Davis Cup 2011 - EA Zone II, Round 2 - GB v Luxembourg

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Davis Cup

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
What's with the Olympics ? Is there some qualification process based on Davis Cup ?

For the 2008 Olympics, the answer was (more or less) yes - see http://www.itftennis.com/shared/medialibrary/pdf/original/IO_31441_original.PDF, where one of the conditions (II.1.a.iii) is "makes himself available for selection to represent his country in any of the International Team Championships of the ITF for two if the years 2005-8 provided one of those years is 2007 or 2008" - though note that it only says "makes himself available for selection" and I'm pretty sure the Hopman Cup is an "International Team Championship of the ITF" too, though I may be wrong about that.

So that already implies that Jamie would not need to be picked in order to be eligible and that Andy might not even need to make himself available for selection given that he has played Hopman Cup the last two years.

However, on top of that, checking the ITF Olympics page today, I found that the ITF qualification rules were (at long last!) quietly published on the first day of Wimbledon this year, and unlike the 2008 rules, they do not even mention players having had to make themselves available for team events in order to be eligible:

http://www.itftennis.com/shared/medialibrary/pdf/original/IO_58363_original.PDF

The plot, such as it is, thickens!

seagull · Hall of fame

Are the BBC showing any of this?

steven · Tennis legend

seagull wrote:
Are the BBC showing any of this?

From what I hear, just Eurosport, but also a stream on the LTA site.

steven · Tennis legend

Luxembourg have never been in the World Group, though they have reached EA Zone Group 1 R2 four times, in 1993, 2003, 2004 & 2006.

H2H

1959 - Europe R2 - GB won 5-0 in Mondorf-les-Bains (red clay) - GB team Alan Mills, Billy Knight & Bobby Wilson were all born in Nov 1935

2004 - EAZ G1 R2 - GB won 4-1 in Esch-sur-Alzette (indoor hard) - Muller beat Big Arv in 5, Tim & Greg won the rest between them

LUX nominations

Gilles Muller - you'll remember him from Wimbledon, if not, see http://bit.ly/iprUR5

Age 28, plays left-handed, WR 81 (CH 59 in Aug 05), DWR 526 (CH 147 in Oct 05)

26-10 in DC singles, including 14-6 indoors, 16-6 in DC doubles.

Muller reached the QFs of the US Open in 2008 & R3 at Wimbledon this year (beat Haas then, by ret., Raonic before losing to Rafa, whom he beat in R2 at Wimbledon back in 2005), having got a WC, apparently by virtue of winning the Nottingham Challenger. 10-7 v Brits in singles in the last 10 years, though none of those matches were against members of next weekend's team.

Mike Vermeer - very young-looking with an unmissable blond mop - see http://bit.ly/mtqr2K

Age 18, right-handed, WR 971 (=CH), DWR 455 (=CH), junior CH 134 last year

He made his DC debut against Ireland in March, winning just 3 games each against Niland and McGee.

Vermeer lost to unranked Brit Tom Allen last year despite bageling him in the 1st set!

Laurent Bram - dark-haired, quite tall - see http://bit.ly/mNZXiA

Age 27, plays right-handed, UNR (CH 996 in Mar 06), UNR in doubles too (CH 789 in Oct 06)

He is 2-9 in DC singles (0-3 indoors), his only wins coming against Botswana and Iceland, and 3-5 in DC doubles (1-0 indoors) - he and Muller beat Cluskey & McGee in three tight sets in March, which is probably the main reason why we are playing LUX not IRL.

Bram hasn't played singles or doubles in an ATP-ranked event since 2007 and is 4-3 v Brits in singles in the last 10 years (wins v Miotto x 2, Fulford-Jones, Seator & losses to Slabba, Wronski & Irwin), though he hasn't played a Brit who has ever played DC. He did once take Wawrinka to a tiebreak, but that was 7 years ago!

Tom Diederich - see http://bit.ly/ltJIiS

Age 18, plays left-handed, never ranked in singles or doubles (junior CH 408 last year)

Making his DC debut, he has played two Futures qualifying matches in his career, both in March this year, winning a total of 5 games in 4 sets.

Notes

Barring unforeseen injury problems then, the most interesting thing will be to see whether Wardy can beat Muller on day 1 and whether the doubles is at all close on day 2.

Play starts at 4 pm on Friday, 2 pm on Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday.

The winners of the tie will face a promotion tie away to Belarus (Ignatik, Betau, Bury, Mirnyi) or at home to Hungary (Balazs, Kellner, Bardoczky, Fucsovics) in September.

-- Edited by steven on Friday 8th of July 2011 03:34:11 PM

scottie1 · Futures level

two years ago it was a daily ticket to last all day. is it not this time a ticket for each individual match

Salmon · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
Luxembourg have never been in the World Group, though they have reached EA Zone Group 1 R2 four times, in 1993, 2003, 2004 & 2006.

H2H

1959 - Europe R2 - GB won 5-0 in Mondorf-les-Bains (red clay) - GB team Alan Mills, Billy Knight & Bobby Wilson were all born in Nov 1935

2004 - EAZ G1 R2 - GB won 4-1 in Esch-sur-Alzette (indoor hard) - Muller beat Big Arv in 5, Tim & Greg won the rest between them

I believe this is where Mills won a match 3 x 6-0, the first to do it in DC.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

probably ward vs muller is the only point of interest in this tie. to determine whether it will be 5-0 or 4-1.

steven · Tennis legend

scottie1 wrote:
two years ago it was a daily ticket to last all day. is it not this time a ticket for each individual match

No, it's still daily tickets. I don't think I've ever heard of a DC tie with 'per match' tickets.

jezzauk · Lower Club Player

steven wrote:
seagull wrote:
Are the BBC showing any of this?
From what I hear, just Eurosport, but also a stream on the LTA site.

It's actually going to be Eurosport 2. not sure if you can see ahead of time what'll be on the red button for BBC though.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

This is where you find the Red Button schedule: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/5345480.stm

Nothing showing about the DC, though.

Spectator · All-time great

Really impressed by the way that Hutchins (as per the article on his taking part in LTA activities) is supportive despite being in-form and yet not being chosen as one of the four main team members. Nice spirit.

-- Edited by Spectator on Thursday 7th of July 2011 09:38:09 AM

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

I'm going on Sunday!

Count Zero · Tennis legend

from the LTA twitter:

GB team news: Injury rules Colin Fleming out of Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie v LUX. Dan Evans comes into the team as replacement. Draw at 12

GB #DavisCup - 1st singles rubber on Fri sees James Ward play Gilles Muller from 4pm. Andy Murray plays Laurent Bram in 2nd singles match.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

The Davis Cup tie by BNP Paribas between GB & Luxembourg will be streamed live & free of charge via LTA website...http://tinyurl.com/6zb9ygk