The Times and other media

steven · Tennis legend

RE: The Times

steven · Tennis legend

Today's Net Post http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6261489.ece compares Fred Perry (born 100 years ago this week) and Muzza ... and I think OEM may have had a look at the excellent MTF link posted on this thread too. wink

Count Zero · Tennis legend

times net post is up with an article on wardy, and i have to say not only is wardy in contention of taking away the GB No2 spot from boggo, but also the title of worst tennis face when photographed

steven · Tennis legend

LOL you've only just noticed, have you!

I'll have to head over to the Net Post ...

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

OEM was a wee bit over-optimistic in his estimation of James' ranking this week ("around 215"), while the Beeb was almost spot-on ("about 225"): he's moved up 47 places to 224, snapping at Josh Goodall's heels! smile

Sadly, there's no mention of James' splendid achievement in the print edition of today's Times. hmm

helki · Futures qualifying

Stircrazy wrote:

[...]
Sadly, there's no mention of James' splendid achievement in the print edition of today's Times.
He get's a mention in today's DM's "Brit of the week ( an Andy Murray-free zone).

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

OEM is clearly warming to his task of getting the tennis PTB to do something about the Portugese screech owl: this week's Net post. He also covers Rafa's thoughts on out-of-competition drug-testing (as per WADA) & the origins of the curious name of the Yank player, Tennys Sandgren. wink

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

And now Tini's jumping on the anti-grunting bandwagon, bless her. If someone of her stature in the game can't persuade TPTB to take action, then there's precious little hope for the rest of us!

Count Zero · Tennis legend

An article from the mirror, starts of rather sensationalist saying henman on the war par vs boggo, but then tim actually says alex has been putting in a lot of hard work recently and changed his attitude. it's actually a fairly rounded point he puts forward too. also remember tim is on the aeltc board and would have had a say in who does and doesnt get wc's.

Tim Henman has urged British tennis to become more "ruthless" with its mediocre players.

Henman is on the warpath after witnessing British No.2 Alex Bogdanovic receive his eighth Wimbledon wild card.

Bogdanovic, 25, who is ranked No.189 in the world, has NEVER won a match in seven appearances at the All England Club.

And the Belgrade-born left-hander has failed to claim victory in a main draw match in 19 attempts in Grand Slams, and triumphed in only one out of seven Davis Cup ties.

Bogdanovic still receives a Lawn Tennis Association travel grant of £10,000 a year plus coaching and medical help valued at £48,000 every season.

And Henman, the former British No.1, feels Bogdanovic is playing in the last-chance saloon this season and must in future earn the right to play his home Grand Slam.

"You have got to be ruthless and create a winning culture," said the four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist.

"Alex is British No.2 but he has lost seven times, so there is a strong argument that he doesn't deserve a wild card.

"I do know he has changed his attitude massively in the last six to nine months.

"Before that he wasn't in good shape and wasn't doing the physical work.
"He has put in a phenomenal amount of effort. I am fairly sure that you can say it will be his last chance. He has had a lot of opportunities.

"In an ideal world, you would want other people knocking on the door and taking the wild card away. There has been too much mediocrity.

"If you are top 250, you are almost guaranteed a wild card because of the lack of depth. If you are a good player, you should be qualifying on your ranking. That is what we want to see the guys achieving."

Bogdanovic has come to personify the problems with British tennis after showing so much promise as a teenager.

Henman went on: "I played him and the frustrating thing is, and he is equally frustrated, if you just took his ball-striking, he is a top 50 player.

"I am sick and tired of people always blaming the LTA.

"Look what happens in Serbia, Argentina or Spain. They don't get funding and look at the players they have got. What does that tell you?

"There has almost been a culture where a lot of our players want to blame others."

Drew · Jun 19, 2009

Piece on Tim getting involved with the LTA and comments on Evo and Boggo...

One player who has caught his eye is Daniel Evans, the 18-year-old from Birmingham, who has recently been signed up by Patricio Apey, the former agent of Andy Murray. Evans has the highest ranking in the world for his age group and Henman is convinced that he is going places.

Hes already 300 [in the world], so hes a long way ahead of where I was [at that age], he says. I practise with Dan a bit, so its the same with Andy [Murray]. I have always been there to pass on any advice.

The reality is that some of the men arent good enough. They dont have the ability to be top-class players. I think the biggest issue is maximising potential and too many British players in the past havent done that.

One Alex Bogdanovic, a perennial underachiever, springs instantly to mind. Alex has the ability to be a top-50 player, but mentally and physically he hasnt been good enough, Henman says. I have spoken to Paul a lot about him and he says Boggo has turned the corner and changed his attitude. He probably hasnt had the results to show for it yet, but if he keeps working hard and doing the right thing, I cant believe that he cant get his ranking up again.

Full piece at :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6531303.ece

Malteaser · Junior player

Sorry, can't agree with Tim. Looking at the scheduling of tournaments this year alone, the LTA have let down our up and coming players, just at a time when we were strating to see them blossom.

As a result this year has been an embarassment so far for British Mens Tennis (with the esception, of course, of Andy Murray)

Young players need to be looked after, not dumped and left to fend for themselves.

The funding and the processes that the LTA have in placve need a fundamental overhaul, so that we can direct the resources in the best possible way.

Yes, look at Argentina and Spain, but once you've looked at them, then emulate them, rather than ignore them.

We fans could, genuinely, do a better job than the LTA.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

wasnt sure where to stick this, but i guess 'the times' thread has become a media thread.

anyway here is some reports from the LTA top guys on what has happened (from online Evening standard):

The heads of British tennis has refused to take responsibility for this year's woeful display by our players and chose instead to put the humiliation down to the luck of the draw.

Lawn Tennis Association officials did confirm that Alex Bogdanovic would not be offered another wildcard unless there was a sign of improvement in his game.

Bogdanovic, Dan Evans, Josh Goodall, Anne Keothavong, Katie O'Brien and Georgie Stoop all fell at the first hurdle of their home grand slam, leaving just Andy Murray and Elena Baltacha to carry the flag.

But Steve Martens, player director of the LTA, felt it was harsh to blame the results on the players alone.

He said: It was a disappointing day for all of us. But it was an accurate portrayal of the situation of where our top players are in relation to the players they played yesterday on the court.

They all went out fighting hard. They did as well as they could have done. Apart from Anne who, together with Andy, was playing a player lower ranked than herself, nobody really started favourite to win their match.

That was an excuse endorsed by head coach Paul Annacone who said: This year, when you look at the draws that the guys got in particular, it was a bit shocking. I actually thought someone was playing a cruel practical joke when I first saw it.

Coach Nigel Sears insisted that the Wimbledon debacle should not be seen on its own.

He said: The grasscourt season as a whole has reflected the progress the girls have made.

We are definitely moving up the rankings. One of the things that I felt was very important when I came into this job was that the girls improved their world rankings and were able to actually compete on the main tour, which we've seen much more of this year.

With Anne Keothavong having made three tour semi-finals this year and getting inside the top 50, that's a great reflection of that and our leading example. That's why we were particularly disappointed for her, more than anybody, for her performance yesterday.

Bogdanovic has now failed to win a singles game at the All England Club despite being given eight wildcards.

Annacone said: If you got any of the tennis experts around the world to go and watch Alex hit a ball for an hour, they would agree there are very few people better than him.

So that begs the question, what's the problem? I wish there was a magic pill that he could take or we could give him to address that problem.

But Bogo' knows the clock is ticking fast and for Wimbledon it maybe has stopped for him and he's in only on his own merits now.

Martens defended the decision to hand the British No2 an eighth wildcard but added: I think we are clearly in the position now where next time it has to be on his own merits.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Now that is a fair and balanced article regarding the draws that the British players got and there won't be too many more I would suspect.

What are the odds of another media outlet using those quotes from Annacone etc to produce an analysis of why we only got two players into round two?

Count Zero · Tennis legend

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/wimbledon/article-23711646-details/LTA+claim+Brits+were+victims+of+tough+draws/article.do

article here.

So this says boggo wont get one unless he improves his game, fair enough. so if he's top 150 he'd get one maybe? in a way i'd love for that to happen. then boggo can run around to all the journos holding his thumb on his nose going ner ne ner ne or something. still i'd prefer him to be top 100.

steven · Tennis legend

It's fair enough of the LTA to say that GB hopes were mainly scuppered by the draw (though that's only really true on the men's side - Anne and Mel had very winnable draws), but they still don't seem to get that this is the reason why if you want to maximise the number of GB R1 winners, you need to maximise the number of those who could conceivably beat a grass court clown who are in the draw in the first place.

If the main argument against giving GB players main draw WCs is that they get an 'unfair' financial boost (as it seems to be), then why not come to some agreement on 'performance-based pay' for R1 losses.

e.g. (I'm not saying this is the right scale, but just to illustrate one possibility), you only get the full R1 loser's amount if you:

- are drawn against one of the big 4 and avoid triple bakery
- are drawn against another seed and win a set or get to 5+ games in a set and avoid bakery in at least one other set
- are drawn against someone in the 33-75 range and win at least a set
- are drawn against someone else and win at least two sets, except that if you are drawn against a player ranked outside the top 75 from a country which has more than 60% of its Futures on clay, you don't get the full R1 loser's amount unless you win the match

There could then be a sliding scale, e.g. in the last category, 50% of the amount if you win two sets, 25% if you win one, etc.

The ATP ranking system certainly doesn't give WCs who lose in R1 an unfair advantage in the rankings, because they are forced to carry a zero-pointer for a year, so if it didn't look like a free handout financially as well (which of course it isn't anyway, because you don't get a WC without being one of the top players in the country), it would be much harder to object to, and the players would have realistic measures of success to aim at.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 24th of June 2009 03:46:24 PM