Week 7 - Challenger (€42,500+H) - Quimper, France (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 7 - Challenger (€42,500+H) - Quimper, France (Hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: Maxime Authom (BEL) WR 308 defeated (6) James Ward WR 156 by 2 & 2 bleh disbelief

Why am I not surprised? hmm

RJA · Hall of fame

With his draw having opened up that is a big disappointment. The rather freakish win over Querrey aside it has been an awful start to the year for James.

LouieG · County player

Dogsh*te

korriban · Challenger level

paulisi wrote:
Best player won. Authom was excellent defensively, pulled out the big serves at crucial times and was hitting winners from all over the place. Wardy had no answers and Authom will beat most if he continues to play at that level.

I agree with the first sentence. But not so much the last 2. The Belgian played quite well, but there was nothing coming back at him whatsoever (so it's hard to judge if he will be beaten next round) - no aggression, no fight from James, and lots of holding rally balls combined with UEs. Baffling. I wish he'd start screaming or something to show he cared......he gets into these passive, dreamlike states sometimes where it looks like a practice session gone wrong. Gggrrrr.

steven · Tennis legend

Looking on the bright side, James won a game more than he did the last time they played (in 2012) ... not much of a bright side, admittedly

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

Well I just don't understand it. He's just come off probably one of the best wins of his career and somehow gets thrashed by a guy ranked 267 in the world. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure the Belgian deserved his win and from what has been said that seems to be the case and there are times as we have all seen that a player plays way above his ranking - but surely Ward should have put up more of a fight than this. He says he loves playing for his country which seems to imply he does not love playing for himself as much.

freerider · Futures level

no aggresion and no fight from Ward today. didn't make Authom win it. Didn't give him the chance to have a sloppy service game.

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

RJA wrote:
With his draw having opened up that is a big disappointment. The rather freakish win over Querrey aside it has been an awful start to the year for James.

When you say it was a freakish win are you saying it was more a case of Querrey going to pieces than James raising his game?

freerider · Futures level

A131 wrote:
RJA wrote:
With his draw having opened up that is a big disappointment. The rather freakish win over Querrey aside it has been an awful start to the year for James.
When you say it was a freakish win are you saying it was more a case of Querrey going to pieces than James raising his game?

Wardy looked like a comfortable top 100 player in that fifth set against Querry, and, if he played close to that level regularly then he would be. I don't think there are many on this board who would disagree with me

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Gutted for James. Like most of us I was hoping he'd build on his great win. Oh well onwards and upwards - I hope.

korriban · Challenger level

Helen40 wrote:
Gutted for James. Like most of us I was hoping he'd build on his great win. Oh well onwards and upwards - I hope.

I can't feel gutted for him because his whole demeanour was wrong- so flat from start to finish. He can't be tired surely.

The Querrey match was a strange one, but the key thing for me was James keeping his opponent on the court long enough for his form and confidence to start to unravel. Admittedly, most matches James will play are 3 setters, so conditioning is less of a factor. James can be outstanding when he attacks and eliminates all "safe" thoughts from his head. The irony is that the safer he often plays, the more UEs seem to come from his racket.

Afraid that this will always remain his level outside DC. About 150-250.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Lovely streaming of Rice and Thornley doing the business

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

After that dismal showing by Dino, back to the real business in Quimper! wink

R1: (4) David Rice & Sean Thornley CR 405 (204+201) defeated Filip Krajinovic & Goran Tosic (SRB/SRB) CR 1154 (1024+130) by 3 & 4 smile

The boys squandered four match points in the ninth game of the second set, but eventually made sure of the match in the tenth. They play the winners of the Delgo/Müller vs Mertl/Ungur encounter in the quarters.

RJA · Hall of fame

freerider wrote:
A131 wrote:
RJA wrote:
With his draw having opened up that is a big disappointment. The rather freakish win over Querrey aside it has been an awful start to the year for James.
When you say it was a freakish win are you saying it was more a case of Querrey going to pieces than James raising his game?
Wardy looked like a comfortable top 100 player in that fifth set against Querry, and, if he played close to that level regularly then he would be. I don't think there are many on this board who would disagree with me

I used the word freakish in a fairly neutral manner as the result was for a variety of reasons something of a one off and I don't think any of us really thought it said anything about what James was likely to do for the rest of the year. Since I have been pressed further I will say that while James played very well for the last set and a half we really should acknowledge that Querrey threw the match away. He was coasting to victory, got broke once and then completely imploded. Yes James looked like a top 100 player at times but it is a hell of a lot easier to look like a top 100 player against a player having a mental meltdown than it is the rest of time.

It is very disappointing because James does have the game to be a top 100 player. His serve his good, his forehand can be a huge weapon and his backhand is rock solid. Unfortunately there is something wrong between the ears and I am increasingly doubtful that we will ever see James reach his potential. He is now 27 years old and while the average age of the top 100 is increasing at this age and older it becomes increasingly unlikely to start hitting new career highs.