Last R2 opponent decided - Josh draws the short straw of *not* getting an opponent ranked outside the top 500 ...

L16: Dave Rice WR 329 v Erik Crepaldi ITA WR 515 (= CH) - upset top seed Smyczek in R1
L16: (Q) Josh Milton WR 580 v (3) Rajeev Ram (USA) WR 125 (CH 78 in 2009)
L16: Ed Corrie WR 319 v (WC) Dennis Nevolo (USA) WR 579 (CH 566 in Oct) - H2H 0-1, 3 sets, Mansfield last month
L16: (Q) Dan Smethurst WR 485 v Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) WR 509 (CH 506 last month)

Bob in Spain wrote:

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Headline News - LTA declared Bankrupt after the exploits of the FAB 4 in Champaign.

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I'm particularly impressed with Dan's performance, and he more than deserves it after toiling away for so many weeks. And here's the Race to The Year End British No. 5:

*Corrie - 140
*Rice - 130
*Willis - 117
Edmund - 110
Klein - 100
AWard - 96

 

CD - I saw him play the final at Wirral against Ed and he was really poor. He was very passive, couldn't cope with the backhand slice and nothing like the player that played last night.

I understand he has the talent, but he cannot find that level on a consistent basis and this year has had more bad days and good days.

CD. I didn't watch yesterday, but IMO Dan's serve looks pretty good, without being outstanding - but is prone to DFs and weak second serves. It's neither an asset or a liability.

My biggest frustration with his play is the almost complete lack of a topspin backhand - I've rarely seen a decent level professional (apart from Steffi Graf, but that's another story) play almost every shot on the BH side with a slice. Now Dan's slice isn't bad at all - very accurate I would say, but it's by definition not a very aggressive/offensive shot - more containing. I have seen him attempt the odd topspin BH (2 handed) with very limited success or effectiveness. In short, rather like Steffi, I suspect his topspin BH is inconsistent and/or not very good......so he's all but eliminated it.

I do agree that on it's day his FH can be a real weapon, but there are lots of compromises in other departments, so I suspect that is the limiting factor. No feel for his temperament.....

DWH wrote:

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He did throw in a few yesterday. There were even a couple of BH DTL return winners. But it was used sparingly.

It did remind me a little of Dan E (but double handed) who does slice a fair bit and doesn't use the top spin shot that often.

 

Edit: Oops. yes as CD says above. MikeC the commentator did mention it saying the slice was getting Polanksy into awkward positions and the short slice was luring him to net setting up a simple pass for Dan. Most of which he made. 

-- Edited by DWH on Wednesday 13th of November 2013 09:25:11 AM

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Dan E does use the slice a lot, but

1. It's a much better shot than Dan S's

2. He may use the topspin BH too sparingly, but it's still order of magnitude more than Dan S.

3. Dan E's topspin BH is also very very good - a real weapon - Dan S's is average/poor at best.

Frankly, we have too many players (Josh G is another) who rely far too much on the BH slice, probably because they don't spend much time on clay, and too much on fast indoor courts and grass.

Too much BH slice in GB tennis :

my take on it is that it's not because they don't spend enough time on clay (there are lots of countries that have hardly any clay) but that it's reflection of the coaches that were around ten years ago - I saw lots of them at European junior events and to say they were old-fashioned is an understatement - there were 55 year-old coaches warming up with young players, hitting 100% slice BH themselves because it was obviously all they'd ever learnt and the only shot they had. Sort of vicious circle. So the kids warmed up against low, sliced BHS - only to step on court and play young Europeans hitting top spin, high trajectory BHs - it's no wonder they looked lost.
I think it did our 1990-and-befores a real disservice.

And, yes, Dan Evans sliced BH, and top spin BH, are a lot better but then he's a better player fullstop. And equally the level of his opponents is better so it still gets him into problems. He has to untrain his brain not to revert to slice at the first chance - Tim Henman gave an interesting interview saying a very similar thing about himself.

I think it's no coincidence that with the employment of some top foreign coaches at the NTC, we now have a new batch of youngsters (the 1994-95 ones) who hit classic top-spin BHs - hardly any slicers. And this will feed through and the cycle will be broken.

Oh, little fave, didn't you do well ????

Great way to go into the end of the year.

 

edit: and just for Bob in Spain - kerching ! goes the cash till at the LTA. .  .

 

meanwhile Ed plays a pretty poor tie-break and loses it - hope he doesn't give up - Nevolo isn't doing much with the ball.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Wednesday 13th of November 2013 07:31:12 PM