The Australian playing under the GB flag for convenience lost 3-6 3-6.

Will be interesting to see how much time he actually spends in GB after this year's grass court season. The LTA is in the handy position of not really having to commit themselves to him at all this year - my sense is that he will be an interesting sideshow, and that his change of allegience will simply bring up the old stories once again - this time to a new audience who, if anything, will be far less tolerant of his past and ongoing (it appears from the recent Aussie Challengers) behaviour problems.

Greg Rusedski's change of allegience was itself awkward, but at least he was a player with Top 10 and second week of Grand Slam potential, and he proved (and continues to prove) that his is every inch a Brit if not by heritage, then by words, deeds, family and place of residence. Even then, it took time for many fans to warm to him.

I can assure everyone that if Mr Klein were a potential Top 25 or even Top 50 player, despite his appalling behaviour, the Aussies would have offered him an olive branch (like they do with their stream of other difficult players). He isn't and they haven't.

RJA wrote:

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That result will see him drop to about WR 270 so would be outside the criteria for a Wimbledon wild card, even if the usual criteria were to be applied to him. It will also quite likely see him miss the cut for Wimbledon qualifying. He defends the baulk of his points over the next couple of months so could soon plummet down the rankings.

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 Indeed. As Steven pointed out in an earlier tweet, his year to date form is shocking. Looking at the top 25 table alone, he'd be in 19th place in terms of points gained this year, with only 13 from 10 tournaments. If he carries on like this, Mr Klein would be on about 40 points for the year, which would be outside the top 600. Bear in mind that January and February is packed with finger-lickingly good points scoring opportunities for Aussies including the AO (lost QR1) and warm up ATP events, 3 CH events (he played all 3, beaten by Kyrgios twice - allegations of more abuse meted out) and a heap of $15ks (he played 2), most of which with very weak fields packs with AUS/NZ players. Switching nationalities may help long term but it doesn't help you play better short term does it?

steven wrote:

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RJA wrote:

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That result will see him drop to about WR 270 so would be outside the criteria for a Wimbledon wild card, even if the usual criteria were to be applied to him. It will also quite likely see him miss the cut for Wimbledon qualifying. He defends the baulk of his points over the next couple of months so could soon plummet down the rankings.

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This of course opens a bit of a can of worms for the LTA (assuming they aren't objecting to the switch but are also not particularly encouraging it and not intending to provide any help for now), since if he misses out on direct entry to Wimbledon qualies, then it appears that with GBR after his name, he would be entitled to claim one of the direct entry spots for the QWC playoffs ... I wonder how that will get resolved.

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 I'd let him take his chances with the rest in the play-offs. I suspect he'll not be made to feel very welcome by his peers (look at Anne's reaction), and is not playing well, whereas our boys are looking strong from 400-650, and will have had more grass practice/experience. I like the odds.

adz1983 wrote:

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I ahvent seen Anne's reaction. Nothing on twitter...

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1. Neil Harman @NeilHarmanTimes 23h

   Klein is a former Aussie Open junior champion who has run into trouble with authority. Might liven the old place up a bit

    
2.   Anne Keothavong @annekeothavong 22h

   @NeilHarmanTimes how? By racially abusing more players?

    
3.   Neil Harman @NeilHarmanTimes 22h

   @annekeothavong Quite properly put in my place Anne. Not a particularly clever use of words.

Ruben Bemelmans BT Brydan Klein 63 63