korriban wrote:

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Lots of things in Dan's career to date don't make much sense, but they HAVE happened. You are being logical, but I don't think that helps much on this subject!!

Following the DC, I read somewhere that his schedule for the remainder of the year had been mapped out and agreed with Leon Smith. In other words a publicly declared joint plan covering his tournaments, practice and training. Things seemed to start well (eg Sweden), but a couple of "events" have allegedly cropped up subsequently, and it's obvious (no Wimbledon WC) that he got in big trouble again for at least the first of them.

Since the LTA is paying for his travel and accommodation (plus much much more) and have gone out of their way to back him recently, if he chose not to go out to the USA I think that would spell the end of his relationship with them. You can't keep giving last chances to people. And they won't be prepared to have their time and trust wasted.

Maybe you are right about illness, Steven. But the comments suggest clearly that he wasn't trying, that he was rushing through the points, and basically going through the motions.....more like practice sets than live matchplay.   

At least he's not boring!!!

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Definitely no signs of illness, I would say no he was certainly not ill. He didnt look downtrodden, fatigued or anything like that. It was just no concentration and not wanting to try and concentrate. There was a tiny window when he started the match and led 3-1 and when he broke back at 3-3 in the second but other than that he just didnt engage at all. What made that more frustrating is that he was the better of the two when he looked aggressive (as noted by the commentator) and Jaziri was struggling with some sort of wrist/finger problem (albeit on his left hand) that shook his concentration a bit too.

One of the earlier posts talked about the match on the next court (Kreuger v Reid) which is played adjacent to the stadium court within full view. Dan was watching rallies of that match regularly, when waiting to serve, return serve, change of ends etc. To me, if there was a more obvious way to show you were interested in anything but the match you're playing, this was it. If this is a case of Dan not wanting to go and making that clear but being pressurized to fulfill contractual agreements then I sympathise to an extent as Im sure we all know his head has been elsewhere, but then I would suggest cutting all funding and letting Dan do his own thing and share the funding with players like Fitzy who are willing to put in the hours. Beggars can't be choosers, but we still shouldnt pour hard earned money away on a man who still wants to behave like a boy

James' match will be starting soon. There is a stream on Bet365 for anyone who has an account there. I can do scores though if anyone wants them?