Week 34 - US Open men's qualifying - Hard

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Week 34 - US Open men's qualifying - Hard

Ratty · County player

steven wrote:
I totally agree with all the positive comments about Leon Smith, by the way - he's exactly the type of character the Brits below Andy need at this point in time (and quite possibly at any point in time, for that matter!)

I remember when Sven-Goran Eriksson first became the England football manager. The Press just loved the way he was imperiously calm and deadpan, no matter what was happening on the pitch. This was how sophisticated tactical masterminds went to work.

Then a few results started going the wrong way, and suddenly the same behaviour showed that he was a clueless buffoon who only cared about his pay-check.

I could waffle on about Confirmation Bias, and confusing Correlation & Causality. But I'll either get ignored (oh, a fate worse than death!) or flamed. So I won't.

DF · Tennis legend

Pleased to find that we have one qualifier out of the three that reached the FQR stage.

Well done Dan.
At last he will find that travelling has been worth it! And the future is very bright at the moment !

Spectator · All-time great

The final of the Mixed Doubles qualifying tournament is today, and Mr Brooklyn and Ms Wetmore will be in it. So one more FQR to go, so to speak.

Jan · Hall of fame

Bravo Dan!

Stunning!

British_is_Best · County player

Superb and well done to both men. A word for James Ward as I thought he did really well with a pretty tough route through. Devvarman is clearly under ranked based on missing most of last year. His year to date standing puts him comfortably top 100 and I would be very surprised if he wasn't a DA into the Australian Open. Best of luck to Dan in the Main Draw and it is great to see a battle for British number 2 taking place well inside the top 200 and pushing top 150!

korriban · Challenger level

I am really happy for Dan: decent points, good money, and excited that he gets to play a top player. Perhaps he's unlucky not to get a qualifier or simpler MD opponent. But I'd like to think there's something "special" about Dan (as opposed to James), which means on his day anything is possible, even against the best.

From match reports, I'm delighted to hear that Dan was the better player in all 3 sets, and really stepped up the quality in set 3. Even more important is that he was confident to actually say that he felt he was by far the better player coming into the match, and therefore expected to win comfortably. Perhaps he shouldn't be articulating this stuff in interviews, but if he's believing it himself that's a very positive thing to hear.

Whilst Dan's an overwhelming underdog against Nishikori and could well take a significant beating, I'd expect him to put up a decent show. I also think big losses against top players is as important for Dan's motivation as regular victories against players ranked 100-200: he gets the reward of playing stars on the big stage, but also (if beaten handily) the lesson that he still has a long way to go and need to put in much much more work. Obviously I'm hoping for a miracle win, but if he does fall short, I do hope he goes home for 3 or 4 days well earned rest and family time but then does still play the St Remy Challenger the following week. Either he's fully invested in this Challenger/ATP tour world, which is a full time commitment, or he's not.

Gutted for James, but not surprised. I'm never surprised when James plays aggressively and with real skill when behind in matches against higher ranked players. I was delighted to see that he pulled the second set around and then went a break up in the final set, winning 6 games in a row - he has this within him. The problems always seem to revolve around him starting slowly against higher ranked players (nerves?) and more importantly getting passive and tentative when close to the winning line (eg break up final set) or in pressure situations (eg serving *4-5 final set). I don't know if that was the case once again yesterday, but it wouldn't surprise me: - so near and yet.......

Anyway - we would have all taken 1 out of 2 before Qualies started, so good outcome overall!

RJA · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
I do hope he goes home for 3 or 4 days well earned rest and family time but then does still play the St Remy Challenger the following week. Either he's fully invested in this Challenger/ATP tour world, which is a full time commitment, or he's not.

I wouldn't be too fussed if he doesn't play St Remy and I wouldn't be surprised if he only ever intended to play there if he didn't come through qualifying here. We don't yet know when his first round match will be, it could be as a late as Wednesday in which case he wouldn't be home till Friday at the earliest . After spending 6 weeks in the States it would seem to me that wanting a week or so to catch up with family and friends before heading out for the Davis Cup tie would be perfectly reasonable and would not indicate a lack of commitment. Of course his form here might have inspired him to actually want to go and play St Remy but either way it is important that he makes the right decision for himself.

korriban · Challenger level

RJA wrote:
korriban wrote:
I do hope he goes home for 3 or 4 days well earned rest and family time but then does still play the St Remy Challenger the following week. Either he's fully invested in this Challenger/ATP tour world, which is a full time commitment, or he's not.
I wouldn't be too fussed if he doesn't play St Remy and I wouldn't be surprised if he only ever intended to play there if he didn't come through qualifying here. We don't yet know when his first round match will be, it could be as a late as Wednesday in which case he wouldn't be home till Friday at the earliest . After spending 6 weeks in the States it would seem to me that wanting a week or so to catch up with family and friends before heading out for the Davis Cup tie would be perfectly reasonable and would not indicate a lack of commitment. Of course his form here might have inspired him to actually want to go and play St Remy but either way it is important that he makes the right decision for himself.

Yes. You're probably right

RJA · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
Gutted for James, but not surprised. I'm never surprised when James plays aggressively and with real skill when behind in matches against higher ranked players. I was delighted to see that he pulled the second set around and then went a break up in the final set, winning 6 games in a row - he has this within him. The problems always seem to revolve around him starting slowly against higher ranked players (nerves?) and more importantly getting passive and tentative when close to the winning line (eg break up final set) or in pressure situations (eg serving *4-5 final set). I don't know if that was the case once again yesterday, but it wouldn't surprise me: - so near and yet.......

There certainly does seem to be a consistent pattern with James. When his back is to the wall he frequently produces his best, often by playing aggressively and taking charge of points. Conversely when he is ahead he frequently becomes more passive. Obviously we don't know what happened yesterday and Devvarman is a fine player who may well have upped his level when it counted the most but this pattern is increasingly concerning.

Spectator · All-time great

I thought it was a good piece. Was amused by the fact that we have speculated about the various factors behind Mr Evans' new-found application ... but I don't think anyone had mentioned (though they may have) that it was actually his father who had a primary role! A good reminder that there is much we just don't know. Anyway, good on his father! And on (young) Mr Evans for caring enough to respond well.

-- Edited by Spectator on Saturday 24th of August 2013 08:37:15 PM

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Well Done Dan. It's great to see him putting in the good wins week after week. I guess after this brilliant set of tournaments in the states he's going to have to re think the end of the year and set his sights higher.

steven · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
The final of the Mixed Doubles qualifying tournament is today, and Mr Brooklyn and Ms Wetmore will be in it. So one more FQR to go, so to speak.

They lost 1 & 4 unfortunately.

daisy · County player

Decent article about Dan here:
web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/dad_raged_at_desperate_dan

RJA · Hall of fame

daisy wrote:
Decent article about Dan here:
web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/dad_raged_at_desperate_dan

A lot of it covers the kind of things that we have speculated about but I was both pleased and amused by the following couple of lines

"He said: "I just want to play at this level instead of faffing around with Futures and Challengers.

"Luckily I'm out of Futures. If I win a few matches here I might be out of Challengers. It would be nice to do it all in one but there's still a lot of work to be done."