Week 15 - Challenger ($50K) - Baton Rouge, LA, USA - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 15 - Challenger ($50K) - Baton Rouge, LA, USA - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

Ratty wrote:
Not exactly surprising that our pasty-faced Jocko lost too!

I dare you to go on AM.com and use that phrase biggrin

Count Zero · Tennis legend

yeah i think alex was going there just for the sake of it really. he never had much luck at tallahasse either.

hopfully athens/rhodes/ramat hasheron will be better

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, clayfan, Jamie seemed to take well to the heat in Oz and was well tanned at the end.

Re Evo, he does have quite a number of big defeats, we're talking bakery products here, sometimes to quite a bit lower ranked players. That has made me wonder if he can kind of throw in the towel a bit if it's not his day. Though some have said on the forum that some of these defeats may be due to him just not matching at all well to some styles or maybe, as you now allude to, his serve being really off ( if these have such effect then much work really does need done )

Also, from what fairly little I have seen of him on TV, I have thought he has sometimes got down on himself a bit which hasn't helped him.

I've heard that he's a great figher before, but observations of some of his results and with my own eyes on TV make me wonder a bit.

Maybe those who know his game better and have seen him more can explain these conundrums more.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 13th of April 2010 09:16:29 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

yeah i think alex was going there just for the sake of it really. he never had much luck at tallahasse either.

hopfully athens/rhodes/ramat hasheron will be better

The Brits have always tended to do well in Greece - partly through weak draws in Futures, but it does tend to suggest the courts are pretty fast.

steven · Tennis legend

Wardy won 1 & 1, very convincing

so that's 2/4 for the Brits here, 4/4 for Akhenaten ...

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Go'ed Wardy

indiana · Tennis legend

Good win for James smile

One would imagine that the apparently very slow courts would in general be to James advantage here, though I do realise he doesn't just perform on slow courts.

Re the day as a whole ( guys and girls ) I make that 8 wins and 8 losses from known results today with none of the 8 wins great shocks, but notable performances in defeat to much higher ranked players for Heather, Naomi B and Chris.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 13th of April 2010 09:42:26 PM

clayfan · Lower Club Player

I have seen Evo play quite a lot Indiana, usually in minor tournaments. It can seem sometimes that he does lose fight. He can be very agressive with himself. Yet there are times when things slip away from him with barely an expression. So you may be right.

I think its more to do with the impotence he feels if things are not going his way. He cannot change his game to meet the challenge. If he is in the game he is far more animated.I still think though that it is a tennis thing rather than an attitude thing which causes so many bagels and strange defeats. On the whole he is a very determined young player.

Josh · Challenger level

indiana wrote:

Re the day as a whole ( guys and girls ) I make that 8 wins and 8 losses from known results today with none of the 8 wins great shocks, but notable performances in defeat to much higher ranked players for Heather, Naomi B and Chris.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 13th of April 2010 09:42:26 PM

But on the flip side a couple of the losses were shocks, notably Cav and Katie and probably Evo as well. Hopefully Laura can end the day on a good note.

Sheddie · administrator

Wardy should have a decent chance in the next round too when he's up against second seed Kevin Anderson. Anderson has a big serve and forehand but the slow courts will help neutralize that and he's not a great mover.

Re Boggo....I suspect he may have been tempted to Baton and Talahassee by a young American lass...eh Count ? :P

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One would imagine that the apparently very slow courts would in general be to James advantage here, though I do realise he doesn't just perform on slow courts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOL getting in the qualifier before someone complains, I'm impressed. And you're right, a hard court that plays a bit like a clay court should be pretty ideal for Wardy.

indiana wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re the day as a whole ( guys and girls ) I make that 8 wins and 8 losses from known results today with none of the 8 wins great shocks, but notable performances in defeat to much higher ranked players for Heather, Naomi B and Chris.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now 9-8 - 6-4 for the men, all with (ATP) rankings except Evo's loss, and 3-4 for the women, with the losses for Cav and Katie pretty dire ones, but the close ones you mention making up for that a bit and Jade Windley's result in Bol CRO looking like it won't appear tonight - their website, which promised live scores (!) is a bit disappointing to say the least, but then again it is only a 10K so we shouldn't expect too much.

Just rounding up results / R2 pairings here:

L32: Josh Goodall WR 312 beat (Q) Philip Bester (CAN) WR 521 by 2-6 6-4 7-5 smile

L32: Jamie Baker WR 282 lost to Tim Smyczek (USA) WR 203 by 4-6 6-2 6-1 cry

L32: Dan Evans WR 363 lost to (WC) Alexander Domijan (USA) WR 656 by 4 & 3 bleh

L32: James Ward WR 257 beat (Q) Bryan Koniecko (USA) WR 1117 by 1 & 1 smile

L16: Josh Goodall WR 312 v Tobias Kamke (GER) WR 177
L16: James Ward WR 257 v (2) Kevin Anderson (RSA) WR 103

Kamke is 2-0 in the H2H with Josh, Barnstaple 2007 and Jersey 2009, both in straight sets.

SMC1809 · All-time great

Josh lost 6-2 6-2. cry

steven · Tennis legend

That's not good - 10 games v Kamke in 2007, 7 in 2009, 4 today ... not exactly progress (unless you're German!)

clayfan · Lower Club Player

So this is not a "leaner fitter Goodall who is going to move up the rankings this year", by the sound of it. He really should be doing better than this.