yeh i feel Olly is certainly a bigger talent. just seems like he has the attributes - big forehand, serve in high 120s, plus at 6'2 he seems to have the build you'd expect for a top player

not that im putting any pressure on him hehe...actually i reckon Olly will be the sort of person to enjoy that pressure

In the Net Post this week - http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article2714749.ece if you have access, the following subjects are among those covered. (Note to OEM: feel free to let me know if I'm quoting too much or if it would be ok to quote more)

1) The Gosling HPC is in trouble apparently; "the head of tennis there, is feeling the pressure of trying to sustain a centre many of the most highly thought of players are choosing to abandon"

2) A mystery coach: "This comes at the same time as one hears that a high-profile coach working with a reasonably gifted British player is being paid a four-figure sum for each days work. Surely the two are not compatible. We have to make sure the funds are in place to generate interest at the bottom of the sport, not still be so profligate at the top of the game." True, but who on earth is OEM talking about, I wonder.

3) An interview with Paul Annacone, in which he seems to suggest that one of the big challenges in GB tennis is getting players to maintain a positive outlook. Undoubtedly true.

"I think we have to be realistic, some of the guys arent going to do it. But we have to help the ones with a chance to sustain that positivity, so that (they realise that when they are) two years out at 20 years old and only 260 in the world and are going I cant do this, whats wrong with me?, in actuality theres not many guys that are doing it that quick.

If they have that potential they realise it does take a little more time now without them being over the top and overly emotional about a great win or a horrible loss."

Of course, the LTA came to this "not everyone who's going to reach the top 100 is going to do so in their early 20s" conclusion rather later than many of us here did, so perhaps it's no wonder this has become a problem. Still, better late than never!

Im happy to carry the flak. Im happy to say geez I wish I did better, I wish I was a better coach. I wish I could somehow convince Boggo (Alex Bogdanovic) you know what, you should be 75 in the world. I havent been able to convince him of that, he hasnt believed it and done it. Hes tried a lot of different ways and hes a great guy, I dont want to pick on him because theres a handful. Josh Goodall, the same thing, very talented. I wish I had done a better job and it was more clear that they had done better.

When I look at the reasons for it, part of it is that it is taking longer. Part of those guys have gotten stuck. Part of it is I havent done a good enough job. One per cent, ten per cent, 90 per cent of you guys can tell me whatever it should be and part of it is maybe theyre not good enough, maybe the environment needs to change.

4) Richard Williams on attitudes to black players in US tennis - ends with: His last quote really stung. It is not like they (the establishment) dislike you. They just dont want another Venus or Serena showing up. I must admit, I son't want another Serena showing up, but that's got everything to do with her arrogance, her picking and choosing tournaments then joining in with those who mock players like Safina getting to no. 1 (it's wasn't her fault Serena chose not to play a full complement of tournaments) and nothing to do with her colour!

5) Praise for Oli G - "the head of communications for the ITF told the Net Post that Golding was an absolute joy to work with, that he was polite and level-headed."

steven wrote:

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3) An interview with Paul Annacone, in which he seems to suggest that one of the big challenges in GB tennis is getting players to maintain a positive outlook. Undoubtedly true.

"I think we have to be realistic, some of the guys arent going to do it. But we have to help the ones with a chance to sustain that positivity, so that (they realise that when they are) two years out at 20 years old and only 260 in the world and are going I cant do this, whats wrong with me?, in actuality theres not many guys that are doing it that quick.

If they have that potential they realise it does take a little more time now without them being over the top and overly emotional about a great win or a horrible loss."

Of course, the LTA came to this "not everyone who's going to reach the top 100 is going to do so in their early 20s" conclusion rather later than many of us here did, so perhaps it's no wonder this has become a problem. Still, better late than never!

---

Yes, of course discussed before in this forum and I think most of us would agree very much with what Annacone says here, and that the LTA seem to have come round to.

Count the no of players in the top 200 in the world aged 21 or less, and also look at all the players from different countries that have taken to just about their mid 20s to really break through.

I know that some of the our really promising 1989 and 1990 guys have stalled in their progress, particularly this year.  But there is still time for most to develop further or pick up again and probably sometimes it does involve belief. There is certainly time to really rise up these rankings  Indeed after a pretty barren first half of the year on the title front, such as Cox, Milton and Rice have shown good signs lately.  Those who dismiss the group, seemingly almost as a whole, as failures, and it has been done on this forum, do so too soon.  Some as Annacone says will not make it, but some will I bet progress to better things.

Yes, I'd love them to be doing better now, to be higher ranked but players develop at different rates and not generally linearly. Remember Tiger Tim wasn't exactly a quick developer.  

At least some sense about all this seems to permeate now in the LTA compared to some fairly ridiculous thinking of not too long ago.

Quite a guessing game going on...

So did I, but one of the journos tweeted that he was courtside because he was mentoring Golding. Perhaps he was just courtside supporting a member of the successful U16 junior DC team he captained a year or two ago.

I thought silly season was meant to finish at the end of August, but not at the Thunderer apparently. I've just noticed an article at the top of the Times 'most read' list headed "The 40 greatest 40 chokers in sport" http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/article2741090.ece where Boggo comes in at no. 35 (for most people on the list, a specific choke is mentioned, for Alex it's 'take your pick'), Tigger at 26, Jana Novotna at 21 and Guillermo Coria at no. 8.

The scientific validity (or otherwise) of the list can be gauged from the fact that Andy Murray is (harshly) listed at no. 40 but there is no place for Richard Gasquet. (or PHM, Gonzo, Numpty, etc, for that matter)

I'll give you the top 10 (there's a full-ish explanation for each one in the article)

1. NZ rugby team 1999 (losing to the GEMs in the WC SF from 24-10 up)
2. SA cricket team 1999 (lost needing 1 run from the last 4 balls of their SF with AUS)
3. Greg Norman 1996 (led by 6 at the start of the US Masters final round, lost to Faldo by 5)
4. Asafa Powell 2007 (3rd in the WC 100m Final, said he panicked under pressure from Gay)
5. Scott Hoch 'the Choke' 1989 (missed easy put in US Masters playoff, Faldo benefiting again)
6. Jean van de Velde 1999 (British Open wading champion)
7. Somerset cricket team 2010 (runners up in 3 tournaments, like Betty Stove at Wimby 1977 in fact)
8. Guillermo Coria 2004 (lost from 2 sets up in the RG Final - it says he had "ended Tim Henmans hopes of a first grand-slam final with a convincing display in the semi-final" - which is rubbish because Tigger was all over him until he himself choked)
9. Doug Sanders 1970 (took 4 strokes from 75 yards at the British Open, then lost by 1 in an 18-hole playoff)
10. Houston Oilers 1993 (32 points up 2 mins into the 2nd half in an AFC play-off match but managed to lose)




-- Edited by steven on Monday 27th of September 2010 11:54:56 AM