Week 39 - Kuwait F2 ($10,000) - Meshref (Hard)

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 39 - Kuwait F2 ($10,000) - Meshref (Hard)

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Kuwait F1 title winner was taken to 2 tie break sets by
Marcus Willis who has now gained ATP singles points in 10 consecutive tournaments . Conditions are tough in the 45 degree heat and think will do better in the F2 .
Also Marcus ( bomb ) with his partner Lewis burton ( burts )
will be riding high after 13 consecutive doubles wins and will be favourites to lift their 4th consecutive doubles title
Next week At Kuwait F2 .

indiana · Tennis legend

A1, do you know how Marcus has found the heat, in particular after these two seemingly well fought TB sets in his QF defeat last week ?

Concern has been expressed that Marcus could be in better physical condition, which could clearly make the heat more of an issue.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
Kuwait F1 title winner was taken to 2 tie break sets by
Marcus Willis who has now gained ATP singles points in 10 consecutive tournaments . Conditions are tough in the 45 degree heat and think will do better in the F2 .
Also Marcus ( bomb ) with his partner Lewis burton ( burts )
will be riding high after 13 consecutive doubles wins and will be favourites to lift their 4th consecutive doubles title
Next week At Kuwait F2 .

Nice to read you message, A1 tennis academy. And assuming you're part of A1 pharmaceuticals, and 'in the know', do you know what's Marcus' goals are in singles ? Is he going to Thailand again this winter ? Does he have a target ranking for year-end ?

Wishing him (and Lewis) all the best for next week . . .

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Conditioning has always been an issue in Marcus 's career naturally we are aware of the fact that improved conditioning would benefit all of us .

My answer to this comment is that marcus has improved his conditioning it could improve snd it will but maybe there should be more concern elsewhere for those that are Aegon sponsored & supported with LTA funding and coaches . My view is the kid is kicking the arses of all the Aegon sponsored players and we have not moved out of 2nd gear Yet !

After climbing -600 places in the world where is the LTA coach ? Any sort of support Or funding ?

seagull · Hall of fame

I saw Marcus play about 4 years ago and he looked so talented (and definately had LTA support at that time. Without knowing anything about the situation it seems to me he has taken an awful long time to realise his potential and to put his mind to rising the rankings, so should he have had continued support in the meantime when he was not putting the effort in? Seems to me most players seem to benefit from not having LTA backing anyway!

indiana · Tennis legend

Thank you for addressing the conditioning issue, A1, and your answer is encouraging, particularly "it will".

Re LTA support, I have little doubt that if Marcus continues making the great progess he has been making this year that some support should be forthcoming. Show real and continued commitment and I would hope that that will be rewarded.

I think opinion has been expressed in the forum that funding support etc may be too elitist and thinly based, with in particular the AEGON funding matrix targets for the early to mid 20s rather too stretched. But, anyway let's hope Marcus will provide an indisputable case.

wolf · Tennis legend

R1: (3) Marcus Willis WR 426 v Siyu Liu (CHN) WR 1142
R1: Lewis Burton WR 713 v Matias Castro (ARG) WR 1097

R1: (1) Lewis Burton & Marcus Willis WR 1066 v (WC) Ali Al-Qallaf & Ali Alherz (KUW/KUW) UNR
R1: Lewis Thompson & Ivo Klec (SVK) UNR v (WC) Abdulhameed Alshatti & Faisal Bouqrais (KUW/KUW) UNR

-- Edited by wolf on Sunday 22nd of September 2013 11:36:18 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

FQR: Lewis Thompson UNR lost to Phillip Gresk (POL) UNR 7-5 6-1

steven · Tennis legend

Siyu is world junior no. 150 (CH 98 last year) and has reached the QFs at his last 2 Futures ... however, he has done it with the help of a R2 retirement in the first of those 2 events and R1 and R2 retirements in the second one!

Castro (CH 975 in 2009) has also reached the QFs at his last 2 Futures - one of them was here last week (aided by a retirement in R2, though Castro was 6-4 3-0 up at the time) and the other was Gabon F2.

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Reply to coup droit :

End of year ATP ranking targets

2013 - 300-400 range singles & doubles

2014 100-200 range singles & doubles

MW /Lewis Burton

Doubles target end 2013 300-400

Doubles target end of 2014

Main draw Wimbledon doubles

360 points+ as a pair

GB no2 ranking in ATP top 100 doubles team

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
Reply to coup droit :
End of year ATP ranking targets
2013 - 300-400 range singles & doubles
2014 100-200 range singles & doubles
MW /Lewis Burton
Doubles target end 2013 300-400
Doubles target end of 2014
Main draw Wimbledon doubles
360 points+ as a pair
GB no2 ranking in ATP top 100 doubles team

Thank you for that. Appreciate it.

Presumably, given the above, Marcus would like to be within the top 250 (singles) by June 2014 and so qualify for a WC for the Wimbledon singles MD ?

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

Yes qualifying for Wimbledon would be ideal for both career and funding .
I could then maybe afford to help Another singles player or doubles partnership . The doubles partnership is also after some experimentation with various partners in 2013 now well established .
Team Willis is now fully behind the all GB doubles duo ( B&B) and although some people are rubbishing the futures victories they obviously have never won a futures title at singles or doubles otherwise they would not be little the achievement .
Check the records and find out when a GB player last won 4 consecutively - that's an even bigger achievement !

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh, very sad A1 that you too have gone down the route of it being unreasonable for folk who have never won futures titles to make comments on what they honestly believe. It's a poor debating tool.

It's like Robbie Savage on 606 far too often enquiring of folk who disagee with him "have you ever played the game professionally ?" and is usually fairly irrelevant to the basic point being made.

scottie1 · Futures level

Futures Doubles do not inspire me as RJA said in another thread there are many walkovers withdrawals often maybe resulting in one match before the Final.
Personally I support Marcus but it is the Singles Rankings I am interested in.
Too many British players turn to Doubles as they are not good enough in Singles, I dont want Marcus to become one of them.