Ugh, that justification of it strikes me as an utterly vile, spoilt little kid talking - too much too soon, perhaps? No matter how good she gets, I think I'll struggle to have any admiration for someone who behaves like that...

i think part of the problem Ratty is, aside from the fact that here shrieks are beyond ridiculous, she does other stuff as well...like the unnecessary fist pumping and c'monning on every meaningless point, the fact she doesn't grunt in practice

He never loses his rag, never argues with the umpire, always reverses poor linecalls against his opponent, loses graciously, etc. So I would certainly regard him as very sportsmanlike.

Probably not, but that makes our opinions more objective, doesn't it?!

I'm pretty impressed by Hannah James, putting up a good fight to go down 7-5 6-4 against Timea Babos - and she can serve aces! Converting 2 of 12 BPs ain't too tidy though. I'd confess I'd assumed from her results that Hannah was just another Brit notching up the points in obscure tournaments, but given Babos' win at Edinburgh and final at Bournemouth, this suggests she may have something - apologies for my assumptions, Hannah! Anyone know when she's planning her assault on the senior circuit?

5-2 up now. But both players below 40% on the first serve. I'm hoping the stats are wrong though, because if not, there's only been one winner so far...an ace. Doesn't sound like the most edifying of matches...