Week 24 - Queen's Club ATP - London

mjd · Challenger qualifying

RE: Week 24 - Queen's Club ATP - London

Count Zero · Tennis legend

yeah i think the sites try hard to get the worst action photos possible. the lta had an awfull one of boggo at surbs the other day too.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Great to see Ward and Bloomers qualify. And a good line up for tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that

(even, if I can't see Boggo).

Sheddie, great reports thanks, I do have one question though...what was the outcome of the meeting 'all cyberspace had been waiting for'? it was in the title but not the content

(unless I'm being completely blind?) - Or should I direct that question to the Count himself?

-- Edited by imoen at 16:10, 2008-06-08

Josh · Challenger level

I went again today and managed to see both guys win. It didn't start off too well though, watched Bloomers lose the first set, saw Ward was winning and went to watch the start of the 2nd. Once he got broken I feared the worse and went to see Boggo practicing with Tipsarevic. It was the first time I had seen that after the session the coach signs the autographs and the player walks off with no-one interested in him! Saw a bit of Goodall practicing with Gasquet as well.

I went back to matches just in time to see Bloomers win the 2nd with a great drop volley and went across to court 1 to see Ward. I watched from about 3 all in the 3rd, and after every game Ward won he was getting more and more pumped up, yelling 'cmon' louder and louder. He didn't seem to be hitting as hard as Slabba yesterday against Udomchoke, but must have been more accurate because he was hitting a lot of winners and Udomchoke wasn't getting as many balls back. At the end the win clearly meant a lot to him, getting very excited and his Dad came down from the crowd to congratulate him. Udomchoke seemed to have even more English family/friends than yesterday, with the majority of the crowd cheering him on.

I managed to see the final tie-break in the Bloomers match. Goodall was watching as well and he told me he should find out tomorrow whether or not he has a Wimbledon WC. Bloomers went 3-0 down but some good first serves got him to 3-2 and then a Jun UE made it level at the change of ends. Bloomers went an MB up with a very lucky netcord, his return just dropped over the net, and Jun was clearly struggling to stay focused. Richard held both his serves for 3 match points. The first one he hit a tough passing shot into the net and the 2nd was a good first serve by Jun. Bloomers was serving at 6-5 up and there was quite a long rally, both playing safe and not wanting to make an error. Jun's shot landed right on the baseline and I'm not sure if it was a strange bounce or if Bloomers thought it was going out, but he hit a weak topspin forehand which only just made it to the net. At this point the Koreans in the crowd erupt and when Jun breaks Bloomers again to go 7-6 up he drops to the floor he celebrates as if he has just won a GS. However Bloomers replies with a Henman-esque fist pump when he breaks back. A couple of minutes later Bloomers wins and Jun launches a ball into where the members play. Richard is a lot more composed than Ward, acting like it's no big deal and seems very surprised by the couple of autographs he has to sign and by people asking for a picture with him.

The girl Sheddie mentioned who he thought was from am.com was there as well, clapping enthusiastically at any point Bloomers won. Very pleasantly surprised both guys managed to win, just a shame they both played at the same time.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Great reports, Shedman and Josh!

And thanks for the bit of info regarding the WCs there.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Great stuff from James and Richard.

Good luck in the maindraw.

Silver · County player

Well well! I was quite surprised to hear the BBC actually mention that both lads won (although given the fact they had two hours to fill... poor Fed...) but OHHHHHHH dear at the draw for them both. Safin may not be having a great year by ANY stretch but what an opener for James. Bloomers will have it tough against Gonzalez.

OHHHHHHHHH dear. Coulda been worse maybe. Could have drawn Lleyton (sorry Josh).

Yorkie · Lower Club Player

Its a great draw for all the Brits

all against top players so a really good chance to show what they are capable of!

I fancy Wardy against Marat............we'll see

XCW4EVA · County player

Safin really hates grass, hes said it so many times at wimbly. Even threatened to quit the grass season a couple of years ago so im happy with wardys draw. Hopefully Gonzo will be really tired after RG.

john · Top national player

Gonzo seemed to have returned to form at RG but I'm not sure he's all that brilliant on grass. Safin is just a total airhead these days imo.

danmcgold · Social player

Makes me wonder why some of these british guys dont go to more atp qualifiers when the standard is often poorer than this week

James · Satellite level

Because not many ATP qualifiers are on grass and it is that factor that has levelled the playing field and allowed a player ranked 500 in the world to beat one comfortably in the Top 200.

CBV · Junior player

because 4 british players aren't going to be given wc's in many atp qualifiers

but yeah, the fact that it is on grass makes things a good bit easier for brits, and the fact that there is only 5 points for qualifying means that challengers are a far better prospect for building on your ranking when you currently have a ranking of around 250-400 than trying to qualify and win a few rounds in an ATP.

even still, i'd love to see players like slabba getting a few wins over the grass court season and maybe having the rankings rise to do a few ATP qualifiers

johnnylad · Tennis legend

I don't get why Queens and Halle offer the same prize money and allow 4 qualifiers each into their main draw but in Halle you get 10 points and at Queens you get 5 points.

So there are more MD players at Queens, but it was a tougher qualifying draw for 1/2 the points?

johnnylad · Tennis legend

And to rub it in the clay junkies heading to Warsaw for a final week before grass can get 5 points for qualifying as well even thought there's much less prize money on offer in a smaller tournament.