Well, Alex can hardly be blamed for the Gilbert thing going wrong. It's not that he pointed a gun at some LTA honcho's head and asked for Gilbert. You take what you're given in life...

And it's not like Gilbert is some God who can turn anyone into a top player. Of course only an idiot will doubt his credentials, but this is nowhere close to the sort of experience he is used to - that is, tweaking a star into a Slam contender. He probably has as much experience as you and me when it comes to making a Tour player out of nothing, so it was hardly a fool proof move.

A huge thanks to both the LTA and Gilbert for this, though. They both worked with Boggo's intentions in their mind and hopefully it'll pay off in the future.






-- Edited by Greenleaf at 19:29, 2008-06-23

Bogdanovic played very well and should have won the set, but just couldn't consolidate the minibreaks in either of the tiebreaks, and should have taken 1 of the set points in the 4th where he hit 2 poor returns.

Didn't help that Bolelli hit a massive serve or a massive forehand everytime it was at 30-30 or Deuce on his serve, which meant that although Boggo got into Bolelli's serve, he never got the chances to break.

Excellent effort from him for the majority of the match though until he went *4-3 up in the 4th set TB where he suddenly forgot what tennis was, and he looked the better of the 2 players for the whole time - definately didn't look outclassed and there clearly wasn't a 200 place difference between them in the rankings.

Doubt Eaton or Baker will produce a performance that was as impressive as that, and given that they have much easier opponents they really need to win now to look better than Boggo (and they wouldn't have won that match)

The comments from Overend are very interesting, and although he talks some rubbish at times, does know his stuff with things like this. The funding being withdrawn seems strange for the British number 2, and we all knew that the Gilbert relationship was coming to an end.

As for not getting another WC? If he's still number 2 next year and ranked 130ish, will the LTA not recommend him even if he's by far the best player? And if they have this much of a problem with him, we can assume he won't be in the Davis Cup squad.... even though we know he will be, and should play ahead of Baker who won't beat Melzer on Day 1, when Boggo could do)

Absolutely agree. I watched him at Nottingham as well last week and he played well, so he can put it together at times. It just seems to go wrong at the wrong time on the big stages which is a pity but hopefully he can have a better second half of the season and climb back into the top 150 where he should be at the very least.

Shhh wrote:

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ForeverDelayed wrote:

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definately didn't look outclassed and there clearly wasn't a 200 place difference between them in the rankings.

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[...] Maybe one day it'll click into place for him, maybe a "head coach" can dig it out of him as opposed to a tennis coach?

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Methinks that's it in a nutshell, Shhh, but, given his age (& I'm as keen to see him succeed as any Brit tennis fan on this board), how much longer can we afford to wait?

Looking forward to tomorrow, Chris Eaton faces Boris Pashanski in the third match on Court 3 tomorrow, while Jamie B takes on Stefano Galvani in the fourth match on Court 11, where we know from today that the Beeb can provide coverage...!

With a bit of luck, I may actually get to see some live action when I get home from work!

-- Edited by Stircrazy at 22:10, 2008-06-23

I was on court 11 today, the 2 Brit matches lasted nearly 6 hours in total....a complete rollercoaster ride

I don't want to be harsh as I thought that he played a fantastic match but it illustrated exactly why Boggo will probably never make the top 50. As we all know it's not a talent issue, that was on display for all to see: the blurring wrist speed enabling him to work the ball into gaps no matter how hard it had been hit, the angles he could find from the back which Bolelli could not match, the variety on serve, touch at the net etc....

However on a surface like grass against a good opponent playing well, top 50 players make it count on the big points, they don't let the tension get the better of them.......That's the reason why Bolelli is in round 2 instead of Bogdanovic.....and its frustrating as that match should have gone to 5 sets and the way Alex was playing he may well have won it from there.

From midway through set 2 to the end of the match virtually every Bolelli service game had vital, potentially match-turning points in it.....either 0-30, 15-30, 30-30 or 30-40.....and every time he came up with the goods - either a huge serve or a huge forehand.....on those points he just did not miss. It's why he's top 50 and has made ATP finals. Boggo saved several bps himself but at the most important time in the match, he choked, there's no other way round it

15-40 on the Bolelli serve at 6-5 in the 4th.....2 second serves, couldnt really get a better chance....he had to at least make the Italian come up with big stuff to save both.....instead he nets the return on the 1st and on the 2nd he's indecisive on a mid-court forehand and Bolelli's back into it.

similar stuff happened in the resulting tiebreak.....Boggo leading 4-3 with the m/b......Bolelli hit a great shot to make it 4-4 ok too good but the next 3 pts were criminal.....end of a long match, he had to make Bolelli do something to close it out but Boggo gets tight - sends a forehand long and then doesn't find the court with two 2nd serve returns....match over. If the scores had been reversed I'm pretty certain Bolelli would have taken it into a 5th

The frustration comes partly from the quality of Boggo's performance.....Bolelli is far, far from the grass court mug some assumed him to be when the draw was released.....he served huge - 18 aces but 4 times as many unreturnables, 2nd serve gets phenomenal kick off a grass court, often getting up above Alex's head........the forehand is just as massive and he can volley too

However Alex's shotmaking from the back was superb, exposing Bolelli's flaws to the full - when pushed wide on the backhand and it was a good tactical serving display exposing the Italian's returning limitations. The only time it deserted him was for that sole poor service game which cost him set 3

it would be a very strange move to cut off alex totally but not unheard of and perhaps i think once again they may use him in a face saving move to prove how tough they are.

yes he has lost 7 times at wimbldeon and the press etc will gobble that up (does any one else getthe impression the bbc live ttext reporters pefer to report when the brits are losing?), but surely the powers that be will look beyond that and at the matches. he lost today but played well against a top 50 player who is on the way up, ok one whom may not be a great grass court player, but certainly didnt look at all sea out there. He lost to monster serve gucci last year, but again played well, and surely they cant blame him for losing to federer and nadal and also when he was 17 losing to a seeded escude?

if someone said at the time, hey these will stack up against you, best be carefull, maybe he would have not taken them so young?

i would venture that his only really poor loss at wimby over the years was the one to kevin kim.

today, he fought till the end, he didnt do a 'typical' boggo brain feeeze did he? ok he fluffed a few (big) points, but he didnt totally capitulate out there. isnt that at least what we wanted to see from him?
despite the loss i hope we are starting to see a turn round from alex this year, see i can still take the +ives, he fought back hard agsint cilic, he fought hard today in what was a very lonh match by grass court standards i think, he didnt really freeze on the big stage as he has so often in the past in a match he wasnt a massive underdog for.

i doubt alex is too down on himself,i bet he was more pissed off after the loss to Siranni than here, i am not saying he is jumping for joy, but perhaps he can see that there is still a hope for him.


btw has anyone found a full transcript of his press conferecne

hmm sorry for the uber long post.