Boggo's Wimbledon record

gazzpash · Club Coach

Boggo's Wimbledon record

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I think the point has come now where Boggo shouldn't get anymore WC's for the maindraw. hes now has 7 and has never won. Julie Pullin got pumelled when she had 9 but never won. She at leats got close and had match points one year.

If Boggo can;t win MD matches he should be in qualifying.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

yes thats what i have been saying too Gazz,
i remember the Sarg's match was a bit disapointing as he was just totally over powered, Gucci played a blinder last year and barely put a serve wrong.
imo its only the kim match when alex didnt compete as he should.

XCW4EVA · County player

Still tho, its 7 losses out of 7. I know hes hard some tough draws and such but it has come to a point where i feel Boggo would compete better if he played some qualies rounds first. He breezed Nottingham qualies tbh and i feel he could breeze wimbly qualies if he played them. Also gives him pratice on grass courts.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

a lot comes down to luck, in all his years he has never had an easy a draw as both eaton and baker got today (i think).

i agree i think qualies could hlep him, and he should qualify unles she gets an awful draw. but if the lta/aetlc offer him a md wc i doubt he can afford to turn them down.

Bladetiger · Pro player

XCW4EVA wrote:

Still tho, its 7 losses out of 7. I know hes hard some tough draws and such but it has come to a point where i feel Boggo would compete better if he played some qualies rounds first. He breezed Nottingham qualies tbh and i feel he could breeze wimbly qualies if he played them. Also gives him pratice on grass courts.

If he could breeze wimby qualies he would breeze into US Open and Aussie and so on, qualifying is damn tough unless you get lucky with the draw.

Still I think maybe it would be better for his self esteem if he did try and make it through qualifying, I do fear that yesterday might prove to be the line in the sand for Boggo as far as the LTA are concerned but hope not because realistically they havent got much else to go with if they do axe him.

Bladetiger · Pro player

gazzpash wrote:

Obviously its come to the forefront with his latest loss, but I thought I'd take a look at his record and really it isnt that bad and he's had some stinkers of draws:

Im afraid I think that's nonsense GP, he's had 7 Wc's and never won a match, he wouldnt be still getting them if he was French American or Australian would he?

He's not been thrashed because his game is good enough to prevent that, but he doesnt win or even come really close because at at the top level when it comes to the big points you have to seize the initiative and he doesnt seem able to do that.

The truth is in seven wild cards he's never won two sets or ever really looked like he is now the likely winner.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

true but it not boggo's fault that no one else good enough is coming through is it.

lets face it apart from murray i'd be very suprised if any other current brit would have won yesterday.

its not like alex got a WC that should have gone to another deserving brit as there were still 6 left and they didnt get them sop the lta obviusly felt they didnt deserve them.

Robxon · Lower Club Player

Of course it is not just the 7 wild cards into Wimbledon, Alex has also had 5 into Queen's and 3 into Nottingham.

The earnings from those three tournaments account for over one third of Alex's career earnings. No wonder Alex is grateful for the support from the LTA.

Bladetiger · Pro player

Agree totally CZ, it might well be if we had more coming through, then there would be less pressure on Alex, but he really needs to start believing in himself more.

Maybe it will be the point when he feels that everyone else has given up on him that he will actually be able to do that I dont know.

The fact is that Tennis is a brutal sport and one part of that is that it's much more important how you play the big points than how you may most of the points. At ATP level there is no place for frailty and Boggo yesterday still looked pretty frail on the big points.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

Alex does need to sort it out on the big points as he does often get too tight and his backhand net of a 2nd serve is becoming infamous.
i am not sure wimby is the easist of places to work on it tho as the pressure is huge, he can win a match at wimby, but i think he will be much more likley to do it if he can get a DE and be playing on the atp tour more regauarly sothe pressure becomes more norma in a way.

But if he works as hard and plays as well as he did yesterday across the summer challengers i am sure he will pick up some wins and get his rnaking moving back in the right direction

his fittness seemed better too, he didnt seme to flag out there and looked ok had it gong to a 5th

-- Edited by Count Zero at 15:39, 2008-06-24

Bladetiger · Pro player

Count Zero wrote:

Alex does need to sort it out on the big points as he does often get too tight and his backhand net of a 2nd serve is becoming infamous.
i am not sure wimby is the easist of places to work on it tho as the pressure is huge,

I'm afraid it's the only places to work on it! It's very difficult to replicate big match atmosphere in a deserted tennis hall, it can be talked about and so on, but really you either thrive under pressure see Andy Murray or pretty much anyone who has ever got in the top 20, or you shrink under it, see many others who never quite made it.

He should keep trying to play high profile events and qualifying for ATP's anjd he'll hopefully learn to live with his nerves a bit more, but think it's going to be very difficult for him to do it.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

thats what i mean the more he plays at the higher level the more he will get used to it. Alex seems to get tight even in close challenger matches at times, if he can start to cut that out then perhaps he can work on it more at Wimby/DC etc.
i think he is starting to regain his confidence, and perhaps, perhaps, a good run over the summer can see him take some good from into the usoq and maybe quailfy witha nice draw.

also as i said in the ladies thread in repsone to John's post i think Anne definately played better due to the knowledge she deserved to be there, i think if alex can gte himslef there it will have a huge effect on him.

Bladetiger · Pro player

Have only just read this post CZ and I dont disagree with what you say. However nerves are a fact of life in tennis, everyone gets them , it's just a case of how you deal with them, Alex is going backwards if we're honest, it wasnt long ago that he looked on the brink of top 100, now he's miles away.

It's no revelation when he proves he can compete with top 100 players, we all know that, but generally he can't actually beat them, and I cant see where that killer instinct's going to come from.

As we both said, all we can do is hope that one day it all clicks into place, but it's such a fiercely competitive world that once you get a reputation as a choker it's very hard to shake off because everyone who plays you expects to beat you.

My advice would be to play some tourneys he can win such as Manchester, get some confidence up and get used to going deep, to playing some semi's and finals then move on from there straight to ATP qualies, and see if he can get used to living at that level, though as Ive said before I remain unconvinced that anything will change to be honest.