Boys: Queen's Club Invitational - 2008.

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: Boys: Queen's Club Invitational - 2008.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Marcus lost 1-6 in the third. Shame.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Hope the match time he got here will help him on grass later on. Although I am not sure if he'll get it, he deserves the Wimbly qualies WC.

Salmon · Tennis legend

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 15:31, 2008-06-15

john · Top national player

They showed a clip of match point and the presentation on BBC during the men's final btw

steven · Tennis legend

From Linda at AM.com - this is a seriously weird coincidence, if true (or even if not true!)

I got on a shuttle bus and got a text from Steven to say that Marcus Willis had just lost the first set 7-5 [why I texted Linda that score is a long story that I won't bore you with, but I'm glad I did else none of this 'fun' would have ensued] and I should go straight to Court 1 to see the rest of the match.

Then a young mum with a teenage daughter and a young boy got on the bus. The daughter was saying, so was it 7-5? So I said yes, Marcus lost the first set 7-5, I've just had a text about it. She said, 'he's my brother'.

For the sister of a tennis junior she didn't know much about tennis. She said, is the adult final today? Who's playing? Her mum said, yes, it's Djokovic vs Nadal. She said, I've never heard of Djokovic. I've heard of Nadal, though, he's French isn't he? The mum said, no, he's from Majorca, and it would be a really good idea if you got to go out with him!!!!!!!! [whoever the mother is has a good sense of humour obviously!]

(At this point I was thinking that they can't really be Marcus' family, but the mum had a pic of players inc. Rafa playing table football on her camera, with her son under the table, so she'd obviously been in a player area.) I asked the boy if he wanted to be a tennis player as well, and he said no, he wanted to be a rugby player!

They asked what court Marcus was on and I said no. 1.

I get the 'is Nadal French' thing - i.e. little kid, main thing she remembers about Nadal is that everyone talks about him winning the French Open, but this leaves so many unanswered questions, such as why they weren't at the match in the first place, let alone anything else, though I guess there could be good reasons for being late too.

Anyway, goodness only knows if it really was his family (and I'm not sure I would post this here if we could be sure that they were), but quite a surreal experience for Linda nonetheless! confused

You'd think they'd do a double take at meeting someone who'd just been texted the score in their son's/brother's match that they weren't even at as well. biggrin

-- Edited by steven at 00:28, 2008-06-16

Salmon · Tennis legend

That is seriously weird...

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 00:29, 2008-06-16

polly · Junior player

Well I can tell you for a fact that yes it was Marcus's family because I'm his mum.Marcus's sister Chloe was with me,and no she doesn't know much about tennis but wanted to come along to support her brother(which she did very vocally!).We weren't at the match at the beginning as we went to church first then went up afterwards-unfortunately we were held up by an accident on the M4! Marcus's brother Joe is 6 and therefore isn't very good at keeping still or quiet so was armed with his Nintendo!
We did know which court he was on however,and had just received a text from Emma (aka Lilly) to tell us the latest.
Thanks for the 'young mum' bit,much appreciated!!
You'd be surprised who posts on here!!

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks Polly, that's brilliant

It's a small world, isn't it!

We should probably congratulate you for letting your other children work out for themselves what they are interested in instead of sacrificing their individuality to the tennis star in the family as some tennis parents allegedly do.

If I gather right from Linda's texts, your bus arrived at the lowest point in the 2nd set, so Chloe's cheers must have lifted Marcus quite a bit! So sorry he didn't manage to win the 3rd after his great comeback in the 2nd.

Good luck matchmaking Chloe with Rafa, btw

Salmon · Tennis legend

I had guessed that you're Marcus's mum, though. Thanks to his ITF profile.

Spectator · All-time great

Thank you Polly for the very gracious comment -- though I don't think there was any need to explain! The presumption should be that you had good reasons for what you were doing. Congratulations, too, on your son's fine performance. . . and on the fact that of the juniors who post on here he is the most consistently generous towards the other players. It speaks well of his upbringing!

polly · Junior player

Thank you!I was really proud of Marcus,he fought really well but it was not to be this time.He was entertaining to watch though,even if I do have no fingernails left! Chloe didn't manage to meet Rafa unfortunately (probably just as well as she didn't even know who he was)

Salmon · Tennis legend

How senseless of me to forget thanking you in all that excitement.

Thanks.

Could you tell us about what Marcus's plans after Wimbledon, please? Men's tournaments or still undecided?

polly · Junior player

Not sure as yet-it's up Marcus's coach and Marcus to decide.I just get to drive him to training and wash his socks!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Haha, okay.

Thanks in any case.

On an entirely different note, I am not sure what'll happen with this tournament now. Artois is gone (yippee!) and a new sponsor may not want to 'waste' (it's often a waste, given how little coverage it gets) money on this, much like the Luxilon Cup was scrapped this year after a takeover.
Personally I think that the LTA shouldn't spend money on it out of its own pocket. If they get a sponsor, fine, keep it as it helps some players. But if not, they should forget this and use the money for a Grade 2 played on Carpet, sometime between August and November. That'll be of far better use, obviously, since we have loads of players who aren't good on slow surfaces (like Pauffley, although he won't be there next year) but there's only clay in Europe for the greater part of the year.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 05:37, 2008-06-20