I'd say a fair enough selection of the final 4.

I had been moving increasingly towards the thinking that the doubles should take care of itself and it was better to have good singles cover.  With Leon admitting he still wasn't sure on who should be the starting two singles players just makes more sense and he can change the two on the 3rd day.

Not that any of it should really matter in this tie 

Quite impressed with these recent and previous seemingly pretty straightforward statements from Leon Smith, as opposed to his predecessor.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 22nd of February 2011 08:42:00 PM

Count Zero wrote:

---

thats not nesecaerily the final selection though, i think it can changed up till next week some time right? you just have to name 4 for the DC website.

---

Yes, that's right - teams need to name a provisional four now but can change up to two of them up to an hour before the draw for the tie, which tends to happen the day before the tie starts.

With the normal Tunisian number 2 Haithem Abid (CH 360) not taking part there are three 1992 borns vieing to take his place.

Two (or maybe three, I can't find anoything for Triki) are at American universities.

Slim Hamza is at University of Utah and has a CH of 69 in juniors.

Sami Ghorbel is at Troy University and has a CH of 200 in juniors

Ahmed Triki has a CH of 68 in juniors and won the African junior championships last year beating Hamza in the final 6-2 6-3.

Almost fainted when i read this!!!
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/tennis/simon-reed/article/5654/


Bogdanovic Davis Cup return fair



Thu Feb 24 04:37PM

Alex Bogdanovic has been recalled to Great Britain's Davis Cup squad - and good for him.

It's a lifeline. In the last year or so it's not been an easy existence for him or an easy relationship with the LTA.

I'm a good friend of former captain John Lloyd and know that John had been beaten up too much really by Alex over the years; he was never going to pick him again.

I'm not sure that all the criticism, even from John, was valid with Alex: he's obviously got a lot of talent and has worked hard throughout most of his career, if perhaps not all of it.

A lot of the criticism that's come his way - he's a shirker etc - is not accurate. I don't know him that well, but I've heard bits and pieces from other people saying that he has worked pretty hard.

What is blatantly clear is that he suffers from nerves at times. That is a problem - he gets nervous, tries too hard and all that superb talent that he has, when the arm gets stiff, it's just not there.

I think there's less pressure now that Great Britain have dropped down a tier. It's Tunisia. In Bolton. It's not a massive occasion. It will be big for Alex and it will be big for those that are there, but there won't be the media hype there has been before. There will be attention, sure, but when he goes out on court it won't feel like a massive occasion.

He has been on the Davis Cup team before when there have been big crowds, big opponents. There should be a decent crowd at this match and whilst the opponents are reasonable, they are not that great.

One of the guys is ranked above Alex but Alex is a better player than his ranking suggests.

I see Alex getting off to a good start in both matches, assuming he plays both singles. But it's just whether, when it comes to the crunch, he can finish those matches or not - it's been like he's banging his head against a brick wall.

I think if he can get the one win in Davis Cup tennis then things should become a little easier for him.

In a number of his previous matches he's been ahead - and the pressure mounts within him.

With a less frenetic atmosphere in Bolton against Tunisia, if it happens again - given his age now - we'll know that there isn't a lot of hope. In a way that puts more pressure on him.

Whether he can become a major player for Great Britain going forward, assuming he performs well in Bolton, depends completely on Andy Murray.

If Alex wins and Great Britain win the tie against Tunisia then I'm sure he will be in the squad going forward for the next few years. There's not a lot of opposition to be fair but he is the second best British tennis player by some way. The results don't lie. On his day he is capable of beating several players in the top 100 - and I'm afraid the other guys aren't.

If he were to overcome the psychological problems, Alex is capable of being ranked about 70 or 80 in the world. I'm not sure he's strong enough to go any higher; but on sheer talent alone, if he could get rid of the confidence issue, he could comfortably be ranked inside the top 100.

A realistic, balanced article about Alex's strengths and weaknesses, whatever next!

Update - we have just one ticket left for Friday 4th March.
Is anyone interested?
If so please PM me.  It's a good price ... £14.00 to watch Wardastar and Bogtastic!