Just when you thought...

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

RE: Just when you thought...

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I read a Daily Mirror which somebody had left on the Metro, and there was a huge headline about "British #3 tennis star" and "sex attack allegations", followed by an article which much lower down said that Dan had not been involved but it was thought he might have witnessed something helpful. I can't remember the exact wording but that was definitely the gist of it.

Great fellas, our tabloid journalists. How many people will read the headline but not bother to read the disclaimer further down?

Ratty · County player

The Knight wrote:

there's nothing wrong with going out as long as they don't let it affect their training, conditioning or chances in an upcoming match

Out clubbing in Bath in the early hours of 19 March. Loses 2n2 to Kamke in the Jersey first round on 23 March. Half of the first round matches were played on 22 March, so that was always in prospect.

Connected? Maybe not, but I venture to suggest that a "real" pro would never take that risk.

Anyway, what's it got to do with me, everyone is entitled to go to hell in their own way, as Jeremy Bentham I think it was said.

smile

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm, when was Dan Evans last GB's no 3 ranked player as quite widely reported ? ( well before he lost his Jersey points anyway )

So what else may be a load of tosh ?

LadyTigress · County player

I understand where you're coming from, Ratty, but I think I'm more with Knight on this one. I don't think your choice of where you frequent necessarily affects whether you're a) essentially a decent person, or b) whether or not you're a successful person. We have to remember that in the press and media, mention of nightclubs is usually going to come up in connection with a story about celebrities or something terrible like this story. The press report on the rare cases, that are newsworthy (or not in the case of celebs!), not the everyday majority cases - "Sarah and John and their friends went out to a nightclub for a couple of drinks, danced for a few hours, and came home just fine" just isn't a good story. The media is also largely responsible for the impression that nightclubs are "primarily associated with (i) half-witted members of the British and foreign "aristocracy", and (ii) chavs out for a one-night-stand or a fight.", again creating a false impression based on a minority of cases.

aww *grins* You're right though, plenty of people have an active and enjoyable social life without frequenting nightclubs, and believe me I do not say all of the above as some kind of nightclub afficionado - I could probably count on two hands the number of times I've been out to nightclubs. But I've not observed the wide sweeping generalisations that you infer, either in patronage or effect on one's subsequent successes. I think people, including myself, are aware of the possibility of trouble in any number of ways, and do attempt to take steps to avoid such outcomes. The experience of going to a nightclub with your 100-strong martial arts club is... quite unique I must admit. To answer your question about the loud music (which I admit I do have a distaste for, both in volume and playlist), I believe the principle exchange of communication is via elaborate body language rather than lengthy verbal conversation - more of a casual meet-and-greet than a philosophical debate.

Sadly, sometimes you can be as smart as you like in your arrangements and unfortunately terrible things like this still happen - sometimes you can be not so smart, but that doesn't mean anyone deserves something as terrible as that to happen to them. cry

Until proven otherwise, I'm inclined to think that this whole involvement of Evo is a case of much ado about nothing. I don't see any indications that he was involved beyond possibly witnessing some useful information. Unfortunate that it's been plastered all over the press in a suggestion of something more sinister though. evileye

philwrig · Hall of fame

To be fair the vast majority of top sportspeople in the world are clean living types who would probably prefer a game of scrabble than downing several pints of beer etc. etc. However as long as its not done to excess each sportsperson has to live the life that suits them so the odd night out if thats what they need is not a big deal. The most important thing is their performance on the court.

Vandenburg · Futures level

hmmm really trying to think of a run of the mill vandenburg sarcastic commnet on this matter but cant think of one. Hope the situation ends well thats all?

scottie1 · Futures level

well it is now on bbc ceefax.
my brother lives in Bath seemingly names three players in local paper ie Evans Manuel Bains and Tim Bradshaw! being interviewed by police

Shhh · Challenger level

Challenging Ratty for the fuddy duddy title, could I point out that a young lady appears to have been sexually assaulted, the worst part of the story. I hope the trio are not involved in any way and can in fact assist in catching the b*****d because, thats what this person surely is.

indiana · Tennis legend

I agree with those folk that basically say the if guys want to go out for occasional night outs and have a few drinks then I don't see any huge problem as long as that is in moderation and they remain dedicated to the game and to practice and improvement.

What I would say is as professional sportspeople I feel it should be occasional and not too close to ( and definitely not during tournaments ).

I make no judgement at all about the sort of folk that habitually go to nightclubs smile

In this case it does seem rather close to Jersey, but then again we have no idea how long were they were there, how much Dan ( and he looks perfectly sober in the pic smile

) or the others had to drink.

It already seems to be the case that the press may have generally over-sensationalised things here so I wouldn't want to take on trust much about this whole episode.

clayfan · Lower Club Player

It looked very serious yesterday and when the link was posted to the "wanted" newspaper article I feared the worse. CCTV stills of tennis players engaged in God-knows-what. When I saw the photo I burst out laughing. What a trio! I bet that was not the kind of publicity photo Tim Bradshaw had in mind! They don't look as if they are doing anything untoward so lets hope none are involved.

It does give people the excuse to dredge up Dan's little mistake a few years ago. He must wonder when that will be forgotten about. The character reference from "a source close to the LTA" was less than flattering, but he is still a teenager and not a mature player yet. The incident may have caused Dan's poor Jersey showing and subsequent disasterous points plunge.

As for nightclubs, they follow a long list of nere-do-well establishments from 50s dance halls through 70s discos which all acted as drunken boy-meets-girl venues with trouble to match and a source of juicy newpaper headlines. Parent's nightmares but rights of passage for that youth generation. They all were simply very good at separating young people from their disposable income.

Josh · Challenger level

The Knight wrote:

steven wrote:

miaoooooooowwww!

LOL i had forgotten about Maniel and his cat noises

Afraid to say he seemed to have toned it down a bit in Bath, but it was incredible at the Futures at Foxhills last year. Guys watching matches three courts away were bursting out laughing for the first few games then the umpire had a word and he didn't make another sound the rest of the match.

If all goes well I should be at these student nights at Bath next year, so hopefully some first hand reports of any future incidents! biggrin

Count Zero · Tennis legend

did anyone see the description of the club night:

The club had been hosting a student event known as Glamour Puss, with drinks at just £1 a time.

Its website calls it a night for 'pimps, hos and pornstars' and adds: 'Hey sexy kittens, glam it up to the max in the company of Bath's finest student crowd whilst sipping on your Cristal (or a bottle of VK will do just fine!) with a night where you can pimp your outfit anyway you like - but remember less is more.'

fairly provocative.

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

did anyone see the description of the club night:

The club had been hosting a student event known as Glamour Puss, with drinks at just £1 a time.

Its website calls it a night for 'pimps, hos and pornstars' and adds: 'Hey sexy kittens, glam it up to the max in the company of Bath's finest student crowd whilst sipping on your Cristal (or a bottle of VK will do just fine!) with a night where you can pimp your outfit anyway you like - but remember less is more.'

fairly provocative.

That was the main reason for my "questionable choice of night club" comment. I guess the clubs just vie to out-trash each other ...

LadyTigress · County player

I did read the description onf the club night. Stupidity is infinite. I've noticed a trend amongst some people to approach "pimps, hos and pornstars" as "cool". They haven't got a clue.

It should be stressed however that provocation is no excuse for attacking/assaulting anyone. How often have you heard in cases such as these people try and use "She was asking for it - she was wearing a really short skirt." as an excuse for their assault. BS. "Oh yeah, it wasn't my fault that I brutally raped someone, because they were wearing really sexy clothes and wanted to look nice it must be their fault." Absolute BS. Inexcusable.

Totally agree with whoever said the focus ought to be on this terrible incident - which is what I said in my earlier post, but people may have lost that because I was making another point at the same time which required some lengthier explanation, whereas it only takes one grim line to say that this is a terrible incident.

Glad to say, as I admitted before, I am not a habitual nightclub goer - only been to one 2 times in my entire life. Actually it would be more correct to say that I was taken there by my martial arts club, for my 18th birthday, over our "Super Training Weekend", and I felt pretty safe with 100 martial artist buddies with me in that club including my two 4th Dan blackbelt sabums (TKD word for senseis). I think I came off it better than my colleagues both older and younger though. It's a long story.

I would reiterate that at this stage, until proven otherwise, I think Dan's involvement is purely as a witness and that this press stuff about it is much ado about nothing.

I think the whole dragging up the thing from two years ago is just stupid, and whoever that was from the LTA who said those things I think that was poorly done, poorly done indeed to drag it up again. Firstly, at Dan's age, two years can make all the difference and believe me age and experience can have a big effect on a young person. Secondly, didn't he already apologise and do penance for this? Thirdly, sure it was a bad idea, but I don't think it qualifies as something so bad that it blackens his name or anything - he went out to a nightclub; he didn't assault a girl or get in a fight with someone or mug somebody - press, and possibly this "LTA source" should get some perspective.

-- Edited by LadyTigress on Wednesday 7th of April 2010 09:46:24 AM