Boys: Wimbledon Juniors 2011

RJA · Hall of fame

RE: Boys: Wimbledon Juniors 2011

steven · Tennis legend

DavidC wrote:
steven wrote:
zootennis asking who the commentators were on that match - I recognised both voices but my mind's gone blank on the main commentator's name (?)
Mark Petchey

That was the name I knew. LOL I meant the other one.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

was it Bradnam or Reed? Maybe Paul Hand as well?

Edit: Sorry, definitely Petchey!

-- Edited by The Knight on Thursday 30th of June 2011 02:29:02 PM

steven · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
Two sloppy games aside that was an outstanding performance from Liam. His backhand was very solid while his forehand was devastating at times. Throw in great mental strength and there is a lot to indicate that he has a big future.

Yes, I agree, he's looked very impressive the times I've seen him play and the main weaknesses don't look like anything a couple of years getting bigger/stronger couldn't sort out. Hard to know how high he could go, but it looks like it's going to be fun finding out.

It was great to see all the other young Brits getting caught up in the match and getting behind him on Twitter too.

I hope a few of the top GB juniors have a fair amount of success so that none of them have to put up with the 'Britain's one big hope' tag, at least not unless/until there are a few of them in the top 100.

RJA · Hall of fame

Will be interesting to see how much Liam has left in the tank for his doubles match. He didn't show any real signs of fatigue but a near 3 hour match is tough going for a 17 year old kid.

He will probably be hoping that Borthwick's match goes to three sets so he has a bit longer to recover.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, the future looks good for Liam, really impressed with his play and mentality against "the German" ( don't know what commentator it was that seemed to call Kern nothing else but that )

He strikes me as a really fine striker of the ball, some racket head speed on the forehand, also good serving himself today. He is going to get stronger and fitter and as I said yeah if he can stretch out to 6 feet so much the better, but as said he isn't as short as he seems to deceptively appear at times, maybe an appearance helped by long baggy shorts.

Was never visibly put off by Kern's big serves or other shots at impropriate times, being seen to say such as "too good". You know they are soime folk who will immediately mutter away even at themselves or others even if it was just too good from the opponent wink

Agree with Steven that it would be really good if not only does Liam rise through the rankings but one or two more of the juniors rise similarly so that there is an element of competition and more particularly less focus on one individual.

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
Yes, the future looks good for Liam, really impressed with his play and mentality against "the German"

I was very amused at the start of the third set. On the first point of the set when he missed a makeable but tough forehand he berated himself severely. Petchey was immediately judgemental about him getting angry and when he put his following first serve into the net offered up a further smug comment only to see Liam hit a stunning backhand winner to go to 15-15 and then hold serve comfortably.

Why do some British commentators always assume that being a little annoyed with yourself is a bad thing?

indiana · Tennis legend

With Thiago Monteiro out of both singles and doubles, it again appears that if Liam wins the singles title only the current no 1 , Jiri Vesely, could prevent him from going to JWR 1. Liam does have to win one more doubles round, i.e. reach the QFs, to give himself a chance of that, then do at least as well in doubles as Vesely.

Personally, I'd be absolutely be delighted for Liam just if he could win the singles title, and of course any doubles sucess for Vesely means success for Oli.

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
Was never visibly put off by Kern's big serves or other shots at impropriate times, being seen to say such as "too good". You know they are soime folk who will immediately mutter away even at themselves or others even if it was just too good from the opponent

In the case of a certain chap called Murray I think it's down to the fact that however good the serve is if he can get a racket on the ball he expects to not only get in back but to get it back in an tricky position.

However in general I agree. I remember watching Goodall play a match last year and he kept bemoaning the fact that his opponent was playing, and especially serving, the big points well disbelief

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Great match from Liam - so much more enjoyable to watch than skrieking women. Amazed and delighted at his mental strength throughout. Can't wait to see what he can achieve in his career and think he could become an extremely popular young man.

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

what i like about liam is that he's a winner, he won roehampton, he won a G1 on clay a few months back, and also also another W in his points tally in singles, not forgetting his win in doubles here last year. Not too many of the other brits have too many singles trophies, cant remember the last time ollie won a singles title

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Yes, I turned over from the women to watch Liam's match too! Well battled through. "The German" - sorry, Kern

had a whopping big serve that got him out of trouble many times, but Liam never gave up. Very encouraging.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

RJA wrote:
indiana wrote:
Yes, the future looks good for Liam, really impressed with his play and mentality against "the German"
I was very amused at the start of the third set. On the first point of the set when he missed a makeable but tough forehand he berated himself severely. Petchey was immediately judgemental about him getting angry and when he put his following first serve into the net offered up a further smug comment only to see Liam hit a stunning backhand winner to go to 15-15 and then hold serve comfortably.
Why do some British commentators always assume that being a little annoyed with yourself is a bad thing?

I can see your point, and i would agree it's good to show some annoyance sometimes when you play a bad shot...i think Petchey's point was that he'd got annoyed at himself several times in several points, showing too much negative body language which his opponent could theoretically feed off. Certainly i'd get a bit of a boost if i saw my opponent get repeatedly angry at himself.

Having said that, Liam seems to have a great balance between not being too quiet and not letting his emotions get to himself, his mentality seems pretty spot-on for competing at the highest level

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

liam up next for doubles, hopefully its a fairly quick match

Spectator · All-time great

I've only seen the BBC Clip of Broady - but it was quite impressive. One does indeed get the sense that he wants to win at the highest level and has the skills to do it. But I don't think we should discount Morgan (Orange Bowl singles; Australian semis; Wimbledon doubles) or Golding (very consistent good results) either. And what an amazing thing to be discussing three top-11 players.