Week 26 - Belgium F2 ($10,000) - Havré (Clay)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 26 - Belgium F2 ($10,000) - Havré (Clay)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Oli isn't seeded in the end but has a pretty decent draw, in terms of the first couple of rounds, and then is due to meet the top seed in the QF. Not so great for James.

R32
Oliver GOLDING v Jonas MERCKX (Bel) WR 1048
James MARSALEK v Alex FOLIE (6) (Bel) WR 485

steven · Tennis legend

Merckx is just 5 days younger than Oli.

James has played Folie twice before, both in 2011, losing in straight (but close) sets each time but Folie is on a 5 match losing streak and retired from a match this week.

steven · Tennis legend

With new rankings:

L32: Oli Golding WR 529 v Jonas Merckx (BEL) WR 1050
L32: James Marsalek WR 547 v (6) Alexandre Folie (BEL) WR 486

korriban · Challenger level

thefollower wrote:
Again. dissapointment a a win! If anyone looked at the weather forecast for havre today then im not suprised this match was close! Very windy and also a lot of rain! hardly a great day to play tennis, this surely must have been a leveller. Personally I am pleased he came through this test! there has been a lot of negativity about him since his return to playing, what we havent noticed is that( taking egypt out of the equation becuase that was his first few tourneys back) he hasnt lost to anybody outside the top 350, barring trevisan, who is VERY underranked and Becker(sounds like he was very ill). He has also tested a lot of players well above his ranking! granollers, marchenko, volandri, arnaboldi! all tough players! Sure he hasnt won a lot of straight-forward matches but he also hasnt really lost any bad matches! Lets stop bashing him!

So he hasn't lost to anyone outside the top 350 (which we should remind ourselves was Oli's personal target for himself by the end of 2012, his first full year post juniors) in the tournaments since he came back, apart from the 3 players outside the top 350 whom he lost to. And I'm not aware of a long list of players inside the top 350 he has beaten since he came back - the tennis world is littered with players who "test" players ranked higher than them, but lose - but I wouldn't really consider Mr Arnaboldi as a scalp that would set the tennis tongues wagging. I think many of us are simply looking for signs of class. Different week, same story.

-- Edited by korriban on Monday 24th of June 2013 02:25:49 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Oli went 0-2* down, broke back, got broken again for *1-4 and has just held for the first time 2-4* - the bookies still have him as the fav to win though - they must allow for him taking a while to wake up!

steven · Tennis legend

Oli broke back in the 7th game then broke again in the 11th before holding serve for the 4th time in a row to take the 1st set 7-5

steven · Tennis legend

Ooer - Merckx just won the 2nd set 6-2

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A break up in the third - maybe he's finally on track - talk about making it hard for yourself . . . .

korriban · Challenger level

Coup Droit wrote:
A break up in the third - maybe he's finally on track - talk about making it hard for yourself . . . .

I wonder just how seriously he took his opponent, and preparations for the match with a 9am start generally? This is a terrible performance. 1-4 down in set 1 before he "woke up" (to use Steven's analogy) and thrashed in set 2.

Let's hope he wins at least, but since his return from 8 weeks out earlier in the year, he is yet to give anyone of even an average pro standard a proper tennis lesson, which is what you would expect a player of his pedigree, and with all the support and backing he gets, to be doing regularly by now.

Gggggrrrrrr!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well, he won the third set 6-1.

Seriously curious to know what warm-up he did for the match . . .

Underwhelmed . . .

korriban · Challenger level

RE: Week 26 - Belgium F2 ($10,000) - Havr� (Clay)

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 26 - Belgium F2 ($10,000) - Havré (Clay)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Well, he won the third set 6-1.

Seriously curious to know what warm-up he did for the match . . .

Underwhelmed . . .
Stack of Belgian waffles with all the trimmings perhaps?!

And there was me, thinking more along the lines of skipping ropes and exercise bikes . . . .

Well, being charitable (VERY charitable), players sometimes say that the first round in the toughest, especially against a lower ranked player. So . . .

(And, yes, the 'Oli?/which Oli?) thread raised a few smiles . . . )

RJA · Hall of fame

If this was a one off result I wouldn't be concerned but there have been way too many matches like this over the past few months from Oli.