Davis Cup - Josh Goodall vs. Illya Marchenko

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Davis Cup - Josh Goodall vs. Illya Marchenko

seagull · Hall of fame

Any chance Lloyd could get the sack if we lose - bout the only good thing that can come out of this tie

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, that's about right.

Do people think any other Brits (bar Muzza) would have won that? Having seen the way Marchenko plays, I think Bloomers would have had the best chance - more reliable serve, he'd have come in and put more pressure on and above all, much calmer.

wolf · Tennis legend

Unless Eaton can raise his game to the big occasion it looks like a match against either Belgium or Poland.

steven · Tennis legend

I think it would probably be Poland - Belgium are at home and a lot stronger.

Gregory Howe's comment about Stakh not liking to play people who rush the net gives me some hope that Chris can give him some trouble. Hope he does, even if it would send the hype machine into even bigger overdrive. LOL

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i honestly believe boggo could have won that. that match didn't look like a fast indoor court match, lots of sliced rallies, cross court. Boggo superior indoor court game would have tested illy more.

steven · Tennis legend

Boggo's never played a DC rubber indoors, has he?

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Good decision by team GB to select a slow indoor court for this tie - just what suits the likes of Goodall and Eaton!!!

Boggo may have won that, but the way Marchenko plays can frustrate Boggo - that said, I don't think he'd have done much worse than Goodall did.

steven · Tennis legend

Just a thought - given that the Ukrainian doubles pair has a very good record (so even with Muzza playing, the rubber between our other player and Marchenko always had a chance of being the clincher) and how little JL has to do each year, you'd think he could have watched Marchenko a few times and worked out the kind of player he needed to have in his team to beat him ...

steven · Tennis legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Good decision by team GB to select a slow indoor court for this tie - just what suits the likes of Goodall and Eaton!!!

I assume it was meant to be as fast as the courts at the NTC (otherwise what were they thinking?) but didn't turn out to be as fast as expected.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

steven wrote:

Boggo's never played a DC rubber indoors, has he?

ok hang on. whats happened to the real steven who knows all the stats??

an imposter or just the DC effecting his brain cells?

Boggo hasnt played indoors, he has played 4 on clay, 3 on grass and 1 in hard ct in isreal.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

steven wrote:

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Good decision by team GB to select a slow indoor court for this tie - just what suits the likes of Goodall and Eaton!!!
I assume it was meant to be as fast as the courts at the NTC (otherwise what were they thinking?) but didn't turn out to be as fast as expected.

Unless they went for a slow hard court to neutralise Stakhovsky, but forgot that it neutralises our players even more.

Drew · Mar 6, 2009

A view from courtside....

For the first two sets Josh looked like a rabbit in the headlights. Dropping serve at the start of the first two sets...well thats criminal. The way he battled back time and time again is a positive. No offensive to Boggo but he was well beaten last time out. Josh needed, IMO, a bit more self belief. He showed that at times he had all the shots and the attitudes. During 1 rally early on Josh switched off playing, didnt move his feet and looked like a fish out of water. But he kept coming back. He never showed much emotion...not like Marchenko who has not endeared him self to the crowd or the press. "Arrogant little man..." quote, unquote.

So a brave performance from Josh but still a glorious defeat. Getting beat in 3 breakers is tough to take. I think though he will bounce on Sunday and give Stak a run for his money.

Drew · Mar 6, 2009

Match report is up on bt.net HERE thanks to FD.

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

steven wrote:

Boggo's never played a DC rubber indoors, has he?

ok hang on. whats happened to the real steven who knows all the stats??
an imposter or just the DC effecting his brain cells?
Boggo hasnt played indoors, he has played 4 on clay, 3 on grass and 1 in hard ct in isreal.

LOL no, I was 99% sure I knew the answer, just couldn't be bothered to look it up and make sure (and that's usually lethal!)