Davis Cup Day 2 - Doubles

murrayfan99 · Lower Club Player

RE: Davis Cup Day 2 - Doubles

angry1 · Lower Club Player

murrayfan99 I think Madeline's attitude is(thankfully) more representive of the majority, and tbh my comments were a bit premature as it was only really at the start that Bradnam? was ignoring Hutchin's errors while seeming to rub Jamie's in, he calmed down later on.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Very disappointing effort from the Brits there, as you shouldn't be being broken that many times on a grass court in doubles, even though the Austrian pair played well, and even with Andy playing, we wouldn't have won.

Hutchins played a solid match, but I don't think he's ever going to be a top 20 doubles player, but Jamie had a terrible match, missing far too many volleys and returning horribly, and was the weaker link in the team.

He has been overhyped a bit and Jankovic did carry him to the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title - that can't be argued, but is still a solid player, but unless he learns to return, hit a forehand, and make more volleys, he won't get much higher than he is.

And Ross/Jamie cannot be the Davis Cup doubles team, regardless of any success they have, as they simply aren't both worth a place in the squad - they aren't even a 50/50 chance of a point in doubles, and as neither can play singles, they don't have any value in that - you have to choose one of them and play them either with Andy, Boggo, or the 3rd singles player, probably Goodall.

Murray should beat Melzer tomorrow to take it into a 5th rubber, which hopefully Boggo can take

scottie1 · Futures level

I am Scottish but I thought Jamie was poor today Hutchins also, apart from the serve when he kept it in court. The Austrians beat a very average British pairing. Frankly I dont rate Hutchins he seemed very limited. Seen Jamie when younger In Edinburgh. He has come on but lets face it he is not a world beater. Mixed Doubles depends on the strength of the female partner Huber and Jankovic both first class doubles players. Jamie won Davis Cup doubles with Henman and Rusedeski says a lot for his partners

murrayfan99 · Lower Club Player

I agree - I noticed it earlier in the match and didnt notice it later on - perhaps Pat Cash's neutrality helped a bit there (dangerous to say that since he doesnt seem popular on this forum!).

I think Jamie was below par today - he made too many errors at the net - even allowing for the fact that he tends to go for a lot.

As others have said the Austrian pair would have had to underperform for the Brits to have had a real chance.

Drew · Sep 20, 2008

They both played badly.

Jamie netted 21 forehands to Hutchins 11.

Ross was broken once more than Jamie but Ross had many more first service winners than Jamie.

I asked Julian in the PC if the were surprised how easy the win was. Yes was the answer and were really happy how they returned but still thought it would last longer than 93 mins.

angry1 · Lower Club Player

He has been overhyped a bit and Jankovic did carry him to the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title - that can't be argued

I think I'll try if you don't mind.

Firstly Jmie had some ropey games, but his poaching on Jelena's serve, particularly her weak 2nd one in the final was a decent part of their success.

Secondly her results on the rare occasions she plays doubles aren't great particularly in 2007.

And lastly he IMO carried her in earlier matches.

Drew · Sep 20, 2008

Jurgen Melzer told the press pack that the grass court today was perfect for them. They would have picked that court today to play on if they had been offered it.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

angry1 wrote:

He has been overhyped a bit and Jankovic did carry him to the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title - that can't be argued

I think I'll try if you don't mind.

Firstly Jmie had some ropey games, but his poaching on Jelena's serve, particularly her weak 2nd one in the final was a decent part of their success.

Secondly her results on the rare occasions she plays doubles aren't great particularly in 2007.

And lastly he IMO carried her in earlier matches.

In the final and the semi final, Jankovic was by far the best player on the court and has probably never played as well as that, even in singles.

Yeah, Murray probably carried her through their first couple of matches (1 if which was against Bloomers/Borwell, and not to be disrespectful to them, but Jamie shouldn't lose that match with any partner), but by the latter stages, it was Jankovic was dominating matches.

And her doubles results since are meaningless, as she probably doesn't care a lot about WTA doubles and just uses it as a practice session, but as she had lost early in the singles and once they were in the Quarter Finals or something like that, suddenly realised she could win a Grand Slam title and played as well as she could, which doesn't happen in the minor events.

murrayfan99 · Lower Club Player

Drew says
Ross played okay but also
They both played badlyI'm confused!

murrayfan99 · Lower Club Player

Re FD's spin on Jamie's 2007 mixed - I was at the QF vs Matkowski/Black.

JJ was superb (esp from the back of the court). Jamie's net play was crucial to the win. It would be puerile to say one carrried the other.

-- Edited by murrayfan99 at 16:56, 2008-09-20

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Well I've just watched the match (recorded it as was out) and I thought Jamie looked the worst player out there by quite some margin. However, Hutchins wasn't at his best either. In all quite disappointing from them both.

However, regardless of what Andy's injury status is, putting Hutchins in the doubles and therefore opening up more of a possibility of a live 5th rubber shows a confidence in Bogdanavic that I find refreshing! I hope that he manages to pull it off tomorrow and silence his critics, though I fear that might not be the case and I dread to think what the press will make of a loss. Have to say I was really unimpressed with the British team area yesterday. It was overflowing with people during the Murray match, giving standing ovations for practically every point (ok that's an exaggeration) and was almost completely empty during the Boggo match. That the crowd was thinner in general I can understand, but surely it's not that much to ask that the team and entourage make the effort to support the whole team and not just Andy? Or was that whole section his close family and coaching team? Rant over. :)

Drew · Sep 20, 2008

murrayfan99 wrote:

Drew says
Ross played okay but also
They both played badlyI'm confused!

To correct....they both played badly....but Jamie's poor performance was more key. The UFE count was twice as bad for Jamie as it was for Ross.

helki · Futures qualifying

Austria had a top-class doubles player and a not-to-be-sniffed-at singles player on their team. We had a reasonable doubles player and one ranked around 86. The Austrians looked confident and proved that class will out. I only hope that Andy and Alex can come up with the goods tomorrow.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

imoen wrote:

Have to say I was really unimpressed with the British team area yesterday. It was overflowing with people during the Murray match, giving standing ovations for practically every point (ok that's an exaggeration) and was almost completely empty during the Boggo match. That the crowd was thinner in general I can understand, but surely it's not that much to ask that the team and entourage make the effort to support the whole team and not just Andy? Or was that whole section his close family and coaching team? Rant over. :)

Isn't that fairly normal, Bethan? The second player is warming up while the first player is on, and at least some of the team would be there to practice with him. By the second match everybody is free.

Mind you I didn't notice the empty spaces myself, maybe there were far more than would be accounted for by the above?