Boggo

korriban · Challenger level

Boggo

steven · Tennis legend

The only thing I've seen about him recently was that reference on a French club site to them signing him up for the next league season and him trying to set up an academy in the US that they were going to swap players with.

I'd love to be proved wrong, but my guess is that he has effectively retired but hasn't bothered to announce it because he thinks the press would just use it as an excuse to have one last go at him. Sadly, that probably is what would happen, despite him being one of the best 5 British men's singles players of the previous (i.e. '00s) decade.

chavkev · Intermediate Club Player

It is sad really that Alex is not able to retire with the well-wishes of the British tennis public. The press scapegoating of him was very childish and cynical. He did get some horrible Wimbledon draws and had Brad Gilbert dumped on him at great expense to the LTA.

If he has retired, I hope he is able to enjoy a meaningful and productive retirement and reflects warmly on his career. It did not hit the heights that perhaps he expected, but has hopefully enriched him in other ways.

Spectator · All-time great

Funnily enough, he'd just come come up in conversation around here (Have long thought that Mr Ward had inherited the "let's be horrid to GB's 2nd-best player" mantle ... though this weekend should have taken care of that! ... and was wondering what Mr Bogdanovic would have done in DC if he had had the support of a captain and support team like the current one)

Would echo the well wishes, whether he has retired or not. Hope he's having all success in whatever he's doing!

steven · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Funnily enough, he'd just come come up in conversation around here (Have long thought that Mr Ward had inherited the "let's be horrid to GB's 2nd-best player" mantle ... though this weekend should have taken care of that! ... and was wondering what Mr Bogdanovic would have done in DC if he had had the support of a captain and support team like the current one)

Would echo the well wishes, whether he has retired or not. Hope he's having all success in whatever he's doing!

I think you're right, James did inherit that mantle, though he has tended to get dismissed in people's minds rather than reviled, which is still bad but not nearly as bad as what Alex has had to put up with over the years.

I've also found myself wondering how Boggo would have done in the current DC setup. My guess is that it wouldn't have done him any good to have been brought in early in Leon's reign, simply because the damage had already been done, but had the team been as mutually supportive in the past as they seem to be now and had Leon been the DC captain when Alex first played, who knows how much better he might have done in the competition ... and how much of a positive effect that could have had on his career as a whole.

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

chavkev wrote:
It is sad really that Alex is not able to retire with the well-wishes of the British tennis public. The press scapegoating of him was very childish and cynical. He did get some horrible Wimbledon draws and had Brad Gilbert dumped on him at great expense to the LTA.

If he has retired, I hope he is able to enjoy a meaningful and productive retirement and reflects warmly on his career. It did not hit the heights that perhaps he expected, but has hopefully enriched him in other ways.

I too wish him well but as for the first part of that post - well this is where I disagree somewhat because

a) he only ever got into the Wimbledon main draw on the back of a wild card (which for grand slams I think should either be abolished or severely reduced) and therefore was fortunate to be there at all

b) still didn't win even when he got a favourable draw, and

c) he made I think well over £100,0000 for just turning up so I don't think you can totally blame the press for having a go at him. He probably wanted to be in that situation (applied for a wild card etc etc) and he hadn't earned the right to be there - so you can't have it both ways.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I heard recently that he's pretty much settled in the States and happily coaching there.

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

A131 wrote:
chavkev wrote:
It is sad really that Alex is not able to retire with the well-wishes of the British tennis public. The press scapegoating of him was very childish and cynical. He did get some horrible Wimbledon draws and had Brad Gilbert dumped on him at great expense to the LTA.

If he has retired, I hope he is able to enjoy a meaningful and productive retirement and reflects warmly on his career. It did not hit the heights that perhaps he expected, but has hopefully enriched him in other ways.
I too wish him well but as for the first part of that post - well this is where I disagree somewhat because
a) he only ever got into the Wimbledon main draw on the back of a wild card (which for grand slams I think should either be abolished or severely reduced) and therefore was fortunate to be there at all
b) still didn't win even when he got a favourable draw, and
c) he made I think well over £100,0000 for just turning up so I don't think you can totally blame the press for having a go at him. He probably wanted to be in that situation (applied for a wild card etc etc) and he hadn't earned the right to be there - so you can't have it both ways.

Didn't realise Mike Dickson posted on this board.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

I think aside from Kevin Kim he didn't have any brilliant draws...and aside from getting £100,000 for just "turning up", I'm not sure that's a huge amount of money when stretched over a 9/10 year period..

indiana · Tennis legend

Boggo got far too much hostile quite personal treatment by the media and ( partly in consequence ) some of the public.

It was not his fault ( gee it was creditable compared to so almost all the rest ) that he was GB no 2 for a while. Nor is it his fault that he was offered and accepted ( or sought and was given ) Wimbledon MD WCs. Yes, he at times failed to play too near his best at Wimbledon ( it happens ), but it is also true that he got many tough draws and almost by definition of his ranking just about any win would actually have been an upset. It's a bit unrealistic to expect him to say no thank you to WCs !

He undoubtably suffered from certain Wimbledon obsessed, more general tennis ignorant parts of the media.

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

The Knight wrote:
I think aside from Kevin Kim he didn't have any brilliant draws...and aside from getting £100,000 for just "turning up", I'm not sure that's a huge amount of money when stretched over a 9/10 year period..

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick. As A131 implies, a wild card should be expected to emerge victorious every single time they don't draw one of the top 5 in the first round.

TMH · Futures qualifying

A victim of being the second best British player but not quite good enough to compete on the main tour.

The sad thing is if he'd been slightly less successful he'd have been much more warmly received.

steven · Tennis legend

Jeff Stelling wrote:
The Knight wrote:
I think aside from Kevin Kim he didn't have any brilliant draws...and aside from getting £100,000 for just "turning up", I'm not sure that's a huge amount of money when stretched over a 9/10 year period..
I think you've got the wrong end of the stick. As A131 implies, a wild card should be expected to emerge victorious every single time they don't draw one of the top 5 in the first round.

That's tabloid sports journalism training school lesson no. 1 in a nutshell, I believe wink

dorsetman · Social player

I was at one of the notorious Wimbledon 1st round exits, a first round loss to Simone Bolelli who was I think a top 30ish player at the time and playing at the height of his career, a really good player. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Boggo had more touch and way more talent but every time he carved an opening he'd rush the next point and just give it away, it was painful to watch...I know it's not just as simple as taking your time now and again but really...it looked like it that day. He had all the shots. His backhand was an absolute corker of a shot.
I do think the LTA have a bit to answer for as well.
Good luck to the guy though. I'd be happy if I'd have ever got an ATP point let alone get to 108 in the world. It's all relative isn't it.

Priesty · Challenger level

Kevin Kim and Chris Guccione were also winnable first rounds, and he gleaned a meagre 6 games against Sargis Sargsian one year. It has to be said there were opportunities even though he did have some lousy draws (e.g. Fed and Nadal) in other years too.