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

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Davis Cup

Spectator · All-time great

Oh dear, this is awful. Poor Mr Bram. Poor Mr Murray. This really isn't fair to either of them. I admire Mr Bram -- lamb to the slaughter? But it's painful to watch, and must be so frustrating for them both.

Drew · Jul 8, 2011

no stream here either

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks SC, the stream is working fine for me again too.

Jeremy Bates was wondering why the Luxembourg captain selected an ex-player for this tie instead of an up-and-coming one who still wanted to make it on the pro tour. Probably because he didn't think them getting a hammering would do their confidence much good.

In other news, Hungary's no. 1 Attila Balázs beat Belarussian no. 2 Siarhei Betau 62 61 75 to level the HUN-BLR tie after day 1.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Oh dear. Talk about throwing somebody to the lions. If Fed thought it was funny to play somebody as lowly ranked as Alan Mackin (I think at the time he was about #200) I wonder how Andy feels playing an unranked player with a career high of 996!

Drew · Jul 8, 2011

still no steam for me....not missing much though eh

RJA · Hall of fame

Murray only dropped 9 points in first two sets.

This isn't a sporting contest in any sense.

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

It's so hard to pass comment as they are worlds apart literally.

RJA · Hall of fame

I can only assume that they threw Bram in to save 18 year old Mike Vermeer from the kind of defeat that could have severely damaged him very early in his career.

indiana · Tennis legend

Especially as Luxemboug have that first match on the board and Muller wasn't as stretched as we would have hoped, I'm pretty much assuming that he's going to turn up in the doubles tomorrow in spite of the initial team announcement.

indiana · Tennis legend

Madeline wrote:
Oh dear. Talk about throwing somebody to the lions. If Fed thought it was funny to play somebody as lowly ranked as Alan Mackin (I think at the time he was about #200) I wonder how Andy feels playing an unranked player with a career high of 996!

Maybe Andy will at least choose his words rather better than Fed did

RJA · Hall of fame

Secures the triple bagel losing only 15 points in the whole match. Bram never had so much as a game point.

-- Edited by RJA on Friday 8th of July 2011 06:49:55 PM

airsmashers · County player

I wonder what the odds were on a triple bagel

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

steven wrote:
Jeremy Bates was wondering why the Luxembourg captain selected an ex-player for this tie instead of an up-and-coming one who still wanted to make it on the pro tour. Probably because he didn't think them getting a hammering would do their confidence much good.

I was a bit surprised that Jeremy Bates, our former Davis Cup Captain, didn't work out that it might be tactical choice. Not only does it remove the potential of a confidence smashing match for their up-and-coming, it was never going to be a winnable match for Lux so stop your second player from having to play 3 days in a row and leave him fresh and ready to win if/when your number 1 player pulls off the upset. To my mind, it also can't hurt Muller to have a coach who has actually played his opponent days ago able to provide insight into how to win that an 18year newbie wouldn't be able to. All in all, I think it was a very good tactic from the Luxembourg team and their only real chance of winning the tie - still i hope it fails in the end!!

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, sounds very sensible to me what you guys are saying, but who are we to question the thoughts of a former Davis Cup captain ?

I mean would we ever question those of a much more recent xaptain in John Lloyd ? wink