Week 30 - Challenger $50K - Lexington, USA

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: Week 30 - Challenger $50K - Lexington, USA

Vandenburg · Futures level

im not sure about jamie, hes a real battle axe and gives 200% effort for every point but that can only take you so far before actual ability become part of it i mean the top 150 rankings, I lacks one big weapon i think.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Weapons can be developed with time - confidence and work ethic are the main things.

mjd · Challenger qualifying

5-7 2-6

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Pity - but with KFP's recent raving about Somdev, we shouldn't be surprised.

Salmon · Tennis legend

The terrible thing is that now Jamie won't make the USO cut unless he gets extremely lucky.

But it's okay - the very fact that he is playing now is unbelievable and Somdev is about as tough as a non seed (he's probably better than most of the seeds, too) at a Challenger can get.

Anyone else think that it was weird that he didn't play last week? Was it either -

1) He is still not 100% fit and has been advised to play with breaks.
2) Or he wanted to do Indy qualies but somehow couldn't reach in time.
3) Or he just wanted rest?

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Shame to see him lose when he was in such a good position... to go from 5-2* up in the first to *1-5 down in the 2nd doesn't sound too good, and it just went badly wrong for a while when he was in a position to win the match.

Didn't expect him to win, but when he was in a promising position, the horrible collapse isn't very pretty to look at.

Guess he wanted a rest last week, possibly due to not being 100% over the illness

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Kung Fu Panda wrote:

Anyone else think that it was weird that he didn't play last week? Was it either -

1) He is still not 100% fit and has been advised to play with breaks.
2) Or he wanted to do Indy qualies but somehow couldn't reach in time.
3) Or he just wanted rest?

If you look at Jamie's playing record, he often has random weeks off as training blocks, it's just the way that he's always chosen to set his schedule so I don't see anything different about last week. Of course it could be that he's still not 100%, but either way I wasn't overly surprised he took a week out.

A real shame he got Somdev, who I now really want to win the whole thing so we can take some feeling of vindication for Jamie's loss. I'll bet he's kicking himself for losing that first set, though maybe Somdev just hit the gas.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Yeah, taking a week off is quite normal for players in the midddle of big Tours. But Jamie had to get something like 50 odd points in three weeks to guarantee himself a place in the USO qualies, which makes it weird.

Jamie now needs some quick points to get his ranking back up to the 200-250 mark. There are tournaments in the US every single week, barring one, till the week before the Paris Masters. I hope he will take most of that opportunity as his game is more suited to courts slower than what the European indoor hard tourneys have.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Maybe Jamie can salvage something from the week by going on a bit of a run in the doubles with Brendan Evans. That said, they face Alberto Francis & Kevin Kim in the first round...

* Interestingly, Devvarman & his partner, Rylan Rizzi, lost 2-6 6-3 [6-10] yesterday to Victor Estrella & Santiago González (DOM/MEX).

Salmon · Tennis legend

Saw that.

He didn't have his regular partner (Treat Huey) or else they could have won a round or two here. If Treat and Somdev continue playing together then they will be top 100 in doubles, but they may have to break up as Treat's current singles game is miles behind Somdev's.

Like Baker, the seventh seeded Brendan Evans was also a victim of a college player - Bryan Koniecko.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Jamie and Brendan will play in the second match of the night session, which begins at 7 p.m. local time. Malisse and Jenkins play before them.

Salmon · Tennis legend

This O'Neal has a lot of pluck for sure. Today he got bagelled in the first set against Chvojka but won the next two by 3 and 3.

I hope that these two weeks aren't one offs and he'll move to Challenger level soon.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Jamie and Brendan won their doubles match with a walkover.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Jamie/Brendan lose next round - strange scoreline
6-1 0-6 (6-10)