British Tour - Tipton

wolf · Tennis legend

British Tour - Tipton

Lilly · Social player

lewis barnes won 6-1 6-1

wolf · Tennis legend

How the feck Priddle is still unranked I'll never know his single handed backhand is simply a joy to watch and can hit big winners off both wings. He can go off the boil at times though and I can't see him doing much in the clay events coming up. He beat George Morgan today 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2. George played well just was out-hit by a more experienced opponent.

O'Leary finally beat Ollie Golding something like 4-6, 6-?, 7-6(5) good quality match until the TB which was error stewn. Promising signs for Golding he has a good two handed backhand which he hits very flat and for the most part kept the errors in check. O'Leary woke up after a bad start and played much better as the match went on.

Play started at 9am today and I only arrived past midday so missed a lot of play. Don't expect a finish any time soon there was a womens match that looked like it could go on to about midnight.

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks for the report. Priddle has beaten 9 ranked players in the last 12 months including one in the top 1000 (Burnham Arlidge) so it's tended to come down to the luck of the draw, as getting your first point so often does. You know you're not getting much luck when you draw Qureshi in QR2 of a GB Future! He has had the odd really dire result too, so he may be quite erratic.

He didn't do too badly on clay last year - beat Coupland then lost to Illingworth in Bournemouth Q, took 7 games off Bloomers in Edinburgh Q (ok, against Bloomers in a Future AND on clay, that's maybe not as hard as it sounds) and then, even more impressively, reached the FQR in five consecutive clay court Futures in Romania and the Ukraine. He managing to qualify for the last one but got mashed by Feaver in R1.

freerider · Futures level

wasnt golding playing in mexico at the weekend? if so that is impressive to get back to tipton for a british tour event so rapidly!

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

alright guys, how are we?

some interesting comments about priddle on here.

in england there are a few players which are 'dangerous floaters'. who dont have points but on there day can be S*** hot.

Drew · Apr 9, 2009

Did u win today fitzy?

richo · Junior player

thornley beat lewis barnes 6 4 6 4
sletting johnson beat turberville
brassington beat alex bull
simon roberts beat tom knights not sure of scores

wolf · Tennis legend

Fitzy had a good win today over Priddle 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 displaying some deep grounstrokes which constantly forced Priddle onto the back foot and allowed him to attack. Fitzy certainly likes to go for his strokes and for the most past they were very accurate and hard.

Thornley is straaaaaaange he lost 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Sletting-Johnsen he barely hits it with any power and prefers to go for angles and get the to the net. A lot of his approach shots were not big enough and he was passed a lot. He was agressive off return taking it Agassi like at times barely letting it bounce but he left himself with too much to do in the third set going a 2-5* down after dropping serve twice.

In the semis Bains was had won the first 7-6 against Roberts (who beat Brassington) when I left and I was a lot more impressed by his shot making abilities today he hit a number of winners. The Fitzy-Sletting-Johnsen semi was about to start.

In the womens event Curtis moved into the semis despite a spirited effort from Ankutse winning 6-2, 7-5. Ankutse has a good serve which kept her in it in the second set but you got the impression Jade knew she really should win the title without breaking sweat. In the semis Vickers had just been taken to a third set by Kurlak having been taken to three sets by Drew in the quarters. Sam was hitting it a lot flatter than last time I saw her gone was the heavy loop and topspin but she didn't look a better player for it maybe it is just a work in progress.

wolf · Tennis legend

PS Why doesn't Roberts play futures any more he is perfectley capable but hasn't done so in three years?

Sheddie · administrator

cash ? plus he competed on the tour for several years and had a number of good wins eg over Martin Lee, Bloomfield, Fleming and Jamie Murray.....but he just wasn't consistent enough and never looked like making top 600 or higher

-- Edited by The Shedman on Friday 10th of April 2009 04:00:15 PM

Sheddie · administrator

Thornley must have changed his game in the past year or so.....I saw him against Nielsen at Surbiton (where he lost a close 3 setter) and he had a fairly big forehand (though his coach says the backhand is the better shot technically) and a decent serve too. The problem was consistency as once his level dropped he made a lot of errors.

wolf · Tennis legend

Mens final is between Roberts (who beat Bains 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1) and Sletting-Johnsen (who beat Fitzy 6-3, 6-3). Surprised by both of those results tbf as Bains was playing some good stuff before I left and while the Norweigan can be tricky I thought Fitzy would have to much on his groundies to beat him.

The womens final is as expected - Vickers and Curtis. Vickers beat Kurlak 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 and Curtis saw off Ullathorne (who must have been pretty tired after a 3 hour QF) 6-3, 6-2.

Sheddie · administrator

I reckon we should ban Sletting-Johnsen from these British tours...he seems to clean up in a fair few of them and steal the prize money from our guys

how do you rate Bains wolf ? I've seen him a couple of times in futures (not recently though I've got to say) and he seems extremely solid from back of the court, the sort of player who'd do well on slow surfaces but lacks big shots ?

wolf · Tennis legend

Yes that's what I thought about Bains when he thrashed Smethurst at Tipton but today he seemed to be going for his shots a bit more and hitting a few winners (but clearly fell apart after I left).

Honestly Sletting-Johnsen is not that good he's quite lanky and has a good serve but doesn't move very well. Deserves to be ranked higher than he is though.