Chiefly because this is the last chance for him to do it. He is obviously a competitve guy. Better for him to have a go rather than sit on the sidelines. He can carry on coaching afterwards. Look at Bloomers run in Newport - anything could happen.
Dunno why, that stuff about Hilts got me reminiscing ...
It must have been 11 years ago, at a tournament in Wrexham - I met John Hicks, who was (and is) a well-respected top-level coach. At the time he was coaching Hilton (aged 18) and Matt Smith (aged 15). He told me in all sincerity that Hilton would make the top 100 - he wouldn't go right to the top owing to his size.
He added that Smith, who you may remember beat Mario Ancic in the Petits A final in 1998, would make the top 50.
Oh well ....
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"Where Ratty leads - the rest soon follow" (Professor Henry Brubaker - The Institute of Studies)
The final Tier 1 events (other than the ABT Masters) are taking place in Nottingham this week, and the big guns are coming out to play. Joining Fitzy (who will finish top of the Tier 1 leaderboard) will be Alex Ward & Marcus Willis amongst others.
In the womens tournament, Anna Fitzy will finish top and she's seeded 1 for this event.
Well done the LTA (there's a phrase I never thought I'd say!), the British Tour has had much more purpose and worth this year. Now for the rest of British Tennis.................
SF: (5) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 1089 beat (1) Alex Ward WR 477 by 4-6 6-3 6-1 SF: Simon Roberts UNR beat James Hignett UNR by 3 & 1
FI: (5) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 1089 v Simon Roberts UNR
If Fitzy could take the kind of form he's showing in these BT events into ATP-ranked events, he's be well into the top 1000 in no time! Hopefully he's at least built up a bit of a fighting fund for doing some Futures next year.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
hit some good form and your right i need to build up as much cash as possible through these tournaments up till the end of the year including masters to help fund some tournaments for next year. im playing extremely well at the moment so its good.