wait at Clapham anyway so you could easily get a ticket there and not have much trouble in getting back to the train in time.

I was thinking of getting the 8.18 train as there's no taxi rank at Barnes so want to get there early enough to be able to walk to the grounds before 11am, even with me managing to get lost. (but that doesn't stop at Hampden Park.... well, technically it does as it goes to Eastbourne first and then back up North)

It gets to Barnes at 10.11, so with a 15-20 minute walk to the grounds it would only be 30 minutes early, but by the time you've found the media centre, the courts etc. play would be almost ready to begin.

Thanks for that, I will maybe try and get on at Polegate. It arrives at Polegate at 8.25 which is a little better. PS I would use the TFL site for looking at connections to Barnes, they run every 5 minutes:

1

09:32

09:41

00:09

View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
2	09:43	09:52	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
3	09:47	09:56	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
4	09:55	10:04	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
5	10:02	10:11	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
6	10:13	10:22	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
7	10:17	10:26	00:09		View

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
8	10:25	10:34	00:09		View

I found that the Nationalrail site is wrong for connections, as for Surbiton it said there was no connection for 20 minutes, when one came in 6. I guess you have to input the individual journeys when doing these kind of trips.

steven · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:
Have sent emails to Paul and Roger about getting access to cover tomorrow's play at the NTC ! I mentioned the 10,000 hits our coverage has received so far !

It's actually the most-viewed thread ever on the board, with more hits than Surbiton last year (which is 3rd!) before the main draw has even started. I guess we're getting quite a few hits from MTF after I suggested they come over here for updated (subject to confirmation, don't base your bets on it, etc ) scores.

The Top 20 are mix of tournaments where live updates were being provided (and in some cases like Surbiton, only available here), tournaments where Brits went deep and longer-running threads like the Rob Dee one. (it isn't hard to get this list - there's a nice sort function within individual sections and virtually all of the heavily viewed threads are in the GB men's section anyway)

9602 - 2008 - Week 23 - Surbiton Trophy [$ 50K] 2008.
9432 - 07/8 - www.britishtennis.net
8026 - 2007 - Surbiton Trophy 2007
7359 - 2007 - Cardiff Challenger - 2007 Week 16
7123 - 2007 - ATP - The Nottingham Open
6892 - 2008 - Robert Dee - British Tennis Professional - Beltranena comes back to regain the record
6544 - 2007 - ATP Queens
6206 - 2008 - Week 2 - Australian Open Qualifying
5945 - 2008 - Davis Cup: World Group Round 1 - Argentina v GB
5901 - 2008 - Week 11/12 - Indian Wells Masters
5851 - 2008 - Week 9 - Challenger (42500+H) - Cherbourg, France
5788 - 2007 - Week 19 - Futures F10(M) - Edinburgh
5410 - 2007 - Week 47 - Challenger(25k+H) - Shrewsbury, Great Britain
5155 - 2008 - Week 19 - Futures F8 (15k) - Edinburgh, GB
5064 - 2007 - Week 29 - Challenger (M) - Manchester
5050 - 2007 - Wroclaw challenger (PL) 2007
4967 - 07/8 - Ren Sisters and Laura Robson Thread
4754 - 2008 - Week 12 - Futures F4 (10k) - Bath, Great Britain
4546 - 2008 - British Men - Top 25 etc table
4541 - 2008 - Week 9 - Futures F5 (15k) - Harlingen TX, USA

-- Edited by steven at 21:16, 2008-06-03

Sheddie · administrator

wow cool...how did you get those stats ?

I believe that spectators aren't allowed into the NTC tomorrow......but good news is that Dan and I have media accreditation for the day to cover play for this site and have use of the press room so can attend interviews etc

Dan will also be able to cover for us if any more play is held there for rest of this week.....

Many thanks to Joe for giving me the contact details, cya there tomorrow !