Week 4 - Great Britain F2 ($10,000) - Preston (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 4 - Great Britain F2 ($10,000) - Preston (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

Marcus takes the 1st set 6-3

Sean is back on serve 5-4*

steven · Tennis legend

Alex breaks in the 2nd game of the 2nd set

Sean had a set point but Harrison holds on for 5-5

steven · Tennis legend

Alex is now *4-0 up in the 2nd!

Sean into a tiebreak

paulisi · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
Tough loss for Fitzy but he is obviously playing well. And Marcus is just on a roll right now.

Here is a question for all - What do you think are the chances of having 20 players inside the top 500 by the end of the season. There are a few outside that rank right now that seem to be having a strong start to the season - Marcus, George and Kyle to name just 3. There are currently 12 in there.

This might be controversial, but to have 20 players in the top 500 and 1 player in the top 200 is not particularly impressive and breeds mediocrity. If it was split so that we had a couple in the top 100 and a couple 100-200 then it might be a more impressive and show potential for the future. As Josh Goodall said you don't make any money playing pro tennis unless you are top 150 or better. How many of these twenty will go on and break into the top 200? One maybe two if you are lucky.

steven · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
Tough loss for Fitzy but he is obviously playing well. And Marcus is just on a roll right now.

Here is a question for all - What do you think are the chances of having 20 players inside the top 500 by the end of the season. There are a few outside that rank right now that seem to be having a strong start to the season - Marcus, George and Kyle to name just 3. There are currently 12 in there.
This might be controversial, but to have 20 players in the top 500 and 1 player in the top 200 is not particularly impressive and breeds mediocrity. If it was split so that we had a couple in the top 100 and a couple 100-200 then it might be a more impressive and show potential for the future. As Josh Goodall said you don't make any money playing pro tennis unless you are top 150 or better. How many of these twenty will go on and break into the top 200? One maybe two if you are lucky.

That's true, but there is an argument that the more players we have in the top 500, the more likely it is that we will start having more Brits playing Challengers and the more Brits we have playing Challengers, the more likely it is that one or more of them will eventually break into the top 100. Looking at the men's side at the moment, you'd conclude that it's all about each individual player (and largely, it is), but if you look at the women's side in recent years, it's seems quite likely that there was a bit of a group dynamic in the way Bally, Anne, Katie and Mel all made the top 100, if only in the way that seeing others make it might have given them more belief that they could do it too if they worked hard enough.

Btw, Harrison edged the 1st set tiebreak 7-5 and went *2-0 up in the 2nd only for Sean win three games in a row to go a break up. Harrison then broke back immediately and has just broken again to serve for the match but Sean now has 2 break-back-again points and takes the 2nd!

6-7(5) *4-5

Marcus is 4-3 up in the 3rd, on serve v Alex

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
Tough loss for Fitzy but he is obviously playing well. And Marcus is just on a roll right now.

Here is a question for all - What do you think are the chances of having 20 players inside the top 500 by the end of the season. There are a few outside that rank right now that seem to be having a strong start to the season - Marcus, George and Kyle to name just 3. There are currently 12 in there.
This might be controversial, but to have 20 players in the top 500 and 1 player in the top 200 is not particularly impressive and breeds mediocrity. If it was split so that we had a couple in the top 100 and a couple 100-200 then it might be a more impressive and show potential for the future. As Josh Goodall said you don't make any money playing pro tennis unless you are top 150 or better. How many of these twenty will go on and break into the top 200? One maybe two if you are lucky.

Not controversial at all and in fact I agree with just about everything you have said. All I would say is that the more we have in the top 500, the more it breeds healthy competition and therefore the greater the chance of getting more players into the top 100 or 200. Realistically, the most likely of the bunch to break into the top 100 are Oli and Kyle IMHO, and that is going to take a couple of years at least.

steven · Tennis legend

Sean saves a match point on his serve and takes the 2nd set into a tiebreak

steven · Tennis legend

Wow!

QF: Ed Corrie WR 529 beat (2) Dan Evans WR 297 by 1 & 3 biggrin bleh

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
Tough loss for Fitzy but he is obviously playing well. And Marcus is just on a roll right now.

Here is a question for all - What do you think are the chances of having 20 players inside the top 500 by the end of the season. There are a few outside that rank right now that seem to be having a strong start to the season - Marcus, George and Kyle to name just 3. There are currently 12 in there.

Realistically I am afraid extremely little. Folk have mentioned a lot of possible names and I can see varying chances with each, but in my view it is asking for too much to come together in total to actually achieve anything like 20. 20 is a real long shot.
I'd make Marcus, Kyle, Ed and Dan Cox ( assuming he is fit again reasonably soon ) as main chances from outwith the current top 500. Slabba would be a decent chance too if playing ( is he injured ? ) and David Rice if he actually played a decent amount of singles ( probably unlikely ). Next Fitzy and Tom Burn. Outside chances for George, Lewis, Liam and James Marsalek.
I have some fears that Bloomers could fall out of the top 500, but the rest of the current 12 should stay there by 2013 year end.
I'd say that 16 would actually be pretty good for the year end and more than that really good. Of course I would love as many as possible.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 23rd of January 2013 06:20:06 PM

Nothing like a realist to spoil the hopes of a dreamer wink You will probably be right in the end but I love to think big !!

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

big chance for morgan to reach the final this week

steven · Tennis legend

Right, got them all now:

QF: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 964 beat Alex Ward WR 435 by 6-3 1-6 7-6(1) biggrin bleh
QF: (Q) Sean Thornley WR 967 lost to Christian Harrison (USA) WR 501 by 7-6(5) 7-6(5)
QF: (WC) George Morgan WR 851 beat (Q) Tom Farquharson WR 1231 by 7-6( ) 6-1
QF : Ed Corrie WR 529 beat (2) Dan Evans WR 297 by 1 & 3 biggrin bleh

SF: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 964 v Christian Harrison (USA) WR 501 - H2H 1-0, last week's semi
DF: Ed Corrie WR 529 v (WC) George Morgan WR 851 - H2H 0-0

seagull · Hall of fame

Evo's results are just nuts really

indiana · Tennis legend

So Marcus apparently takes the what should not be particularly revolutionary step of putting in some damn hard work and wins rather a few matches. Maybe the really top players should try it. Oh, sorry, they do !

More particularly it might help such as Evo and Milton if they looked like they spent a decent amount of timr in a gym.
Hard work, focus and dedication can add so much onto talent and Marcus certainly showed real talent in his junior days.

I am afraid Evo in particular continues to perversely largely waste the clear talent he has and far from be all he could be.

Why, Evo ?!

korriban · Challenger level

Agree with much of this Indy - I'd love to know what the magic sauce is for Marcus that has turned a really poor 2012 (on Steven's top 25 table, its interesting that he has no points to defend until September!!!) into a flying start to 2013. I suspect we all know the answer, but it would be good to hear it direct from Marcus. 8 wins in a row is NOT a change of luck, its more than that. But we need to see this throughout the year, not just for a few weeks here and there - many of our mid ranked players seem to go on these form spurts, which then fade away.

I am more convinced than ever that there are relatively few super talents out there, and that the difference between most players ranked between 1000 and 100 is actually quite small (although bank balances will differ hugely) - fitness, commitment, game plans, training regimes, practice, coach, mental fortitude, etc rather than serves, forehands and backhands. Above this ranking it may be a different story, but I still think there are plenty of very average players ranked 50-100 who have simply maximised what they have, and plenty of much more gifted players below 500 who simply haven't.

Although, when I watch Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet I see probably the best athlete to ever pick up a tennis racquet and arguably the most gifted player to ever play the game (IMHO) who have both underachieved on a massive scale compared to their potential, for exactly the same type of reasons..........so it's not just our boys.