Week 42 - Futures F35 (15K) - Sabadell, Spain

wolf · Tennis legend

Week 42 - Futures F35 (15K) - Sabadell, Spain

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

Go on Nikki, Go on Olly

airsmashers · County player

Have the LTA done this before with a group of youngsters?

gjr · Club Coach

Good idea if you ask me. Which maybe a first for the LTA :)

Doesn't really matter the draw size or the surface. Just good experience. Although if they all go down in the 1st round it will be disappointing.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Shame it is one of the epic 128 draws, but with the amount of youngsters that the LTA are taking, probably they had to find a 128 draw to ensure that all of them would make the cut.

Will be a good experience for them, even if they don't make the main draw, but obviously if they could pick up a few wins it would be great to see.

wolf · Tennis legend

airsmashers wrote:

Have the LTA done this before with a group of youngsters?

They sent Cox, Milton and Smethurst out to Turkey early last year with 128 qualifying draws on clay. Needless to say it was a complete disaster and no-one even came close to winning a point.

DavidC · Tennis legend

I expect we will see more of these LTA trips in the future. The LTA 2006 blueprint identified the transition from juniors to pro as a key focus, and have subsequently provided more opportunities for them in Futures etc events at an earlier age (which is partly why we had the two youngest ranked players until recently).

I think the LTA also want to extend the amount of competition for juniors on clay, as the best surface to develop a sound technique, so this is a logical move. The only junior ITF events appropriate for top 250 players at this time of year are in the Far East (plus one in the USA) on hard courts, which is probably another factor in the decision.

It is very enterprising for Joshua Ward-Hibbert to play here though. Most 1994 boys struggle to adapt to ITF juniors as 14 year olds playing against 18 year olds, so end up playing Tennis Europe Under 16 tournaments instead. Josh is our highest ranked 1994 boy in TE16 but he has yet to qualify for an ITF event (he lost in qualifying for a Grade 5, the lowest Tier, in Spain this week). Playing here is a big ask for him.

Drew · Oct 16, 2009

thanks for that david....could you single out a couple of guys that perhaps have potential?

DavidC · Tennis legend

A good start from our top juniors, and an impressive scoreline from Josh W-H

QR1: Lewis Burton UNR beat Enric Guaita-Pais (ESP) UNR 6-4 6-0
QR1: Alex Watt UNR lost to Ashot Khacharyan (RUS) UNR 0-6 1-6
QR1: Sam King UNR lost to Kevin Garcia De Reuse (ESP) UNR 1-6 6-4 2-6
QR1: Nikki Roenn UNR lost to (q10) Santos Sanchez-Patino (ESP) WR 1254 3-6 3-6
QR1: Joshua Reason UNR beat Jagadeesan Kumar (IND) UNR 3-6 6-4 6-3
QR1: Joshua Ward-Hibbert UNR lost to Nicolas Pinones-Haltenhoff (CHI) UNR 5-7 3-6
QR1: Tom Farquarson UNR beat Victor Cabellos Ullastre (ESP) UNR 6-0 6-3
QR1: Todd Chick UNR beat Sergio Sanchez Moruno (ESP) UNR 6-3 6-3
QR1: (q12) Ashley Hewitt WR 1437 beat Innocent Obita (UGA) UNR 6-0 6-0
QR1: Jan Dyl UNR lost to Arnua Dachs (ESP) UNR 2-6 0-6
QR1: Oliver Golding WR 1725 beat Eric Garcia Crespo (ESP) UNR 6-1 6-2
QR1: Oliver Webb UNR lost to (q8) Jordi Marse-Vidri (ESP) WR 1121 3-6 0-6
QR1: Richard Gabb WR 1682 beat Ruben Ruiz Pastor (ESP) UNR 6-1 7-5

DavidC · Tennis legend

QR2: Lewis Burton UNR v (WC) Jaume Martinez Vich (ESP) UNR
QR2: Joshua Reason UNR v Krunoslav Sven Lupis (CRO) UNR
QR2: Tom Farquharson UNR v Bruno Alvarez (BEL) UNR
QR2: Todd Chick UNR v Sergio Garcia Ferrandez (ESP) UNR
QR2: (q12) Ashley Hewitt WR 1437 v Joan-Marc Grimal-Ferrer (ESP) UNR
QR2: Oliver Golding WR 1725 v Arnau Dachs (ESP) UNR
QR2: Richard Gabb WR 1682 v (q15) Francesc Montanes-Roca (ESP) WR 1539

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

keep going Olly

DavidC · Tennis legend

Drew wrote:

thanks for that david....could you single out a couple of guys that perhaps have potential?

Olly would obviously be one, but the most intriguing of the 5 top juniors here is perhaps Ashley Hewitt. He has managed to scalp a top 5 junior a couple of times this year with an aggressive game which may be suited to the Pro circuit. His problem is that he failed to win the next match in both cases, and hasn't strung more than a couple of wins together in any junior main draw this year (whereas Richard, Tom, Lewis and Olly all have singles titles) and is yet to win an ITF Junior singles title. So on the one hand he may have the game to prosper, but on the other he has to develop consistency from one day to the next, as you cannot progress far up the ATP ladder by just winning one or two matches per event - the points are skewed against that.

Ashley actually lists clay as his favourite surface (and won his first ATP point on it) whereas Richard in particular has struggled in clay tournaments after a strong start to the year indoors.

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

QR2: BURTON, Lewis def. MARTINEZ VICH, Jaume (ESP) 6-4 6-2
QR2: REASON, Joshua lost to LUPIS, Krunoslav Sven (CRO) 1-6 2-6
QR2: FARQUHARSON, Tom def. ALVAREZ, Bruno (BEL) 6-3 6-1
QR2: CHICK, Todd lost to GARCIA FERRANDEZ, Sergio (ESP) 0-6 1-6
QR2: (12) HEWITT, Ashley def. GRIMAL-FERRER, Joan-Marc (ESP) 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (7)
QR2: GOLDING, Oliver lost to DACHS, Arnau (ESP) 4-6 4-6
QR2: GABB, Richard lost to MONTANES-ROCA, Francesc (ESP) 7-6 (4) 5-7 1-6

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

QR3: BURTON, Lewis lost to (1) GINER, Marc (ESP) 5-7 4-6
QR3: FARQUHARSON, Tom lost to (6) CLOSA-PUNCERNAU, Guillem (ESP) 3-6 6-7 (3)
QR3: (12) HEWITT, Ashley def. GARCIA FERRANDEZ, Sergio (ESP) 7-5 6-2

FQR: (12) HEWITT, Ashley WR 1437 v (6) CLOSA-PUNCERNAU, Guillem (ESP) WR 1042

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Let's hope Ashley can push him closa than Tom