Entries Week 4 - 20/01/2014

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Entries Week 4 - 20/01/2014

steven · Tennis legend

The Mail (but only the Mail, so I'm a bit suspicious re. its accuracy, though it is Mike Dickson rather than some unknown person making it up) claims Evo has pulled out of Maui and has gone back to the UK, and that Leon isn't too pleased about it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2540212/British-number-two-Evans-snubs-GB-plans-Hawaii-putting-Davis-Cup-spot-jeopardy.html

Of course, the rumour seemed to be that Kyle was the favourite to get the no. 2 spot for the USA tie anyway.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm, whether Leon agrees with Evo's apparent actions or not ( and I admit I am often a bit concerned still as to what goes on in Evo's head ), I am pretty sure he will still pick the team on pragmatic grounds.

There seem to be a lot of folk already convinced that Kyle wlll be in the four. I am not sure when or why he has become seen as a front runner ahead of Evo and / or James, great prospect though he is.

RJA · Hall of fame

Assuming this is true (Dickson can be a bit of a prat but he doesn't normally make things up) it looks pretty disappointing. I can only conclude that Dan's motives are either not related to tennis or that he doesn't fancy playing a Davis Cup tie on clay and wants to prepare for the European indoor season. If he doesn't travel to the states he can play ATP qualifying in Montpellier or Zagreb.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Evo back training in UK, so will not play Manui.

Greg Rusedski says Kyle will get no.2 berth in DC

RJA · Hall of fame

Not really sure that blooding Kyle against John Isner on US soil is really the way I would have preferred him to make his debut.

As for Evo, if he isn't playing Davis Cup I will be very disappointed if he doesn't show up in Montpellier or Zagreb.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Chicken and egg.

1) Did Kyle get the nod because Evo has withdrawn from Manui and upset the coach.

2) Did Evo withdraw from Manui because he already knew Kyle had been given the nod.

Conspiracy theorists, do your worst.

RJA · Hall of fame

It would seem odd that Kyle would have already been given the nod already. After all if Kyle had lost early this week and next week in his futures event while Evo or Ward did well in Maui it would have been very hard to pick him ahead of them.

Spectator · All-time great

Wouldn't pay much attention to anything before the initial announcement in re: the Davis Cup. Not that the various speculations are necessarily wrong - but it seems pointless. Presumably the one person who knows what he's thinking is Mr Smith, and he's not talking.

spud · Challenger qualifying

A tie I thought we would win with Evo as well, don't think Kyle quite has the firepower. And why is Ward seemingly out of the picture?

steven · Tennis legend

spud wrote:
A tie I thought we would win with Evo as well, don't think Kyle quite has the firepower. And why is Ward seemingly out of the picture?

Possibly because most GB fans and journos seem to remember Evo's big wins and forget his losses, while remembering Wardy's losses and forgetting his big wins. I bet if you asked 100 casual British tennis fans who beat Dmitry Tursunov in Davis Cup in 5 sets last year, the majority would say Dan.

That's not a dig at Dan, I hasten to add (indeed, he was the first to acknowledge that the win over Tursunov was the turning point in the tie), and it's fair to say James hasn't done himself too many favours with his form this month, but he very seldom seems to get much credit for the Challengers and many the DC rubbers he has won over the years.

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 18th of January 2014 06:05:17 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Wouldn't pay much attention to anything before the initial announcement in re: the Davis Cup. Not that the various speculations are necessarily wrong - but it seems pointless. Presumably the one person who knows what he's thinking is Mr Smith, and he's not talking.

Yes. I should perhaps have added the proviso that this is based on the assumption that this is in fact the case, although I am not sure Mr Rusedski would say that without good cause.

But the one thing I DO agree on, is that what ever happens, we can trust Leon to make the best decision for the team.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, it does seem very strange that a Kyle selection would have been decided so soon ( even if folk didn't like me already be having difficulty as to why Kyle was being so talked up ahead of Evo and / or James ). Especially so early in the season, I was imagining Evo, James and Kyle would all be in attendance with a fairly late decision.

Would seem very early to commit for a coach who ( admirably ) went with his gut instinct evidently so late in prep, when selecting Evo over Jamie last year.

RJA · Hall of fame

I must admit I am becoming a little uneasy about how quickly Kyle is being pushed by some. There is no doubt that he has great potential, is very mature for his age and seems to have lots of good people around him. I am very positive about his prospects and will be very surprised if he doesn't make a decent career for himself. However he is currently ranked 372 in the world with just a handful of match wins apart from at futures level. The combination of wild cards into foreign ATP level events, a possible elevation into the Davis Cup team that seems a little premature and the general coverage of his progress that seems to be getting a bit sycophantic strikes me as a little dangerous. It is not hard to see how even the most grounded of young men could be adversely affected by all of this. I would like to see Kyle left to develop at his own pace rather than be pushed too far too quickly.

indiana · Tennis legend

Pretty much agree with all that, RJA.

Re the Davis Cup, if Kyle is good enough, put him in the Davis Cup team. I just have doubts that he currently is, and would certainly want to see James in next week's challenger and Kyle further stepping up in next week's future and als would wonder where Evo stood.

I remain a bit confused, having been an admirer of Leon's apparent pragmatism. But then none of this Davis Cup hype or whatever has ( certainly directly ) come from him.