Week 38 - Kuwait F1 ($10,000) - Meshref (Hard)

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 38 - Kuwait F1 ($10,000) - Meshref (Hard)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

QR1: Lewis Thompson UNR lost by w/o to Abdulaziz Redha (KUW) UNR

NB one of the qualifiers, Uros Lukic, is listed as nationality: Yugoslavian. Maybe the ITF would like to enter the 21st century ? Maybe the guy is a die-hard nationalist ? Or, most likely, given he's 36, it's just a historic blip)

RJA · Hall of fame

L32: (5) Lewis Burton WR 667 v Hassan Al Mousa (KUW) UNR
L32: (2) Marcus Willis WR 431 v (Q) Kento Tagashira (JPN) UNR

Lewis and Marcus would potentially meet in the SFs. Both play their first round match on Tuesday.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Lewis Thompson, who didn't play his qualie draw, is playing the doubles.

Doubles:

R1 :

Lewis Thompson/Philip Gresk (GBR/POL) v Jaymon Crabb/Kento Tagashira (AUS/JPN)
Lewis Burton/Marcus Willis - BYE

The winner of Thompson's match plays Lewis and Marcus in the QF.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Lewis Thompson (?) gets a win:

R1 :

Lewis Thompson/Philip Gresk (GBR/POL) def. Jaymon Crabb/Kento Tagashira (AUS/JPN) 6-4 3-6 (10-6)

BTtennisfan · Improver

Best of luck boys! Impressed with your wish to fight for Wimbledon 2014!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Lewis' match is underway and he's just broken. 3*-2.

Marcus' match yet to kick off, I assume.

I've played in temperatures in the high 30s and even 40 - killing, ridiculous, I decided never again after the last time (and have stuck to it). But I tend to run around a lot. Hopefully, Marcus' serve will just whizz by and he won't have to move much.

Great to see that the two are good friends - I loved their interview, really fun and natural. Curious, though, that as Korriban said in another thread, Lewis seems a true natural athlete, very sporty (saw him at the Wimbly Qs) - maybe it'll rub off on Marcus. C'mon boys !

Add: And Lewis wins the first set 6-2

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Tuesday 17th of September 2013 08:08:43 AM

korriban · Challenger level

Temperature in Kuwait already 34 degrees at 9am local, rising to 43 degrees today, probably somewhere in between when the boys are on court.

The good news is that it shouldn't take them too long, at least today. And that it's the same for everyone.

But it's a gruelling way to earn points as the matches gradually get harder, even if it is a very weak draw.

I was quite shocked when I watched the video of the boys from Roehampton, just before flying out. Mr Willis was certainly never what one would describe as silf-like earlier in the season, but he was clearly much less bulky then compared to now. I don't envy him having to compete in the conditions in Kuwait.....If he does well this week despite this, it would indicate that his potential (if he ever gets properly fit) is truly exceptional......but if he really suffers and doesn't do well, it might give him some more motivation. Not sure which is the better outcome for Marcus long term.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

L32: (5) Lewis Burton WR 667 def. Hassan Al Mousa (KUW) UNR 6-2 6-2

L16: L32: (5) Lewis Burton WR 667 v Sadio Doumbia UNR (FRA)

I've known Sadio since he was a tiddler and, though his head wasn't always where it should be, he plays a heavy game of tennis. He hasn't been playing internationally for a couple of years because he's been at college in the US (Georgia, I think). This has probably helped him a lot.

He's now back in France, I think, and has just (a couple of weeks ago) won the French national championships Division 2 - which is the national championships for players with a pre-national ranking (there's also div 3 and div 4 - they start at a county level early in the year, are open to all (done by ranking) and the finals are in Paris in August). If Lewis is 'on form' he should win, no problem, but Lewis can be a bit up and down . . .

And Marcus is winning easily so far, currently 5-1*.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

6-1 6-3 with 8 aces. Nice and efficient.

steven · Tennis legend

I wonder if the heat was a factor in the 2nd set (it looks like it is close to 40C now, which is a ridiculous temperature to play tennis in if they are out in the open) - looking at Tagashira's previous results, I didn't expect him to take more than a game or two off Marcus. That said, this is the first time he has played on the ITF pro circuit since 2011, so he may have improved a fair bit playing other events since then.

Updating the rankings and adding Marcus's win:

L32: (5) Lewis Burton WR 713 beat Hassan Al Mousa (KUW) UNR by 2 & 2

L32: (2) Marcus Willis WR 426 beat (Q) Kento Tagashira (JPN) UNR by 1 & 3

L16: (5) Lewis Burton WR 713 v (Q) Sadio Doumbia (FRA) UNR (CH 1461 in 2007)
L16: (2) Marcus Willis WR 426 v Patrick Davidson (USA) WR 1434 (CH 1419 in Aug)

john · Top national player

Good stuff lads, hopefully the heat doesn't become too much as looks like a nice weak tournament to take advantage of.

spud · Challenger qualifying

And in Lewis's quarter, the other seed Roelofse has retired (wouldn't be surprised if heat related) so Lewis really needs to capitalize now

spud · Challenger qualifying

The boy's really need to take care of themselves in the heat as getting ill may jeopardize the 3 week trip over there

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great news for the boys. So nice for them both to get a point, an easy victory - starts things off nicely. On to the doubles now.

As long as the blokes are sensible, they should be fine. Their matches were quite short and with, I imagine, quite short points. Hopefully, they'll know all about hydration, electrolytes, main blood vessels to cool etc. etc. As a tournament official (and umpire) for the money tournaments in the south of france, which were often, unfortunately, high 30s, I was always far more worried about some of the older players who play a more percentage, run-around style game. But some young blokes are NOT sensible, or think they'll be fine, and it can be dangerous.
They did go out there last year, though, didn;t they ? Or Marcus at least ? So hopefully it's not a complete surprise.

Hoping that Lewis will come home with a new CH (points to come off later in autumn though) and well into the top 400/350 for Marcus . . . look after yourselves . . .