Davis Cup Day 2 - Doubles

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Davis Cup Day 2 - Doubles

Count Zero · Tennis legend

well at no point did i see andy at all during alex's match.
he may have watched from somewhere else, but i didnt see him in the gb section (and i had a good view of it)

annacone was right at the front and at somne points gave input to jl. he also took a while to come out for andy's match so i guess he was spending some time with alex?

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Madeline wrote:

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?

Yeah, I'd guess that midway through the Boggo match Murray would go to warm-up, taking at least 1 or 2 others with him as hitting partners etc.

If Murray had played first, then they'd have left to help Boggo get ready, so it's just the standard way that it happens in a Davis Cup tie.

If it had been only a few empty seats then I certainly would have put it down to that, and of course I don't expect Andy and his coach/trainer/etc to stay to the bitter end but I'm talking whole rows of empty seats for most of the match.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

I said Murray was rubbish because I'm english and naturally hate Scotland and it's people.

Oh no I didn't! I said it because Murray was rubbish. I have a lot of Scottish blood in me. Don't debase the arguments.

Jamie Murray really isn't very good. Full stop. Check out the tourmanents in which his main ranking points come, think back to the performances as you will see that the vast majority of his partners have absolutely carried him. Who else could spend nigh on a year with Mirnyi on a doubles court and remain stuck at 30-odd in the doubles rankings?

angry1 · Lower Club Player

JL:

If you had said Jamie's play was awful, few,if any would have argued with you. It was the now repeated claim that he's been carried by 5 players (ignoring 3 others he's had a decent result with) that sounds ridiculous.

As to Mirnyi, his singles ranking and Butorac's doubles ranking's progressions suggest Jamie was very unfortunate to link up with a great player just as his game was going.

Why do you think Mirnyi and Huber are teaming up with a useless foreigner?

Stupidity or masochism?

Salmon · Tennis legend

Like it or not, the doubles tour is a total joke right now because most top players refuse to take part. Tournament fields are composed mostly of over the hill players and people signing up for warm up / some extra money. It doesn't require *that* much talent to be top 50 in doubles if you keep trying, you know. Players ranked around 200 in singles would often make better doubles players than most doubles specialists ranked around 50.

Is it a major shock that in the the last two Olympics (which is the only event where top guys play doubles), the medal winners include Federer, Wawrinka, Massu, Gonzalez, Schuettler, Ancic and Ljubicic and not many of the "top" doubles players? I think not...

A team with a former doubles Slam winner and a top player like Melzer is ten times as good as one with Jamie and someone who has never been top 70. Why blame any of them for losing it like they did?

It's all John Lloyd's fault for selecting these two and leaving out Goodall. Goodall would probably be a better doubles player than Hutchins if he concentrated on doubles. Plus he would have had a better chance than Boggo at beating Peya...

-- Edited by Salmon at 03:31, 2008-09-22

john · Top national player

Correct as usual Salmon, not to mention that Josh has a backbone whereas Boggo is made of jelly

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

The only thing I'd say about that is Josh isn't exactly the most reliable person either, having never won a match at ATP level, so I wouldn't have expected him to beat Peya either, and has lost a few matches recently to players that aren't anywhere near as good as Peya is.

Why the tie was on grass, when Knowle is a former Wimbledon finalist, Melzer is very confortable on the grass, Peya serve/volleys, and even Fischer looked good on grass is another question that makes no sense.

john · Top national player

To be honest I wouldn't be confident of Boggo beating anyone in the final rubber of a Davis Cup tie. Some people on here would blindly jump to his defence if he lost to that bloke Rob Dee beat in a deciding rubber, and make all sorts of excuses for him.

Quite simply, the guy doesn't have the mental makeup to be playing Davis Cup and I seriously doubt he ever will. I also seriously doubt he will ever have the mental fortitude to play and win big matches on the main tour on a regular basis. Having said that, he tried his best and thank you for that Alex, but I don't think he should be picked again