Ward certainly looks like a future top 100 player. Goodall also perhaps, he'd need to add to his game but the serve and mentality are right which means that if he plays well then he's tough to beat.

It's interesting to note the perception of the draw for Boggo-Sirianni . Everyone on here is disgusted, while some Aussie fans called it a gift draw and predicted a straight sets win for Sirianni.... the only thing we can say for certain after today is that nobody thinks much of Boggo at the moment.

-- Edited by StevoTG at 22:35, 2008-06-09

mjd wrote:

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For goodness sake!
How many times have we seen on these boards complaints on how the press/media likes to 'slate' British players? Then take a look at recent posts here!
Pot calling kettle black comes to mind.
Today Alex was beaten by a better player on the day - so give him a break - it happens!

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I hear what you are saying...I suppose its just another loss on the back of quite a few this year...I like the guy and wish him well...defo not a Boggo-basher...but I do wonder at times about his mental toughness ?

mjd wrote:

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Centre court Tuesday

12.30 = Evans

next = Murray

next = Bloomers

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So happy to find out that this wasn't just MJD's wishlist for Centre today but the real OoP!  I was sure they'd put R2 matches for at least one of Rafa/Nole/Duck on there and that I'd miss seeing at least one of the Brits, though I do feel a bit sorry for those with Court 1 tickets who might have expected to see at least one of them.

I'd ask MJD if he was going, but I imagine if he is, he will already have left home!

Monday report

Apologies in advance for what follows being a bit of a random stream of consciousness report. I ought to write this down before today's play makes me forget half of it, but I need to do it quite fast because I still have quite a few things to get done before I leave today and I don't want to miss any play, so I won't have time to do much of an edit!

Getting there

I tend to try to book tickets for Monday and Tuesday at Queen's so that I can see any Brits they happen to put on Centre, then hope Monday doesn't turn out to be a nightmare Monday (the perils of running a small business!) - well, it did yesterday and I only managed to get along for one full match.  Still, at least it was the right one!

I didn't stay for Andy's doubles in order to get back, sort out another mini-crisis and make sure I'd be able to get along to see all the main matches today, knowing that they have always tended to put the top Brits on court on Tuesday even when they have had R1 byes. I was hoping to get Bloomers-Gonzo too, so Evans-Malisse is just a bonus.

Bethan, on the other hand, made up for me not making proper use of my ticket  by doing the full 10 hours I think, which when you add on the effects of the sun and the travelling is probably why she hasn't been on here yet!

Anyway, as I said, I picked right with the match I did see - Ward v Safin. Just made it for the start, but nearly didn't, having run from West Brompton station but just missed the mini-bus from the Seagrave Road car park - I thought about running behind it waving frantically, but knew it wouldn't have worked!

Bethan had kindly texted me score updates from the Goodall-Hewitt match, so I knew I was pushing it fine and when I saw an empty taxi coming towards me, it was too tempting, so I flagged it down and it got me to the venue in time for the match to start.

Funnily enough, as we neared the grounds, I saw Jeremy Bates hurrying away from the grounds down a side street - the driver recognised him too (impressive!) and said "That's Jeremy Bates," I said "Yes, I know, I wonder why he's going away from the grounds", to which the driver said "10 years ago, I'd have said it looks like he didn't last long in the first round again" LOL

Ward v Safin

Anyway, moving onto the serious stuff, I was very impressed with James. I'd thought that, apart from Boggo (oops  - I was swapping scores by text with the Count, though to be honest the lack of cheers coming from Court 1 gave the game away ), James had the best chance of a close match.

Safin's grass court muppet tendencies (indeed, he did spend quite a lot of time sprawled on the court during the match, looking quite unhappy about being there) make playing him at Queen's like playing an average top 100 player (still a huge ask for James, of course) rather than the last grand slam champion not to be called Fed, Rafa or Nole, and though the mad Russian didn't play nearly as badly as he did in his doubles with Boggo last year (more's the pity!) there's certainly more chance of pushing him close on grass than on any other surface. 

You can tell that James was brought up on clay courts by the way he plays the rallies, but it is encouraging that he is tall and has a good serve, making him look more than capable of developing into a player who can play the kind of varied game that tends to get results on grass these days.

1st set

From where I was sitting, the things that allowed James to take the 1st set were some confident serving and the fact that James was sending his shots really deep during the rallies. I agree with whoever it was who said on here that he wasn't really going for the corners, but he was sending his shots low over the net and close to the baseline with great accuracy and not making it easy for Safin at all.

He also seemed to be virtually nerveless right from the off (no doubt his experience in qualifying helped there), which was very impressive, and no doubt heped by the fact that even the odd dodgy shot seemed to come off at that stage. Talking of which, his drop shots varied from pretty good to Murray specials, and while not a great grass court tactic, they were working on Safin (who is a bit slow across a grass court) when they were reasonably decent ones.

One thing that did look a bit ominous in the 1st set was that while James's accuracy was excellent, it was very clear that Safin was capable of hitting the ball with a lot more power than him, and the power in his shots could well be the thing James most needs to work on if he is to make significant further progress. That's the kind of thing that always tend to be easier to pick up on if you are there, so I don't know if the difference in power would have come across the same on TV.

2nd set

Someone said on here that they thought things started to go worse for James when he started to go for it a bit too much. I thought the opposite happened. To me, once he had missed painting the baseline a few times (maybe that was the 'going for it too much' that the poster was referring to), he seemed to play more tentatively, sending over a lot more mid-court balls than he had in the 1st set, which made it much easier for the Russian to put pressure on him.

Unfortunately, after all the effort he put in to win the 1st set, Ward's level seemed to drop at the start of the 2nd, and that was all Safin needed to get back into the match. For nearly all of the 2nd set and the early part of the 3rd, he seemed to be well in control.

3rd set

At 0-30 in a game which would have sent him a double break down in the 3rd, James seemed to break out of the shackles and start playing well again, sending balls right to the baseline llike he had done at the start of the match, and you could see that Safin was getting a bit rattled.

Had James managed to win one of the three break points he had when he got to 0-40 on Safin's serve, who knows what might have happened - I think Safin was all ready to lose his head had James broken him there, but he served pretty well to save the break points. Although the game then went to a few deuces, James just couldn't break through and it was pretty inevitable that he wouldn't get another chance as good as that to get back on terms.

The crowd

I get the feeling that James is someone who benefits from getting really pumped up and  I think the crowd could have helped him a lot more had they got more into the match, but the Queen's Centre Court crowd is always a bit repressed, apart from the people who have been drinking since 11 am - and there seemed to be a high correlation between having had a lot to drink and shouting for Safin!

The crowd did get more animated after what looked to me (and apparently everyone around me), right on the baseline concerned, like a really bad call, which I was stunned to see Hawkeye confirm after James challenged it, and they also got a bit louder late in the 3rd set, but I think he could have done with more reaction to his better shots from early on.

Apparently James missed challenging a crucial call later on that the TV replay suggested would have gone his way - unfortunately, it always seems to be the case that those not used to having Hawkeye when they play tend not to make full use of it.

Anyway, all in all it's been a great three days for James and with luck this has given him a taste for the big-time and spurred him on to work even harder!

I've got a few pics, probably not that good, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow.

-- Edited by steven at 08:14, 2008-06-10

thanks for the report steven. sorry i didnt hang around after the match, wasnt in the mood i am sure u can guess.

as for alex i think the only +ive is that he now has no points to defend till end september so a bit of luck and a return to form may see him move up the rankings (ever the optomist me)

Oh dear, sorry to hear that -that must be really frustrating.

I'll be willing to Gonzo to be show all of his Muppet Show tendencies to give Richard a chance, though unfortunately he tends to play well on grass. I'm sure Richard will put up a good show though after his exploits in qualifying, I bet he's glad he had a day off yesterday after that FQR match!

I'll try to get some pics as well - I really need a better camera, but I'm in row I today, so I might do a bit better than yesterday when I was twice as far back.

-- Edited by steven at 09:09, 2008-06-10