Wimbledon Wild Cards

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

RE: Wimbledon Wild Cards

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Much as I like Eaton, I don't think a wildcard would be the best for him. Everyone keeps talking about giving him the chance to defend his points won last year and I agree with that 100% but therefore, give him a qualy wc (if he needs it), as that way he might actually defend most of the points, if you give him a main draw wildcard and he draws a Federer/Nadal (or Roddick, wouldn't that just be an ace-fest) then he defends none of the points (unless the rules have changed about wildcards getting nil points for a first round loss).

I would give wildcards to:

Evans, he learnt from the suspension in the best way possible and deserves that reward, as well as the chance to show the press that he's no longer the poster boy for everything wrong with the British tennis players' culture
Ward, because winning a tournament from qualifying just so you can play a wimbledon deserves it's just reward in my opinion

Boggo, he's still our number two and he is still the one with some of the best potential, yes he is guilty of mental weakness but his ranking is always below the lta designated cut off and as such deserves the reward.
Slabba, I know he hasn't really pushed on at all this year and I for one am bitterly disappointed, but I'm always willing to give my favourites another chance to prove themselves, so this one would be awarded in a purely biased way

Goodall, he's made improvements to his ranking over the last year and presented himself quite well at the DC despite the losses.

The others I would give to Grosjean, and two others, either brits who make an impression at Queens/Notsurbiton or a couple of other 'names' from the sport who ask.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

personally i hope alex does get a wc for wimby. i am happy for him to go into the qualies for both queens and eastbourne. last year i felt he was better served playing through the Q draw at notts, ok he got a decent rd1 draw in wc Ward, but i think he played well at wimby, losing to an in form bolelli. but then look at queens b4hand, where due to rain at surbs, he hadnt played a grass match and he was so off form vs sirianni it was painful.

i think it can be a negative, esp on grass with so little time to adjust, to get wc's to all 3, as you can end up with 3 very tough (or 4 as surbs has some pretty good grass players often) 1st rd draws and be out on your derier snappetty quick with the press howling after you about wasted wc's.

an example being boggo back in 06 where he drew tursunov, mirinyi and rafa in sequence over these 3 events

john · Top national player

I'm currently watching Romain Jouan, a French WC ranked 310 in the world, get hammered by Andy Roddick in the first round of the French Open.

Jouain's greatest achievement prior to this appears to be winning a couple of Spanish Futures and making the second round of ATP Metz. He is 24.

Just remember this in a few weeks when the press/gullible people want to tell you that "ONLY IN BRITAIN COULD THESE LAYABOUT SCROUNGERS GET WILDCARDS THEY DON'T DESERVE"

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

john wrote:

I'm currently watching Romain Jouan, a French WC ranked 310 in the world, get hammered by Andy Roddick in the first round of the French Open.

Jouain's greatest achievement prior to this appears to be winning a couple of Spanish Futures and making the second round of ATP Metz. He is 24.

Just remember this in a few weeks when the press/gullible people want to tell you that "ONLY IN BRITAIN COULD THESE LAYABOUT SCROUNGERS GET WILDCARDS THEY DON'T DESERVE"

Jouan wasn't originally supposed to get a WC.... his WC was the one that John Isner had, but because he pulled out, it had to be given to someone else. And as he pulled out after qualifying had begun, none of the players in qualifying could get the WC so they had to give it to someone to wasn't originally considered good enough for a Quali WC.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

I'd def include boggo, ward, evans and eaton if he wants one....after last year's run he might want to do qualies again, but he has proven he can win @ Timbledon.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

Jouan aactually played better than Roddick from the back of the court...

john · Top national player

The Knight wrote:

Jouan aactually played better than Roddick from the back of the court...

Sorry, can't agree with that for one second. He made quite a few errors, his shot selection was awful and he couldn't hit balls on the run. Roddick was pretty solid, moved much better and outplayed Jouan in every aspect.

FD, thanks for that info. If that was at Wimbers however, surely they wouldn't have given it to a Brit. Would have gone to next on the list imo. Or maybe Jouan was. I don't know.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

Roddick's length was terrible, Jouan hit the ball much cleaner. His movement was poor but his shotmaking was superior

freerider · Futures level

FLEMBO NOW RANKED 497 = LEGIBLE FOR QUALIES WC

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

freerider wrote:

FLEMBO NOW RANKED 497 = LEGIBLE FOR QUALIES WC

"Legible" - or "eligible"...?!! confuse

Guid007 · Strong Club Player

The top 8 British players are guaranteed wildcards to either qualifying, if below 500, or the main draw, if below 250. So Boggo, Goodall, Ward will be recommended for the main draw, as well as Evans, on the basis of 'exceptional talent', and the rest, Bloomfield, Eaton and Slabinksy will get qualifying wildcards. Fleming could possibly get a qualifying wildcard, or he may have to play the pre-qualifying for British players ranked 500 and above to ensure a qualifying wildcard, with only 2 players from the pre-qualifying tournament getting wildcards into qualifying.

-- Edited by Guid007 on Monday 25th of May 2009 07:40:20 PM

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

john wrote:

FD, thanks for that info. If that was at Wimbers however, surely they wouldn't have given it to a Brit. Would have gone to next on the list imo. Or maybe Jouan was. I don't know.

The next player on the entry list was Leo Mayer, but as he was in qualifying, then they couldn't have given him the WC.

Our good friend Vinny Ice was the first player on the list who wasn't playing qualies, so maybe it should have gone to him. biggrin

If it was Wimbledon and this happened... they'd probably just forfeit the WC and create a LL spot instead of giving it to someone else, I'd guess, judging by what they did last year with the WC's.

The question for Fleming though now that he's top 500 is whether he'd rather play Wimbledon qualifying or play doubles at Eastbourne?

EDIT: Can't believe I typed Nottingham instead of Eastbourne, especially considering where I'm living at the moment and the amount of adverts all around the town...

-- Edited by ForeverDelayed on Monday 25th of May 2009 08:06:11 PM

steven · Tennis legend

I hope Ken doesn't convince him to play Eastbourne - he's got to play Wimby qualies if he's serious about singles, surely?

Or could he do an extended version of the Tsonga dash, first on for singles each morning then down to Eastbourne for the last doubles match of the day? LOL

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

steven wrote:

I hope Ken doesn't convince him to play Eastbourne - he's got to play Wimby qualies if he's serious about singles, surely?

Or could he do an extended version of the Tsonga dash, first on for singles each morning then down to Eastbourne for the last doubles match of the day? LOL

It's only about 2 hours away so it's do-able, but clearly not ideal - of course, Fleming could lose 1st round of Wimbledon qualies before even playing doubles or qualify for Eastbourne to mean he doesn't need to make the dash.