It would be a shame for josh Goodall to hang his gloves up just yet !

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

It would be a shame for josh Goodall to hang his gloves up just yet !

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
Jsh has proved he still has what it takes

Only at Futures level....

P.S. His gloves? I wasn't aware that tennis players wore them during matches! confuse

-- Edited by Stircrazy on Saturday 12th of October 2013 12:02:52 PM

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

I hope that josh jake Goodall continues on the tour as a regular singles player particularly at GB futures for several reasons

1) he's still in good shape

2) he's a lot better than our younger players

3) would be a useful benchmark

4) a great doubles partner/coach/mentor for Harry Meehan

paulisi · Tennis legend

No issues playing doubles, but will be slowing people's progress up the singles ranking. Marcus could draw him in the first round next week....

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I don't think Josh G is obliged to leave the points for the others - seems a bit too altruistic !

If he wants to play and can, and win, then good luck to him. He's not my favourite but he has a cracking game of tennis (when he's on song). For me, Josh G's issues have mainly been between the ears and it's possible that a semi-retirement has crystallised a few things for him or simply taken the pressure off and allowed things to happen naturally.

He certainly has a good 3-5 years left, if his body is OK and he wants to and he has some funds. And it does show the others that life's not over at 26 or whatever (as though they don;t see that every day on tour anyway, but it'd be a GB version).

However, he says he has three clients he's coaching; only one is a tour player that he could travel with. If he's looking to build that up, he can't leave the others to their own devices and travel whenever suits so it'd be a bit piecemeal. Decisions . . ..

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

It's a view that's independent of personal goals and aspirations , no would not cherish having to play Josh next week but Josh is

too good to retire just yet ! and do we not want our best players in the GB top 25 ?

freerider · Futures level

Fingers crossed there will be a lot more GB challengers next year, then Goodall could test himself at a higher level while still coaching :)

freerider · Futures level

and from a training point of view, it must be great for HDM to see first hand how an experienced player prepares for a final, and indeed for a sf/qf etc etc

indiana · Tennis legend

I agree with CD. For me, it is not for Josh to concern himself with minorly "slowing people's progress up the singles ranking". If they are good enough they'll get there even with the occasional beating / lesson from Josh.

Josh, you just consider what you feel is best for yourself, mate.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well, I rather like the 'gloves' metaphor - imagery and all that . . .
I tend to use 'kicked off' for matches - i.e. 'the Ed/Josh match has just kicked off' . .. every time I write it I think - but they don;t kick the ball, doesn't make sense. But 'started' sometimes seems a bit lame.
I think certain phrases just get adopted and become generally accepted even out of their specific context.

Anyway, I see from Josh's tweet that he's still juggling his two hats as coach and player (can you juggle two things ? probably not . . .):

joshua goodall ‏@joshuagoodall 1h

Played amazing tennis this week! Chuffed. Now to drive @HarryMeehan to Loughborough & get him thru quals!

Good luck to both . . .

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

I think that if Josh paired with an understudy Eg Harry Meehan he would be putting something valuable back into the sport ,

For what it's worth i strongly hinted to HDM that he should focus on doubles as I felt he could make a living as a doubles specialist & Josh would as has already been proven be an excellent partner

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

I think the area I am from elephant & castle that boxing was very popular in fact both my Uncle and best friend we successful ABA boxing champions . So when your retired you we're described as "hanging your gloves up " .

Any how my mate who was a double ABA title holder gave bomb a boxing lesson earlier in the year and it did not do him any harm ! . My mate kept saying this boy could be really good he's a strong boy gauow but he's gotta keep his guard up & chin in . I said steve but he's a pro tennis player !! Your job is to get him hit not ruin his looks ! Lol

Salmon · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
I love our Dom/Marray/Murray/Skupski lot and if the system allows you to do it then why not? But the fact that Andy Murray was chosen above all the GB doubles specialists in the Davis Cup, and won, says a lot.

Or the fact that in the one tournament where the top talents actually care about doubles, two of the last three winners have been the noted doubles specialists Federer & Wawrinka, and Massu & Gonzalez. Or the fact that when McEnroe came back to doubles at the age of 47 (!), he found out that he was still better than most of the doubles specialists.

I'm all for Meehan playing dubs if he wants to, and there is absolutely nothing wrong in preferring to watch or play doubles, just like I enjoy following/watching the Futures tour more than I enjoy following the Slams. But it's sad when people in power don't objectively recognise which format has the better players and offer funding to doubles specialists ahead of singles prospects. It's akin to saying that Coxy had won more titles this summer than Murray did, and hence he is the better player.

I have always equated this with the the T20 freelancer vs. Test player debate in cricket. You can become rich, and become rich quickly if you take the former route, but ultimately if you want to leave a mark on the game, you have to play Tests (and to an extent, ODIs). And ironically enough, people like Kieron Pollard who excel in all those domestic T20 tournaments, are quite rank when it comes to the World T20s.

-- Edited by Salmon on Saturday 12th of October 2013 09:22:50 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A1, I know that (a) you're a keen doubles fan and (b) the payment system is currently skewed to that a decent-ish doubles player who in never on TV, in the press and has zero name recognition can be earning a decent living whilst a top 300 singles player will be scraping by but:
do you really think it's right to suggest that an 18 year-old should concentrate on becoming a doubles player ?

I know that the British/French doubles/singles comparison figures have been quoted a lot recently but i can't think of anywhere in Europe where you wouldn't be looked at with complete disbelief if you said, at age 18, that you were going to concentrate on doubles.

I love our Dom/Marray/Murray/Skupski lot and if the system allows you to do it then why not? But the fact that Andy Murray was chosen above all the GB doubles specialists in the Davis Cup, and won, says a lot.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Yep it basically says doubles players are so because they are not good enough for singles. So I'd say that encouraging an 18yr old to be a doubles player says a lot. Whereas guys who get to their mid 20s who might have made the top 200 but haven't quite had the ability it makes sense for them to play doubles as a way of making a living at a lower level so to speak.