The Times and other media

Count Zero · Tennis legend

RE: The Times

steven · Tennis legend

That's a very sensible and detailed reply by Cowan - and he's spot on about the LTA having put players under WC/DC pressure when they were too young (because they had nobody else) before dropping them just as they reached the kind of age where they could make the best use of them.

I think there's a need to realise that it's only prodigies like Andy, Laura & Heather who can be expected to break into the top 100 in their teens / very early twenties (and they'd probably get there without any help), whereas the kind of players for whom support (or otherwise) can actually make a difference to whether they ever get into the top 100 or not will tend to peak in their mid-20s or, Gicquel-like, even later.

Hopefully players like Elena and Anne have started to show the LTA that, but apart from the seemingly empty pronouncement from the powers that be acknowledging this peaking in the mid-20s thing, there's no evidence that the LTA have actually taken this on board in their actions yet.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

The money aspect was interesting as well and BC was right to pick up on the fact a lot of the anger seems to come from the 'freebie' money. The press make a huge deal about it after all.

Cant believe golfers can earn so much more. really if your a kid who is talented at sport (and if you are good at one you tend to be good at most) tennis really isn't the best way to make some big bucks, hell you don't even break a sweat in golf.

baxi2 · Lower Club Player

I think we are missing the point here, Boggo has been refused the Wimbledon WC for the sole reason that he turned down the DC spot as reported in several articles over the last few days. The decision to deny him the WC is extremely controversial. Everyone knows that Boggo can still be good for his country and deserves to represent us but it is obvious he is greatly affected by the public criticism thrown at him by the LTA over the last few years to the extent that he wants nothing further to do with them. The LTA surely can't have it both ways, lambasting him in front of the nation then asking him to take the DC post again ?

steven · Tennis legend

baxi2 wrote:
I think we are missing the point here, Boggo has been refused the Wimbledon WC for the sole reason that he turned down the DC spot as reported in several articles over the last few days. The decision to deny him the WC is extremely controversial. Everyone knows that Boggo can still be good for his country and deserves to represent us but it is obvious he is greatly affected by the public criticism thrown at him by the LTA over the last few years to the extent that he wants nothing further to do with them. The LTA surely can't have it both ways, lambasting him in front of the nation then asking him to take the DC post again ?

The number of times they've said or implied that he'd never be picked to play DC again too ...

There's been a fair bit of reporting to the effect that Boggo said no to DC as a direct snub to the LTA for withdrawing his funding but as far as I can make out, that's not actually accurate, i.e. he hasn't said "I'm not playing DC because my funding was withdrawn."

What I understood was that he feels this is a very important part of the season for him, in the sense that in order to play DC, he'd have to miss Newport and possibly qualifying for a tournament the week after as well.

Since in addition he's had his push for the top 100 derailed by DC at least twice before, when he's been forced to aggravate injuries against Israel (in Eastbourne) and Austria (at Wimbledon) and has been given no credit for doing so but has instead been thrown to the lions as a scapegoat for GB losing, and since the US grass/hard court season is probably the most important part of the year for him these days, that seems completely understandable to me, even though I'd rather he was playing in this tie.

i.e. I don't think he was saying he wasn't going to play DC because they'd taken away his funding, I think he was saying he feels he's got good reasons of his own to miss this tie, and the only difference the funding/past treatment issue makes is that he might have felt more of an obligation to play (despite having good personal reasons not to) had the relationship with the LTA been different.

-- Edited by steven on Friday 18th of June 2010 08:51:18 AM

mjd · Challenger qualifying

Extract from Times:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article2562191.ece

Federer wonders why it is that not more than the one wild card.......After all, it is the norm for the other grand-slam tournaments that home players get the treats, with a few crumbs left for foreign players.
( AND SO SAY ALL OF US! )

With the wild cards [eight] you have, Im surprised they dont go to British players, Federer said. Im sure they have their reasons. It might be like if we have eight wild cards in a Swiss tournament, who would you give them to? You might have to start pulling amateurs out from somewhere and I understand you dont want to give them to players outside No 500 [in the world] because then it gets a bit silly, but at the same time, this is what it is.

It is Wimbledon showing a sign that they want juniors to work harder, that the system has to start working and let the players know you will not just get one because you are British. It is a tough call, half right and half wrong.

Tough or not, James Ward, who reached the quarter-finals in the AEGON International in Eastbourne this week having preferred to take a wild card there rather than into Wimbledon qualifying must surely have offered a greater adornment than a middle-ranking Russian or German, to whom two of the free passes went.

The desperation of the LTA in trying to boost the number of professionals is demonstrated by its decision to ask Lee Childs, who left the tour three years ago and is the club professional at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, whether he would be interested in returning to the ATP ranks.

Josh · Challenger level

mjd wrote:
The desperation of the LTA in trying to boost the number of professionals is demonstrated by its decision to ask Lee Childs, who left the tour three years ago and is the club professional at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, whether he would be interested in returning to the ATP ranks.

On the basis of one decent scoreline against Verdasco?? doh

Maybe Castle and Lloyd want to make a comeback too?

steven · Tennis legend

WR 500 cutoff - I'm with Fed there!

mjd · Challenger qualifying

A few extracts from a big article in The Times after a devastaing day 2.
(I still cant believe that Anne managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory)

Thank God for Andy Murray. As the British No 1 was coasting to a first-round victory at Wimbledon that contained enough confident strokeplay for good things to be thought of his prospects, the implosion of the rest of the home contingent exposed the game in Britain for what it really is a talent wasteland living on empty promises and broken dreams. .................
on top of there being no Englishman in the main draw for the first time in 133 years. That is not negativity that is fact. {Edit: and LTA policy?} ........
.................. And although James Ward the British player who was given a wild card into Queens and Eastbourne, but denied one into the main draw of the championships believes that it was the All England Club that turned him down, it is understood that the LTA did not recommend him in the first place. Who is telling who the whole truth? And how many of those in the game show the absolute commitment of the No 1 British man?
............. Tomorrow, when the Queen arrives for the first time since Virginia Wade was about to win the womens title in 1977 and Britain had players of the calibre of David and John Lloyd, Buster Mottram and Roger Taylor on the mens side, she will be presented to the present No 1 and to the LTA hierarchy.

One wonders what their response will be when she asks them: And what do you do? confuse

-- Edited by mjd on Tuesday 22nd of June 2010 11:35:32 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but on Monday the Times ran an article by Jamie Murray entitled "Unfair for Bogdanovic to be made a scapegoat for early defeats"

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article2564638.ece

"I know hes not playing this year and thats a real shame because my opinion is that Alex Bogdanovic should be getting ready to perform at Wimbledon. He is the second-best player here by a country mile and it shouldnt matter what hes done in the past. I dont think its fair that he appears to have been made a scapegoat for what is happening in the sport in general.

There was a strict criterion for a British man to be recommended for a wild card and that was to be ranked inside the top 250. Boggo is No 161 this week, almost 100 places higher than the next guy, Jamie Baker, who is No 259, and yet he got a wild card. To me that is just not right. OK, Boggo has lost eight first-round matches, but in those hes played Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych as well as Nicolas Escudé, of France, when he was in the top 30.

Im a big fan of Alex. Hes such a nice guy who doesnt have a bad word to say about anyone. He goes out there and tries his best, but its difficult when people are saying that hes rubbish, hes a choker, hes this, hes that.

Obviously, his record at Wimbledon and in the Davis Cup is not good, but you dont get where he has been for a long time without winning a lot of matches. In the second round of qualifying last week, he lost 24-22 in the final set to Nicolas Mahut, a former Queens finalist, who is great on grass and the match lasted over four hours. This is someone whom people say isnt a fighter and got his funding cut because he doesnt work hard enough."

He goes on to talk about Andy at Wimbledon, himself in the mixed with Laura and so on.

indiana · Tennis legend

Well said Jamie

I suspect more folk in tennis feel much the same but just don't put their heads above the parapet

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 24th of June 2010 05:16:37 PM

LadyTigress · County player

Good article from Jamie.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

this is from JO's BBC daily blog

The LTA are still scratching their heads wondering how this website got hold of a study called "British High Performance Tennis Mission 2012" which included, among ranking targets for the next three years, the pessimistic prediction that no other man will join Andy Murray in the world's top 100 for at least two years.

The document has the sub-title: "How to maximise the potential of who is good now" and one of five key objectives is listed as "inter-disciplinary planning".

Britain endured its worst collection of first round results in Wimbledon history.

Would love to read the bit on 'maximising the potential of who is good now' part!!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

me too. But for the good of the players I hope no one leaks it

airsmashers · County player

A surprisingly good article from the sun about a talented young tennis family with focus on the youngest girl Jhonayah

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3035075/Britains-greatest-tennis-hopefuls.html