Week 25 - Wimbledon Mens Qualifying

denver23 · Social player

RE: Week 25 - Wimbledon Mens Qualifying

Sandman · Social player

denver23 wrote:
Scratchy wrote:
SMC1809 wrote:
Coup Droit Wrote:
Dan Evans - thought Dan played pretty well but, as RJA says, his opponent was remarkably at ease on grass and played a clever...

And there we were thinking it was because Dan had a new tattoo.
Clearlyeveryone's a bit upset about Evo's result, and like most i really hoped he would win today.
Evo is a bit inconsistent at best and is deffo an emotional player. I think the fact he didn't get a Wimbledon WC (based on his Queens performance its a decision I disagree with) played on his mind and he wasn't at his best today.
So yes, I'm disappointed with the result, but maybe not surprised......
I just wonder what people's view would be on whether Dan Evans should have been awarded a wildcard if he was not British and this is one of the reasons why I think wildcards should either be scrapped or severely reduced - nothing personal against Evans at all. He did well at Queens but so did Dennis Kudla and he didn't get a MDWC either.

I think one of the main purposes of a wild card is to give the paying crowds an extra player they may want to watch who wouldn't automatically make the draw. There's an argument that had Evans been given a MDWC then a sizeable crowd would have turned up for his game.

freerider · Futures level

I haven't read through the whole thread, but I wanted to raise my anoyance at the headline that bbc sport have gone with today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22941880

why not go with the headline "three through" - in fact it barely mentions the three who went through.

Considering that Evans seems to be at a crucial point of his career, in terms of confidence and motivation, this is the kind of headline that could really make or break his career. I actually really like evans and i hope that he can really kick on in the second half of this year. Do we have any idea of how his schedule is shaping up?

Scratchy · Club Coach

I think it's more to do with the fact that were (the British) fairly short on quality in the men's tennis department, so when someone shows their ability, like Evo has, we should back them. The Americans, French & Australians do it for their Grand Slam Tournaments, but sadly we don't.

Scratchy · Club Coach

freerider wrote:
I haven't read through the whole thread, but I wanted to raise my anoyance at the headline that bbc sport have gone with today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22941880

why not go with the headline "three through" - in fact it barely mentions the three who went through.

Considering that Evans seems to be at a crucial point of his career, in terms of confidence and motivation, this is the kind of headline that could really make or break his career. I actually really like evans and i hope that he can really kick on in the second half of this year. Do we have any idea of how his schedule is shaping up?
Completely agree Freerider.

denver23 · Social player

Scratchy wrote:
I think it's more to do with the fact that were (the British) fairly short on quality in the men's tennis department, so when someone shows their ability, like Evo has, we should back them. The Americans, French & Australians do it for their Grand Slam Tournaments, but sadly we don't.

I was suggesting that we scrap wildcards at all grand slam events - not just Wimbledon - or reduce them to 4 and ban these reciprocal arrangements that go on between the other countries.

RJA · Hall of fame

denver23 wrote:
Made me laugh the way you put that coup especially about the other guy being truly dire. I see he wasn't even ranked inside the top 500 so what was he doing there? How come he was there?

He has been out injured and hasn't played for 15 months, therefore is unranked. He got in because he has a "protected ranking" of around 250.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I note that the top seed in David Rice's section (Jack Sock) went out in the 1st round.

The only other seed in his section is Cipolla (24), who he plays in Round 2.

RJA · Hall of fame

freerider wrote:
I haven't read through the whole thread, but I wanted to raise my anoyance at the headline that bbc sport have gone with today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22941880

why not go with the headline "three through" - in fact it barely mentions the three who went through.

Considering that Evans seems to be at a crucial point of his career, in terms of confidence and motivation, this is the kind of headline that could really make or break his career. I actually really like evans and i hope that he can really kick on in the second half of this year. Do we have any idea of how his schedule is shaping up?

A couple of points here.

1. This is the British press, why be surprised about them being negative?

2. Why would you take our national broadcaster seriously when they can't even create a coherent sentence for the title of the article?

3. Beyond a minor level of irritation I am 99.9% sure that Dan Evans will not give a damn about the contents of this article.

4. If he did give a damn about it really would be pathetic.

steven · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
freerider wrote:
I haven't read through the whole thread, but I wanted to raise my anoyance at the headline that bbc sport have gone with today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22941880

why not go with the headline "three through" - in fact it barely mentions the three who went through.

Considering that Evans seems to be at a crucial point of his career, in terms of confidence and motivation, this is the kind of headline that could really make or break his career. I actually really like evans and i hope that he can really kick on in the second half of this year. Do we have any idea of how his schedule is shaping up?
A couple of points here.
1. This is the British press, why be surprised about them being negative?
2. Why would you take our national broadcaster seriously when they can't even create a coherent sentence for the title of the article?
3. Beyond a minor level of irritation I am 99.9% sure that Dan Evans will not give a damn about the contents of this article.
4. If he did give a damn about it really would be pathetic.

All true and I'm sure he doesn't give a damn, but it doesn't excuse the BBC. It's typical of them hunting for a bad news angle ... and then of course at some point in the next couple of weeks, they will have a go at the LTA for not getting enough youngsters to want to pick tennis over other sports.

Of course, they would argue it's because Dan has a higher profile than all the other Brits there and the general public don't want to know about anyone else.

The Times is even worse as far as Wimbledon qualifying is concerned. All it says is:

"Dan Evans, denied a Wimbledon wild card despite being the hero of Great Britains Davis Cup win over Russia in April, crashed out of the qualifying tournament at the first hurdle yesterday. Evans, 23, lost 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava, of Spain, at Roehampton."

However, in their case it is balanced by being a footnote at the end of a very decent article about Kyle.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/tennis/article3793613.ece if you have access

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

denver23 wrote:
'Dave Rice - really disappointed. I hope it was because he was nervous (and well done to him, of course, for winning) but Dave was awkward, off-balance and looked like someone playing badminton in the back garden, especially in the first set which was dreadful. Luckily, of course, the other guy was truly dire.'

Made me laugh the way you put that coup especially about the other guy being truly dire. I see he wasn't even ranked inside the top 500 so what was he doing there? How come he was there?
I take it you think Rice will struggle to make the main draw!

I'm hoping (praying!) that Dave has a whole heap of extra tricks up his sleeve. He must have . . . surely . . . .

I guess he knew that he absolutely SHOULD win this match, given the other guy's record, and was tense and couldn't play as he would normally. Didn't need to, in fact. So maybe tomorrow's another day and all that.

NB I was rather surprised that there weren't more of the GB guys cheering on their mates. There was plenty of crowd support but I only saw a couple of the other players/hitting partners come and watch during the second set of Ed's match. I don;t think they even hung around for the third. Which was a shame. And they were nowhere for all the other matches.

On the flip side, I saw quite a large German contingent getting behind their man/men, and all the French players were courtside at Marc Giquel's match, although this was because, seemingly, they wanted to make quiet farting noises every time Marc won a point, which they thought hilarious. And so did Marc - seemingly farting noises are still funny even when you're 36 ! And he certainly won easily enough (and spent most of the second set asking the scores from the two other courts nearby where other french guys were playing, I think he knew those scores more than he knew his own.). However, nice to see a 36 year-old play so well.

RJA · Hall of fame

Expected this to be a close match and it has started out that way.

-- Edited by RJA on Tuesday 18th of June 2013 03:04:13 PM

blob · All-time great

Shame there's no stats, I got the impression Alex applied the more pressure in the set overall.

-- Edited by blob on Tuesday 18th of June 2013 03:17:42 PM

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i've always had the feeling there isn't much camaraderie in GB tennis (on the mens side anyway), although perhaps things a different when you are at home and overseas?

Spectator · All-time great

Well, these are definitely the details that you don't pick up from the live-scoring applications! Hope that there can be more support today for the GB men and women. And that M Giquel progresses, sound effects or no sound effects. Some interesting matches today all around.