Week 11 - Spain F6 ($10,000) - Badalona (Clay)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Week 11 - Spain F6 ($10,000) - Badalona (Clay)

steven · Tennis legend

Maybe not - Oli takes the 1st set 6-2. Bit of a shocker though, him getting broken. wink

korriban · Challenger level

How many double bagels has this guy suffered? How many qualies defeats in a row has he had according to Steven?
Just lost that last service game which included 4 DFs, now 7 for the set! Why Oli managed to lose 2 games in a row, I've no idea.

Bob. Can you ring this guys mum up and have a quiet word in the local lingo......it's not as if there aren't plenty of superb Spaniards out there playing tennis.

steven · Tennis legend

He's lost his last 13 but has only been double bagelled 4 times in his 17 losses in Futures qualifying and has won 1 match and 2 additional sets, all against unranked players obviously. Oli is the first player in the top 1000 he has ever taken a game off though.

korriban · Challenger level

Well that's now 4 games against a top 500 player. Won last service game, despite 2 more DFs.....winning all the points that weren't DFs in fact.

I'm guessing all Oli needs to do is keep the ball in play and he'd win every point.....given this guys record against even average quality.

steven · Tennis legend

L32: Oliver Golding WR 468 beat (WC) Pol Gonzalez Gil (ESP) UNR by 2 & 3

Thank goodness he didn't have a tougher opponent in his comeback match, I think it's fair to say.

korriban · Challenger level

Indeed. I suspect we know nothing about his form whatsoever from this, and probably neither does he or his coach. Oli knows he's going to win this match however badly he plays and whatever tactics he uses, but that's the luck of the draw.

Next round won't be so easy......neither player is cannon fodder

philwrig · Hall of fame

It's probably fair to say it will take Oli at least a few weeks to work back up to his optimum after such a long layoff.
Just happy to see him back playing.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Any points collected by Oli in the next few weeks are a bonus - i'm not expecting much until he gets back to match fitness and sharpness.

steven · Tennis legend

Slabba has been replaced in the draw with a lucky loser

steven · Tennis legend

L16: Oli Golding WR 468 v (5) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP) WR 302 (CH 222 in 2012)

GGP came through against Vivanco in a 3rd set tiebreak today but will get the chance to recover because Oli gets another day off tomorrow - this match won't be played until Thursday.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
Slabba has been replaced in the draw with a lucky loser

I wonder if that means he is not coming to Spain. He is down for Alicante (Villajoyosa) next week. If he pulls out of that as well, that will leave me with NO Brits in the MD to watch and report on cry

steven · Tennis legend

Much better from Oli today, even if he did lose:

L16: Oli Golding WR 468 lost to (5) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP) WR 302 (CH 222 in 2012) by 7-6(5) 6-7(6) 6-4

He actually beat me to tweeting the result (that'll teach me to write a tweet, take a phone call and not hit enter until afterwards - though of course, if I had hit enter in a rush, there'd have been mistakes in it. LOL

"wounding loss today. 67(5) 76(6) 46. 3 hrs 30 mins. gutted to lose but the level was very high for my 1st proper match in a while!"

philwrig · Hall of fame

Encouraging effort from Oli.

indiana · Tennis legend

That does look very encoraging. Looks as if there was a lot of rust being shaken off in Oli's first match.

And good that it looks like he himself was far from being satisfied at just being so competitive at that level.