Congratulations, Kyle! I thought he'd probably win 1 of the 2 clay Futures, but truthfully thought the second was a much better bet. And as has already been posted, he appeared to get better and better as the week progressed, which is the way it should be. Classy!

I hope Kyle does the double next week. Must be in with an excellent shot - ideal prep for DC anyway - and if he does take a decent points haul, this could well be one of his last Futures events as Kyle closes in on the top 300. Just a shame there are so few Challengers in GB (well outside June, none!) which in all likelihood means he will only play in GB in the Summer. Surely someone at the LTA has to sort this out sooner rather than later.

Only slight question mark would be his serve. As a strapping six foot 1 or 2, I would have expected a higher ace count over the week....even on clay. Mr Kyrgios is able to grind out games against better opponents by exploiting his powerful serve....one hopes Kyle can develop his serve into more of a weapon in time.

Roll on next week!

indiana wrote:

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Very good from Kyle and he certainly seemed to get stronger as the week went on after a perhaps understandably dicey looking early part to the week. Hopefully he pushes his game on further next week. Encouraging stuff, well done lad.

Now, having beaten 5 players ranked outside the top 400 ( only one of whom at WR 198 in 2011 has ever been ranked higher than WR 384 ), whether Kyle should be the annointed Davis Cup one above Evo and James, well hmmmm...

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You may be right, Indy, but.....

1. If Andy has suggested Kyle would be our best bet (and, whilst I have no idea about it, wouldn't be surprised if he had), it would be hard for a DC Captain, who in turn is beholden to Andy for success (and perhaps even his own position originally) to go down a different path. Not impossible, but tricky.

2. Kyle has carved out a bit of a clay court "niche" for himself, and whilst he has only won a handful of Futures tournaments, they have all been on clay, and the bulk of his previous 12 months have been on clay.

3. James Ward's form in general is very patchy indeed, he barely plays on clay, and his recent performances on the red stuff have been very sub-standard. Futures level at best. I would have absolutely no confidence that James would prevail against ANY player the USA decided to pick. And if James and Kyle had to play off to decide our #2, whilst I wouldn't call it as a "no contest", still believe Kyle would now prevail handily.

4. Evo is Evo. God knows what is going on behind the scenes. Apart from qualifying in Doha, he has shown nothing of the form post US Open as he delighted us with in New York and at the previous 2 Challengers. He doesn't play much on clay at all. Something strange appears to have happened with him pulling out of Hawaii. There is enough mood music to suggest that he simply wanted to come home, for whatever reason. There may be something in it, there may be nothing. despite all of this, ordinarily Evo would still be a no-brainer pick (along with Kyle IMO) to have 2 options for the #2 slot behind Andy, with Colin as our doubles expert to play with Andy. If James gets the nod ahead of Evo, we will know that there has been some kind of incident, a disagreement, or perhaps Evo has fallen off the wagon re. training properly, looking after himself properly, foreign tournament commitments, extra curricular activity, etc etc. Anyone's guess. I think there's a real chance Evo won't be picked at all. I do hope it's just another Evo "blip" and not a reversion to type.

5. If Kyle wins again next week, perhaps you might feel more comfortable about it. I suspect the die has already been cast.

SMC1809 wrote:

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Has Evo withdrawn from Hawaii now? Earlier today he was still in.

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Withdrawal deadline has passed and the qualifying draw is out but rumour has it he won't be playing.

Yes well done Kyle 

Not entirely convinced myself that he's quite ready for DC, especially the USA away, but given the current form of the 3 of them and the continuing uncertainty over Evo I'm not sure whether there would be a better pick for the no.2 slot anyway.