Week 23 - ATP 250 - AEGON Championships, Queen's Club

spud · Challenger qualifying

RE: Week 23 - ATP 250 - AEGON Championships, Queen's Club

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Curtains for Eaton by 2 & 1. cry Marcus being outclassed by Ebden at the moment: 2-6 *1-2. Time for him to stage a comeback along the lines of QR1, methinks...

RJA · Hall of fame

If Boggo can make it through there are some promising qualifier spots in the draw.

He would play either

Devvarman (Nadal in R2)
Schuettler (Nishikore or Querrey in R2)
Kukushkin (Nalbandion or Marchenko in R2)
Paire (Cilic in R2)

The winner of Cox v Ward plays Wawrinka. If Golding could beat Mahut he would play Verdasco.

-- Edited by RJA on Saturday 4th of June 2011 04:59:44 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
Marcus being outclassed by Ebden at the moment: 2-6 *1-2. Time for him to stage a comeback along the lines of QR1, methinks...

Not to be. Loses by 2 & 3. cry

Smidster · Challenger level

Jeff Stelling wrote:
cheers for the updates guys.

sorry to be a pain but got a quick question as my Adobe doesn't work on my laptop - so can't view the OoP. Are there two rounds of qualifying scheduled for today? Also, do the 500 tickets for qualies tend to be snapped up quickly?

Was certainly no problem getting in to Birmingham today to see a little of the women's qualifying. Nor unfortunately did anyone at the local train station have any idea where it was!

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

Really decent at Queens today, I'd advise anyone who can to go along tomorrow.

Boggo played some really solid grasscourt tennis today and clearly demonstrated how he's hugely under-ranked at the moment. Had an atrocious line call vs Smyczek when serving for the first set which put him at 0-30. Impressively reeled off the next few points though and didn't let it put him off. Boggo - Reynolds is going to be a great watch tomorrow.

Morgan was a weird one. I understand the comments from people saying it's encouraging he took Clement to a TB but I'd be inclined to say it was through some average tennis from the Frenchman. First set Morgan could barely get a groundstroke in and was regularly mistiming it badly, which was surprising considering he'd beaten Sean earlier. This continued into the second set and Clement gave every appearance of cruising through (i.e breaking George early and then barely trying on the rest of his return games). Then an atrocious couple of games let the young lad back in. Lest anyone think me too criticial of George, towards the end he was (finally) starting to strike the ball very sweetly and came up with the most ree-donculous second serve ace when MP down. I just thought his swings were too grandiose and over-exaggerated to be suited to a grass court today, he was framing it more often than a Federer backhand (NB C'mon Rog tomorrow). Clement seemed a nice enough bloke to chat to after the match but make no mistake he pulled off all the tricks he knew to win the TB.

Eaton probably is the opposite of Morgan. Played some gorgeous tennis, volleys as crisp as they usually are with Chris. He just lost pretty much every 'big point' to talk in cliches. I would normally say it's a shame as before today I'd only seen snatches of a few of Matosevic's games, but what a nice guy. Deferential to officials even in the face of poor calls, chatting for ages to spectators afterwards and he seemed genuinely honoured that people were watching him play. Top man.

Which brings me onto Willis. He and Eaton were playing on adjacent courts so I had half an eye on each. What a prima donna. Undeniably talented when it suits him, also rude in the extreme to ballgirls, umpires and line judges alike. Last time I saw him I know he was big, but seriously. I'm sure he's put on a stone since then. If anything I was impressed as I don't think I could look like that with playing tennis daily and presumably on some sort of diet. Was rather glad that Ebden thrashed him (apologies if that's an unpopular viewpoint on here).

Fingers crossed for Boggo tomorrow.

-- Edited by Jeff Stelling on Saturday 4th of June 2011 07:03:19 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks Jeff for that, you managed to make it in then smile

Very interesting to read your all round views on the different players.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 4th of June 2011 07:42:20 PM

Shhh · Challenger level

A good read Jeff, thanks.

Marcus Willis · Newbie

Jeff- maybe you were not at the same match I was today- didn't say a word to the balls girls maybe my attitude was angry but when your not playing great I'm not going to be over the moon- I said nothing to the umpire at all- and nothing to line judges. As for te weight I'm passing fitness tests with flying colours on endurance and speed. Oh and strength. Took out the guy who made j wimby final last year so he knows how to play on grass.... Also Jeff if you can beat me at any physical test I will change my middle name to Jeff. Not being funny but what are you top 600 in the world at (other than the obvious)?

johnnylad · Tennis legend

until the last sentence i was with you lad...

Marcus Willis · Newbie

What was wrong with the last sentence- he is slagging me off being completely biased- I'm not going to let people walk all over me- this is a tough sport for u guys to talk about it the way you do. I'm no angel but I'm not going to let people falsely accuse me of things....

Drew · Jun 4, 2011

Marcus Willis wrote:
What was wrong with the last sentence- he is slagging me off being completely biased- I'm not going to let people walk all over me- this is a tough sport for u guys to talk about it the way you do. I'm no angel but I'm not going to let people falsely accuse me of things....

Marcus,

I can only say i have watched you on several occaisions playing in Scottish futures. I have never seen you give anyone grieff....umpires or ball crew. If anything you are fairly quite. I saw Evo beat you in the Glasgow futures couple years back and you took it well even though you were carrying a leg injury.

You keep it up young man and remember all of us here wish you all the very best whenever you play.

Take care.

scottie1 · Futures level

well said marcus good for you to defend yourself shows that you do care and want to succeed

RJA · Hall of fame

Marcus Willis wrote:
What was wrong with the last sentence- he is slagging me off being completely biased- I'm not going to let people walk all over me- this is a tough sport for u guys to talk about it the way you do. I'm no angel but I'm not going to let people falsely accuse me of things....

Good for you to come on here and defend yourself.

Don't forget that the vast majority of people posting on this site do want to see all British players doing better, especially the younger generations, and while I admit that most of us can occasionally be a little harsh it is only because we want to see players like you suceed.

Sheddie · administrator

Well said Marcus, thanks for taking the time to post on here. I think I can speak for most of us on here in that we're rooting for you as with all the British players. Quality win in round one today, really hope you can build on that and enjoy some of the success you're capable of !

I apologise if any player is offended by comments posted on here. I think some people need to realise that a lot of players read this forum as it is designed to be a place where people can follow and support British tennis.