Simon Ede and Brydan Klein - either or both AUS to GB?

steven · Tennis legend

Simon Ede and Brydan Klein - either or both AUS to GB?

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Simon Ede

steven · Tennis legend

Ah, thanks. I only looked at the last 24 hours or so on the recent posts list because I knew I had posted to that thread yesterday - turns out I hadn't noticed that post needed to be "approved"

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

Simon Ede and Brydan Klein - either or both AUS to GB?

steven · Tennis legend

Just putting Klein on the GB top 25 table (because it's easier to do it now and delete him again if he doesn't appear on the GB list in the new rankings on Monday (and there's no other confirmation that this is happening by then) than to have to add him in a hurry early on Monday morning.

It turns out he's been having a dreaful year - some early losses in Futures and only 13 ATP points picked up so far in 2013 (less than 18 of the GB top 25) and Boggo will nab back the GB no. 3 spot on Monday week if Klein loses to Bemelmans in Busan. (*) Whether the poor form might be symptomatic of problems in AUS and hence part of the catalyst for a move, who knows.

The other intriguing question is whether the LTA courted him or he has just switched of his own accord in a hope to win them over and get some WCs, etc.

Edit: (*) on second thoughts, he won't - Klein got 8 slam points from USO Q so he will still be ahead of Boggo on tiebreak even if he loses to Bemelmans. If the other Brits don't welcome him, at least he'll be a good target for some of them to aim at in the rankings!

Edit 2: turns out Boggo has overtaken him - maybe slam qualifying points count in WTA tiebreaks but on slam main draw points count in ATP tiebreaks.

-- Edited by steven on Monday 20th of May 2013 12:02:52 AM

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
I would assume he would not get a Wimbledon MD WC, top 250 ( in theory ) just meaning folk are considered for a MD WC recommendation.

He seems a quite different case to Jo Konta last year, who was known to be seeking British citizenship for a few years and to some extent already in the system.

Personally, I'd say, not this year, matee.

Me too. Maybe the LTA have agreed to recommend him in return for switching (this is all very idle speculation, obviously) knowing full well that the AELTC will turn him down this year ...

It's funny, even if we take out Brydan's 2009/10 incidents (which I feel he does deserve to be given some slack on now given how young he was at the time), I still feel far more comfortable with Cameron's switch because it happened as he is just starting out on his senior career than I do with this one. Same with JoKo - I know she became British already ranked in the top 200, but she had been going to become British for so long (and making sacrifices for it too, e.g. no Aussie WCs) that I think most of us have considered her to be a British player for years.

Then again, I was a big Greg Rusedski fan, so the feeling that a switch like this one is weird may not last that long! I think it was Greg's commitment to DC and his Lucy being so demonstrative in the player's box (compared to, say, Tim's lot) that won me over.

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 11th of May 2013 10:12:51 PM

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Simon Ede

PockyTastic · Futures level

steven wrote:
This gets weirder and weirder ...

Nathii has just spotted that Brydan Klein (former junior no. 4, current world no. 241, banned for 6 months for racism in 2009) is showing up on ITF as playing for GB.

I can't believe this wouldn't have been big (and dodgy) news if true and Klein is still AUS on the ATP site.

Conversely, Simon Ede is still GBR on ATP and AUS on ITF, so I wonder if ITF changed the nationality on the wrong Aussie ...

Weirder and weirder ...

I spotted Klein listed as British on the Busan draw but assumed it was a mistake.... Perhaps not?

steven · Tennis legend

Oh, so maybe it is true.

Things I don't understand though:

1) I wasn't aware that he had any GB connection (else wouldn't the GB media have picked up on it when he was a top junior? ... as they do ...)

2) He has played DC for AUS and been one of their big young hopes, so why wouldn't the AUS media have already picked up on him 'defecting'?

3) He'd be the new GB no. 3, so given that and past controversy at Eastbourne, why wouldn't the GB media have already picked up on this?

4) He was still a teenager when he got the racism ban (which usually means the racism has come from parents or peers and it's still possible for the teenager concerned to grow up a bit and start being more tolerant and this we should probably give him the benefit of the doubt unless there have been other incidents since) but it seems very unlikely to me that the LTA would go after someone who is (to the media, at least) a known troublemaker ... and isn't that far ahead of, say, Evo despite being slightly older.

PockyTastic · Futures level

RE: Simon Ede and Brydan Klein - either or both AUS to GB?

steven · Tennis legend

Trying to work out the mysterious timing if the Klein thing is true. To be eligible to play DC for a country, you have to have its passport, have lived there for 24 consecutive months at some point and have not represented any other country in the previous 36 months - the last (only) time Klein actually played a DC rubber for AUS was in 2009, i.e. more than 3 years ago.

It's probably not relevant, but having checked, I thought I might as well add that info to the mix.

scottie1 · Futures level

Why all of a sudden is there a rush to play for GB? Klein would be good addition if true if he has matured? Coric would be a good one to persuade to be British!

philwrig · Hall of fame

Could it not just be an administrative error as none of it makes sense. Leon didn't mention it to me when I was talking about Cameron's defection, but who knows cannot be 100% sure.

steven · Tennis legend

Tennis36 wrote:
http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/tennis/brydan-kleins-family-returns-serve-backing-tennis-star-over-brat-accusations-20101201-18gjk.html
was just reading this to catch up on his past, and interestingly it does mention this

'The source suggested that Brydan was considering a permanent move overseas to avoid the negative baggage that followed him on his home turf'

old article i know, but still...

Interesting. Yet having read all the reasons he was thinking of getting away from Australia, switching to the UK would mean going to the one country where all these things (rabid media attention, etc) are likely to be even worse. confuse

He'd surely need a GB parent or grandparent to switch this fast, though (maybe he has, I don't know) otherwise why did JoKo (who must have lived here a lot longer) have to wait so long?

steven · Tennis legend

Ok, now I'm starting to believe it ...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/brydan-klein-pledges-allegiance-to-oz/story-e6frf9if-1225965743908

... includes a mention that his mother is English.