Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone Group II R1 v Tunisia (home) - 4-6 March 2011

Julia Carrot · All-time great

RE: Davis Cup - Euro Africa Zone Group II R1 v Tunisia (home) - 4-6 March 2011

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:

Count Zero wrote:
yes i think it's a worry that Boggos nerves could come in to it. .
If that's just it and he genuinely thinks Ward and Baker are the best bets fair enough. Though there is an arguement I think for playing Boggo here if he was thought likely to get wins and thus help his confidence ( and reduce his nerves ) for the future. But I don't mind some overall judgement call simply re winning Davis Cup ties now and in the future.

But the though of in any way pandering to the press / being concerned re press reaction and ......

I too think that if Leon wants to ever be able to use Boggo in DC with any confidence (Leon's or Boggo's confidence!), he needs to give him the chance to get a live rubber win against a player he's likely to beat even if he gets a bit tense, and I thought that was the whole idea behind picking him this time.

However, the tie is not completely without danger - (e.g. in hopefully a very far-fetched scenario, imagine Baker loses to Jaziri in the one 50/50 match of the tie, Ward has to retire against their no. 2 due to a freak accident, we win the doubles and then Colin has to face a fired-up Jaziri to keep us in the tie), so I think it was important for Leon to pick what he thought was our strongest/safest team - though come to think of it, that scenario I just mentioned is more of an argument for including three singles specialists than anything else!

Anyway, if he has genuinely picked what he believes is the best team to make sure of winning the tie, then that's great, but if what the press might say was a big factor in his decision, then I'd be just as disillusioned as indiana would be.

What I think some people at the LTA / former DC captains have failed to understand is that pandering to the press doesn't improve the team's chances (indeed, if anything it's likely to do the complete opposite) and I'm pretty sure that like us, even the journos (whether they said it or not) would have more respect for them if they did what they genuinely thought was right instead of worrying about what might get written about it.

steven · Tennis legend

Julia Carrot wrote:

There seems to zero coverage of Davis Cup matches from the BBC - is that right?

I've no internet access tomorrow, but thought my trusty little DAB radio would help out. No such luck it seems.

No, they seem to pick the ties I can't be at to completely black out cry

- I think the best we can hope for is a live blog on the LTA site. In the unlikely event we don't even get that, I'll see if I can get one or two of the AM.commers who are there to text updates.

Come to think of it, is nobody from here going to be in Bolton? Given the type of board we are, you'd have thought we'd have a massive turnout for DC ties, yet AM.com always seem to get a couple of dozen people going there, even when Andy isn't playing. I remember there being a couple of BT.netters in Liverpool and a handful in Eastbourne, but that was about it.

-- Edited by steven on Friday 4th of March 2011 07:54:04 AM

jmjhb · Lower Club Player

I'm going home for the weekend - I'm from Bolton but at uni in Sheffield. I might pop down on Saturday and Sunday. If I do, I'll post updates by iPhone.

Note: Apparently Saturday is sold out.

-- Edited by jmjhb on Friday 4th of March 2011 07:32:48 AM

-- Edited by jmjhb on Friday 4th of March 2011 07:36:36 AM

James · Satellite level

I'm going today and don't mind posting updates if the LTA don't. My twitter: http://twitter.com/jamesymac

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

What time does play start? It's so hard to find any information about this tie.

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks James. OEM is live blogging on the Times site, apparently, but Twitter updates are going to the best thing for those without much time or no Times sub.

Madeline wrote:

What time does play start? It's so hard to find any information about this tie.

Apparently the tickets say 12.45 (that may be when the opening ceremony starts) but the DC site says 13.00 - http://www.daviscup.com/en/results/tie/details.aspx?tieId=100016175

Count Zero · Tennis legend

it seems the LTA won't even be giving us a live blog?!

steven · Tennis legend

Maybe they're going to tweet updates instead then. I'm sure there are going to be updates somewhere, apart from the Times blog - I wouldn't be surprised if OEM tweets half of what he puts there anyway.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

it's pretty shocking how little coverage its getting. which tie did they manage a web stream for? i wonder if it was someone else that did it and they just tagged along.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

as it happens:

http://www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/Davis-Cup/As-it-Happens/040311---Davis-Cup---Live-updates-As-it-Happens/

steven · Tennis legend

I notice the DC site thinks it is:

"13:48 London
12:48 your time"

Which London are they talking about?!

wolf · Tennis legend

13.15

GB 1-0 TUN. Baker kicks things off by holding his service game to love.

13.10

Jamie Baker wins the toss and is about to serve against Malek Jaziri...

wolf · Tennis legend

Baker 4-3*

No break points so far.

British_is_Best · County player

Jamie takes the first set 6-4!