Week 43 - Futures F2 (10K) - Islamabad, Pakistan

wolf · Tennis legend

Week 43 - Futures F2 (10K) - Islamabad, Pakistan

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Nice draw for Maniel, a bit rough for Fitzy.

steven · Tennis legend

What, Fitzy stood Cramer up, I'm shocked LOL

Horrible singles draw for him though (*) - you go all the way to Pakistan, and who do you have to play ...

(*) or for Feaver, if Fitzy's serve is "on", of course

-- Edited by steven at 13:55, 2008-10-19

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

haha i thought someone might pick up on the fact im not playing with cramer...
i kid you not if anything he stood me up!
He is bagging the 3rd week because his back is hurting him. So he is going to the himilayas (spelling?) to find a cure for his back from some monks....haha honestly...the mastercard advert comes to mind.....
'Theres some things money cant buy (cramer) for everything else there is mastercard!'

Indeed the draw could have been kinder but it was bound to happen one of the weeks, who ever wins has got a good chance of making the quaters....thanks steven for highlighting my serve!!lol

First on at 10am.

currently in the british embassy getting some much needed safe food inside me.

COME ON THE MUZZA!

freerider · Futures level

when you play another brit is it more intense? How well do you know Feaver?

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

Erm i havent too many brits before when abroad in futures, if any, so i wouldnt know.
It will be a normal match im sure, just the fact we are both from england.
I know him pritty well, nice guy.
He is playing well at the moment, well he was last week i thought, so we shall see how it goes.
Hopefully it will be a good match

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

This has to be the last thing i want to do right now. I always find it the worst thing in the world to talk to someone about the match when you dont play well and feel terrible about it.
6-0 6-2 is just not on really.
Yeah he is playing well, and he played well today but i didnt get going till 6-0 3-0 which is too late against anyone.
I know myself what happend out on the court and the reasons behind it, but im not going to go into that.
I will just say hes a nice guy, and was far better than me today. He will deffinatly win his next round.
I shouldnt feel this way, but im struggling big time for confidence..really.
If we loose our doubles i think i might just loose the plot! I will take my frustrations out in that match and try to get the groove back with my serve.

extremly dissapointing performance number 2 of the trip.
I havent found my level yet at all.

Shhh · Challenger level

Hi Fitzy,

Its difficult to know what to say to you. One thing I think that is good is how bad you obviously feel about the defeat. The desire to achieve is plainly massive inside you and that counts for so much in times such as these. Remember I wrote its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog........well when thats the case you WILL come back from this. Maybe the next match, maybe later than that but you will. Its all cliche stuff to write from here but theres a lot of truth in what people say that the mark of a winner is not how they handle the peaks, but how they handle the troughs.

Hang on in there buddy, its always too soon to quit.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

tough luck Fitzy, best of luck in your next event.

The Hoose · Satellite level

Just take the doubles tournament by storm, Fitzy. Looks like your partner could do with a few confidence-boosting wins too - but I see he has shown the quality to take Gilles Muller to a tie-break so no reason why the two of you can't hit yourself into some sort of form this week.

Drew · Oct 20, 2008

Fitzy wrote:

This has to be the last thing i want to do right now. I always find it the worst thing in the world to talk to someone about the match when you dont play well and feel terrible about it.
6-0 6-2 is just not on really.
Yeah he is playing well, and he played well today but i didnt get going till 6-0 3-0 which is too late against anyone.
I know myself what happend out on the court and the reasons behind it, but im not going to go into that.
I will just say hes a nice guy, and was far better than me today. He will deffinatly win his next round.
I shouldnt feel this way, but im struggling big time for confidence..really.
If we loose our doubles i think i might just loose the plot! I will take my frustrations out in that match and try to get the groove back with my serve.

extremly dissapointing performance number 2 of the trip.
I havent found my level yet at all.

Would have been so easy for you not to post that result and 'go underground' for a few days but it says alot about you to come on here and be honest.

Just remember & go through mentally your best wins and compare to today.

You will be just fine.

steven · Tennis legend

Sorry to see that result Fitzy, very brave to come on and post it here (don't feel you have to) and I agree with Shhh, it's great that you're as disappointed as this about it, as long as it doesn't keep you down for the next one. Taking it out on your doubles opponents sounds good to me too!

It's hard to know what to say to someone after a result like that, so I'll regress to the stats (the only bit of tennis I'm good at LOL) to find something positive (and objective) to say:

In 2006, you played 7 matches in Futures qualifying and won just 1 (17%) and no main draw matches.

In 2007, you played 13 matches in Futures qualifying and won 8 (62%) and 4 matches in Futures main draws, winning 1 (25%)

In 2008 so far, you have played 18 matches in Futures qualifying and won 11 (61%, but you played qualifying for some tougher Futures in the first half of the year which took your win % well down, while more to the point you've won your last 8 Futures qualifying matches in a row!

) and 14 matches in Futures main draws, winning 4 (28%)

With 8 Futures Q match wins in a row and 4x as many main draw match wins as last year, you're heading the right direction, even if it's not nearly as quickly as you'd like. And last week you defended your first point too, so that's one type of pressure coped with, even if the draw helped. At this rate of progression, I expect at the very least to have to add a line for you to my GB top 25 table sometime next year. (or else! wink

)

Just got to make sure you're there ready to take your chances when you get them - in tennis, they can come along when you least expect them.

Also, turning this around, well done to Feaver for pulling off such a convincing win against a decent opponent. Of course, James has the pressure of not even being the best player in his own family ... (yet)

-- Edited by steven at 16:00, 2008-10-20

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

Just got in from a consoling dinner (spelling)
Well yes, i mean to be honest i could have hiden away but, you all appreciate hearing about the ups and the downs, and its a bit obvios how easy it is for me to post on here when i say
'yeah i won easy, playing really well', rather than 'no i lost pritty comfortably, wasnt great'

Well those stats have cheered me up, more for the fact im impressed with your knowlage as much as anything!
True enough in the right direction, its just hard for me not to compare myself to people i was level with, (in my head i feel i still am level with) a year ago, e.g. milton, thornley, bains, etc.....all decent players picking up points pritty much every week. but that goes with higher rankings i guess.

I took it out in my doubles match today, but got a bit over the top, cus i got tagged (which i can take like a man) but still hurts inside. It was by the youngest of the worshiped khan brothers.
Didnt take me long to get a chance to get him back, smash on top of the next, could have gone either side, and i went meduim pace into his back. Rush of blood, and my partner said, 'man what are you doing, where in pakistan not england.... you cant do that to him, its like hitting the queen over here. lol'
safe to say the crowd were against me for the rest of the match.

Not only that but who am i playing tomorrow, mr aqeel khan himself! haha should be fun.
6-2 6-2 i think was the result from today, serve still was a problem.

See how it goes tomorrow, and look forward to the hard court in lahore which suits me more, saying that i might do even worse now!

Drew · Oct 20, 2008

Well done on the dubs even if you did sour international relations with you body-smash-to-the-local-favourite type of shot...that reminded me of when my Dad use to take us for badmington training (he was an international class coach) and if we did not pay attention or do something wrong he could pick out any part of our body with the shuttle....I could tell how well the seesion went with the amount of bruises !!! ( I only got to club level player, my young bro won world youth olympic gold and silver when 14 yrs old !).

Try and not invoke the UN when you play his big Bro next...perhaps an under arm serve when he is waving to his adoring fans may be better

steven · Tennis legend

> Well those stats have cheered me up, more for the fact im impressed with your knowlage as much as anything!

That's good

as for the stats, there are no gaps in my knowledge ... that a quick look at ITF won't fix LOL

I understand how frustrating it must be to see some of the players in your peer group forging ahead while you get left behind a bit, but looking at it another way, it shows what's possible.

Josh Milton had hardly any points until he qualified in Slovenia and got to the QFs there after his R2 opponent retired. Of course, he needed to come through a close match with David Rice in R1 to have the chance to get that bit of luck - it so often seems to be a case of playing well enough to make an opportunity then having a bit of luck that sets players on their way. It could be you ...

Going to Greece (often a good bet for Brits in recent years) was good for both of them too - Sean reached two QFs in Greece in May (as well as having a great run to the semis in Ecuador) and Josh reached his second QF there in September.

It must have been pretty funny watching your doubles match today, and I agree with Drew, making enemies of the home crowd ... not a great idea. wink

At least you won, that's the main thing, anything to get the confidence up before next week and I'm sure the prize money (peanuts as it is - about £50 if I remember right) helps.

> Drew: ( I only got to club level player, my young bro won world youth olympic gold and silver when 14 yrs old !).

Well at least someone on here knows what it's like to be Jamie Murray wink