I have little doubt that Jamie B would have been picked as the no. 2 singles player had he been fully fit.

Drew wrote:

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Andy Murray started his post-tie press conference as Alex Bogdanovic was towelling down in the locker room after his defeat against Peya. Murray has now been quoted in every form of press saying that Alex seemed to capitulate against the Austrian and how Andy likes to see people being pumped up court.

Fast-forward 30 minutes and read what Bogdanovic had to say. I have not seen anything on the BBC or anywhere else on what Alex had to say after the match. That is a disgrace.

Alex was asked how he felt he played...

A - "I just tried to stay calm all the way through the match. Its not me to get all pumped....that just drains me. I just played every point as it came Im not the same as Andy."

Q - Did you get mentally tired today ?

A - "No I did not feel mentally tired at any time, sure he was getting on top but that was down to my injury".

Q - Do you think he (Peya) was the better player ?

A - "No not really I started off really well and as things went on my Hamstring really tightend up and I really could not move that well and he knew that and kept trying to bring me into the net"

So let me ask you this. If you do not think Alex was lying then what he has to say had merit to be at least printed. Also Andy would not have made the comments he did if he had sat in that PC and listend to Alex.

I watched every single blow of this match and noted every single backhand, forehand, net rush, ace and double fault. Even when Alex was down in the 4th his game plan was still to go for winners and he still painted the sidelines at times. His despairing lunge at the net took me totally by surprise...he never got there but he threw himself down because he thought he had a chance.

People are free to express whatever they feel but this weekend my respect for Bogdanovic has increased greatly. Yes he is a slight of a tennis player but his timing on shots is impeccable at times. Agreed his fitness still needs work. But dont tell me he is a choker. You cannot win as many matches as he has at his level and be called a choker. He does get bullied at the higher level and perhaps he will never have the build to compete. Alex is a tryer and is a highly skilled tennis player and he should be proud to be the British Number 2 and to have played for his country with determination, guts and skill.

Drew Brown - A View from courtside

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This is good stuff - Boggo actually standing up for himself in a press conference for once! (or has he done that before but it never gets reported, I wonder?)

"I just tried to stay calm all the way through the match. Its not me to get all pumped....that just drains me. I just played every point as it came Im not the same as Andy."

... is stating the obvious, but it needed to be said. Of course, maybe if his personality was more like Andy's, he might have more chance of feeding off the crowd support and raising his game in this kind of situation, but he can't just change his whole personality.

His analysis of how Peya played to his injury problem is spot on as well, I think.
 
You've also reminded me how good Alex's groundstrokes were, he hardly made any blatant unforced errors from the back of the court. The less said about him playing mid-court balls, the better, of course.



-- Edited by steven at 22:50, 2008-09-22

I have been reading the online Press about the tie - you are right, not one of them mentions the hamstring injury. The only place I have read about it is here. Yet it was mentioned in the Press conference??

Journalists. I despise them. They twist facts, omit ones that don't suit their article, and sometimes I am convinced they invent things as well.

Dear All,
It would be remiss of me not to answer some of the charges levelled against myself and fellow members of the press in this thread. Madeline, you are entitled to your opinion of journalists but you tar an awful lot of good people with a very thick brush. 'Despise' is a very emotive word. The vast majority (and I mean vast) of journalists are thoroughly professional, straight and do an exceedingly good job (it cannot be any other way in this country with the strict nature of our libel laws). In my case, I try to report fairly, based on what I see, what I hear, what I learn and what knowledge I have accumulated across many years covering this sport.
It is true that Alex mentioned his hamstring injury in his press conference and that I did not mention it and neither did my colleagues. You could regard that as an oversight meant to darken his name or some media conspiracy but I can honestly say that I don't talk to other people about what I am writing and neither do they tell me what they are saying. I have no explanation as to why no one considered it apposite enough to report it, except that a lot of other things that may or may not have been more pertinent in our opinion needed to be said.
I do not think that any Monday morning reports made mention of Andy's muscle injury that caused him to miss the doubles (the captain's decision, it was stated) and yet which did not seem to impede him against Melzer. Why was that overlooked? Your guess is as good as mine but, as I said, other things were deemed more relevant.
My job is to report, comment and make any judgments that I consider important to the whole story. I was critical of many elements of the tie as you have no doubt seen (if you know who I am, that is!!) My intention always is to write pieces that are factually correct and give opinions honestly held. You cannot ask for anything more than that.
OEM

The 'British Team' is a term that should be used very loosely, Just look at reports from the last two DCs and you will see what I mean - What is the 'team' captain doing about it? - Suggesting sending Andy on an exotic holiday to entice him to take part in the next DC, that doesn't sound like team building to me, shouldn't he be saying "send the team on an exotic holiday"?
If Andy needs enticing to take part then surely it is better off without him perhaps then there will be some true team spirit - win or lose!

i saw about the abductor problem on my mobile on sky sports news.

I wholeheartedly agree with Drew and Steven in their lengthy pieces on the previous page; this loss wasn't Alex's fault, he didn't give up without a fight, it's more that he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve the way many do. I thought he played extremely well, gave away almost nothing in the way of unforced errors or bad shot-selection, and was poorer than Peya in just two areas - volleying and movement around the court, especially speed off the mark - and the hamstring injury totally explains the 'speed off the mark' problem. Alex's play from the baseline, I thought, was excellent.
What were the negatives in all this?
Well, firstly, the decision to play on grass: all three of the Austrians were clearly very comfortable on it, and all three were clearly better volleyers than any of the Brits, other than Jamie Murray - and he played so poorly that his volleying on the day seemed no better than the other Brits, anyway. Andy volleys only when necessary, and when he's clearly going to win the point with it - he'd certainly have been as least as comfortable on a fast hard court. Alex is a reasonable volleyer, but his volleys lack the crispness to produce regular winners. It was the Austrians who looked like Brits of yore, with their eagerness to get to the net and dominate there.
What about team selection? Well, I really don't feel there was any sensible alternative. If you watch Andy's Sunday match again, you'll notice that he, on several occasions, grabs at his groin after a tough point - only a niggle, certainly, but a hard doubles match on the Saturday might well have lost us the top-dogs match on the Sunday. Jamie is so much our best doubles player that he simply has to play - even with his poor display on Saturday, he was still a class above Ross, who is to be commended on how well he's done given his (relatively) limited ability. Even so, Ross is still clearly our number two doubles exponent at the moment: Josh looks to have the potential, but until he plays regularly at a high level, he cannot be considered a viable alternative. As for the second singles spot, in the absence of a fully-fit and match-hardened Jamie Baker, there really was no choice but Alex, given that we wanted to win this tie rather than prepare for the future. A fully-fit Alex would probably have beaten Peya - even a half-fit one gave him a good tussle for three sets; no other Brit, even fully fit, could have lived with either Austrian in the form they showed. Josh simply doesn't play at that level; his points come from regular solid performances against players below his own present level of 200 or so. It's not that he's erratic and shows flashes of brilliance - he doesn't occasionally beat class players in the way that Alex does (all too rarely, I agree, but the Count could point out the top guys Alex has beaten on his day, while no-one has that kind of list for Josh). It might be suggested that Josh might, at least, show more fight, though I've not seen that on the occasions I've watched him.
The third major point, for me, was team spirit. Whenever the cameras focused on the Austrian squad, they were all totally intent on the match in progress, Melzer was leading the singing of the 'Peya' song, they were on their feet for every point won, shouting and clapping; they were on their feet at the end of lost games too, encouraging their team-mates, exhorting them to more and more effort - and what were the British team doing? Standing and applauding good points, certainly, but there was nothing between games, nothing after lost games, not even the appearance of watching much of the time. Little, if any, intensity - Andy dandling a wee one on his knee - lovely to see, but was it the right time? Jamie, seemingly more interested in sharing jokes with those behind him. Often, there were gaps in the ranks for lengthy periods; how dare Andy - and I've been an Andy fan for many years and think he's a wonderful player - how dare Andy criticise Alex's attitude when he can't even be bothered to stay out, watch the match, and encourage his team mate. What kind of a message does that give to a struggling player, that his 'playing-captain' has given up on him. Even worse, what kind of a message does it send to Peya? That the British team have little or no faith in their player - what can give Peya more confidence than that!
So - wrong choice of venue, poor team spirit: to me, that brings into question the captaincy. That's a pity, for I like John Lloyd; I liked the way he played tennis, he seems a really nice, caring guy, he's clearly very knowledgeable - but if he's unable to motivate his team to show real support for a struggling team-mate, perhaps he's not the right man for the job.