He is also a handy doubles player (ranking of around the 120 mark I believe) which would be very interesting if we managed to get to a level at which Andy felt it worth playing at. A combination of Andy, Dustin and Flemski or possibly Andy, Dustin, Boggo and Hutchins/Jamie M. I maybe getting a little carried away as Dustin is currently still very much Jamaican....!
Why do we want a journeyman pro who is in the latter part of his career representing GB. Are we that desperate ? If he was top 50 or much younger I would be seriously interested.
He's hardly coming to the end of his career. A year ago he had never been ranked inside the top 400 but will be top 100 very soon. I'd call him a journeyman who is just reaching the peak of his career and could well stay in the top 100 for a number of years. As has been mentioned quite a few times Gicquel didn't make the breakthrough until he was even older and he's now been a solid 50-70 ranked player for about 3 or 4 years. No reason Dustin can't match or even better that.
a journeyman pro who is in the latter part of his career representing GB.
A term which could equally apply to Boggo, and yet it's widely acknowledged that Boggo is our best player bar Andy Murray and I for one think that getting Boggo back on the DC team would be a considerable improvement over our current situation. I doubt that Dustin Brown would ever make the world's top 50, and it's true he's in his mid to late 20s now, but that doesn't mean he couldn't make a valuable contribution. Now, if we were in the situation that Spain is in, one might question whether we really need to take on a player like Dustin Brown.
Granted though, if he was another Andy Murray then that would definitely be an opportunity to grab!
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King of Slice "He's on a one-man mission to bring the slice back to tennis." Inverdale
Why do we want a journeyman pro who is in the latter part of his career representing GB. Are we that desperate ? If he was top 50 or much younger I would be seriously interested.
In all honesty yes I think we probably are! As others have said Dustin is in his mid 20s and has made a big jump in the last year or so. He probably has another 5 or so years and having a player ranked consistently between the 80-120 range say would be of serious help to us in my opinion
- surname begins with B - born in central Europe in 1984 - but now plays for an island on the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean - pretty laid back but can have a serious edge - CH in the 99-108 range - hadn't reached the top 100 by the time he turned 25 - has never won a MD singles match at Wimby but has had the odd good result at Queen's - and has won Challenger titles (*) - has played legendary Brit-basher Stéphane Robert in a Final (+) - gave an interview to the BBC this week which gave an insight into life as a journeyman pro - hasn't played for his country in DC for a little while - may have fallen out with his national federation
They could be twins!
(*) 2 for DB, 9 for AB (+) DB lost to him Jo'burg 2010, AB beat him Wrexham 2006
-- Edited by steven on Friday 11th of June 2010 10:47:47 AM
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Having seen the references to Boggo as PMG perhaps, given that Dustin would be a foreign player crossing over to play for GB he could be called PMR (Poor Man's Rusedski)....
- surname begins with B - born in central Europe in 1984 - but now plays for an island on the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean - pretty laid back but can have a serious edge - CH in the 99-108 range - hadn't reached the top 100 by the time he turned 25 - has never won a MD singles match at Wimby but has had the odd good result at Queen's - and has won Challenger titles (*) - has played legendary Brit-basher Stéphane Robert in a Final (+) - gave an interview to the BBC this week which gave an insight into life as a journeyman pro - hasn't played for his country in DC for a little while - may have fallen out with his national federation
They could be twins!
(*) 2 for DB, 9 for AB (+) DB lost to him Jo'burg 2010, AB beat him Wrexham 2006
-- Edited by steven on Friday 11th of June 2010 10:47:47 AM
An interesting set of coincidences!
If I recall correctly, slightly off-topic here, but Boggo shares a birthday with both Jurgen Melzer and former countryman Novak Djokovic - 22nd May. And of course we almost poached Nole when he was 18. Just random coincidences.
Ironically I was wondering the other what if Boggo had never come to Britain and had stayed in Serbia? It seemed so very weird to imagine him as "Alex Bogdanovic of Serbia"... I consider him a Brit through and through!
-- Edited by LadyTigress on Friday 11th of June 2010 12:16:06 PM
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King of Slice "He's on a one-man mission to bring the slice back to tennis." Inverdale