Daniel Evans

Gorja · Newbie

Daniel Evans

Yorkie · Lower Club Player

He's a solid player and he's certainly a very confident lad, has alot of self belief and he turned 18 in May so i think he's progressing very nicely!

Being involved in the Davis cup team at the age of 16 will defo have taught him alot about where he is and where he needs to be and in Mark Hilton he's got a top draw coach so i can see him making the top 200 by the time he's 20.

I think the nice thing about GBR at the moment is we have alot of solid youngsters in Coxy, Smethurst and Willis with George Morgan at 15 who's already beaten ranked players. The outlook is alot better now than it was a few years ago!

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Great stuff from Evo. Great to see him getting these results pretty young really.

Hopefully Coxy can follow in his steps and win a futures event before the years ends.

briteny · Intermediate Club Player

Yorkie wrote:

He's a solid player and he's certainly a very confident lad, has alot of self belief and he turned 18 in May so i think he's progressing very nicely!

Being involved in the Davis cup team at the age of 16 will defo have taught him alot about where he is and where he needs to be and in Mark Hilton he's got a top draw coach so i can see him making the top 200 by the time he's 20.

I think the nice thing about GBR at the moment is we have alot of solid youngsters in Coxy, Smethurst and Willis with George Morgan at 15 who's already beaten ranked players. The outlook is alot better now than it was a few years ago!

Very much feel the same. Ours young stars performed so much better internationally. I am waiting the next British world top 10 players rising up soon.

Bladetiger · Pro player

Yorkie wrote:

in Mark Hilton he's got a top draw coach

I dont believe he;s still working with Hilts' unless there's been a change in the last couple of months.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Very unlikely that he is. Chances are that he is with Magnus Tijdeman and Martin Bohm at the NTC (at this moment, no).

He was with Hilton when he was based in Nottingham.

I think...

Salmon · Tennis legend

Or else he's with Annacone at the NTC.

The coaches are all top class, so you can't blame the LTA there.

briteny · Intermediate Club Player

how the LTA could afford to pay that many famous coaches?? Who do you think is the best coach for men and who is the best coach for women right now in NTC or England confused

Salmon · Tennis legend

None of them have done anything remotely impressive barring Jens Gerlach with Amanda Elliott. I mean, that's how magical a star coach is supposed to be - Amanda was transformed from a 10K level player to a Tour prospect in just a few months.

I don't doubt that a lot of that is due to Amanda, but the successful risks that her coaches have shown show that they are pure geniuses.

It stops there, though.

While I don't doubt that a lot of work is being done on the technical foundations of players' games (which is definitely the most important part), none of the other big shots have managed to do the sort of thing you would expect from the former coaches of people like Sampras, Roddick or ToJo.

I don't have too much of a problem with Cox or Evans not playing enough men's tournaments, but I'd love to know the usefulness of spending megabucks and taking them around the world for Juniors - only to see them lose first round and get bored in a hotel room for three days. How about staying home and training like the Spaniards do?

-- Edited by Salmon at 10:20, 2008-08-18

-- Edited by Salmon at 10:25, 2008-08-18

Vandenburg · Futures level

Yeh great stuff 2 back to back futures and a massive 24 points
lets hope he can get amongst the top 400 by end of year.

Gorja · Newbie

I have to disagree with you Salmon. Do you honestly think there are no other top quality coaches in Britain apart from Jens Gerlach?? Wow. If you want other members of this forum to respect your opinion, you can't possibly express such a sweeping statement.

Re your opinion that the technical aspect is the most important part...ummm. Do you really think the reason we have so little support behind Andy Murray is because of the players' technique? I'm sorry but you're wrong. The reason why Boggo, Bloomfield and Goodall have not made the steps in to the top 100 is not because of technical faults. Try mental and physical. The only one who is maximising their potential is Jamie Baker.

Re why do the LTA pay substantial amounts to play the top junior events. Probably because they will be competing against some of the best players in the world in their age and below, they won't get a false impression of professional tennis which they would if they went straight in to futures events that are exceptionally weak (Wrexham and Cumberland - case in point). This way they achieve false rankings. Plus, by achieving top 10 in the world juniors gives more opportunities and sponsorship when they make the transition from junior to senior tennis. Not a bad experience playing the Grand Slam Junior Events hey...

XCW4EVA · County player

Gorja wrote:

I have to disagree with you Salmon. Do you honestly think there are no other top quality coaches in Britain apart from Jens Gerlach?? Wow. If you want other members of this forum to respect your opinion, you can't possibly express such a sweeping statement.

Re your opinion that the technical aspect is the most important part...ummm. Do you really think the reason we have so little support behind Andy Murray is because of the players' technique? I'm sorry but you're wrong. The reason why Boggo, Bloomfield and Goodall have not made the steps in to the top 100 is not because of technical faults. Try mental and physical. The only one who is maximising their potential is Jamie Baker.

Re why do the LTA pay substantial amounts to play the top junior events. Probably because they will be competing against some of the best players in the world in their age and below, they won't get a false impression of professional tennis which they would if they went straight in to futures events that are exceptionally weak (Wrexham and Cumberland - case in point). This way they achieve false rankings. Plus, by achieving top 10 in the world juniors gives more opportunities and sponsorship when they make the transition from junior to senior tennis. Not a bad experience playing the Grand Slam Junior Events hey...

yeah, ur right, when murray made it in the top 100 he was in peak physical condition, do u even remember his first wimbledon, US Open?

Salmon · Tennis legend

Gorja wrote:

I have to disagree with you Salmon. Do you honestly think there are no other top quality coaches in Britain apart from Jens Gerlach?? Wow. If you want other members of this forum to respect your opinion, you can't possibly express such a sweeping statement.

Where have I said that there's no top quality coach in Britain barring Gerlach? There are at least 20 of them, I'm sure.

I just said that no one has delivered barring Gerlach. Yet... And I don't see how anyone (including their employers) can deny that?

Gorja wrote:
Re why do the LTA pay substantial amounts to play the top junior events. Probably because they will be competing against some of the best players in the world in their age and below, they won't get a false impression of professional tennis which they would if they went straight in to futures events that are exceptionally weak (Wrexham and Cumberland - case in point). This way they achieve false rankings. Plus, by achieving top 10 in the world juniors gives more opportunities and sponsorship when they make the transition from junior to senior tennis. Not a bad experience playing the Grand Slam Junior Events hey...

Come again? confused

Isn't it a common knowledge that the opposite is true - people have a false impression of pro tennis by doing well at Juniors and thinking that they're better than others?

And I would definitely not call Cumberland exceptionally weak. One top 300 player and a cut off of around 1200 is all right for a 10K.

In any case, it would be a terrible mistake to compare USO to 10Ks. There's no one in the USO field capable of winning Wrexham right now barring Yang, Buchanan, Dimitrov, Janowicz and maybe two or three others. I'm leaving the Brit boys out of the equation just for objectivity...

Let me not go into how much many of the other direct entrants are going to struggle next year once they are out of the cocoon that Junior tennis is.

And let me definitely not go into how the fields at tournaments like Luxembourg or Charleroi compare with that of a 10K... bleh

But I agree with what you say about mental strength!

No offence intended by this post, of course. Just a discussion...

Welcome to the forum!

Salmon · Tennis legend

I mean, just look at Spain, which is unquestionably the leading tennis nation (for men) in the world. Their players show how meaningless the Junior tour is.

I checked through the records of all the Spaniards in the top 100 and the only one to have played regular Junior tour (not one off Slams) is -

Tommy Robredo

And those who didn't are -

Rafael Nadal
David Ferrer
Fernando Verdasco
Nicolas Almagro
Feliciano Lopez
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Marcel Granollers
Oscar Hernandez
Albert Montanes
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Ivan Navarro

With the ITF not storing all results from the time when Moya was a youngster, so we can't decide.

The Spaniards don't give a damn about sponsorships or fame. They make you play European 14 and under tennis and then make you work as hard as possible for around two years, after which you are thrown to the big stage of men's tennis. It's working fine, so I don't see how you lose by not playing enough Junior tennis?

-- Edited by Salmon at 18:56, 2008-08-18

Gorja · Newbie

Who said anything about Andy Murray?? Tactically one of the best there is... Plus do you not think he has addressed that issue over the last few years? Good one