Week 19 - Great Britain F11 ($10,000) - Newcastle (Clay)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 19 - Great Britain F11 ($10,000) - Newcastle (Clay)

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I disagree they have more chance of raising their profile playing grass help with sponsorship plus prize money from wild cards and any points gained. I very much doubt Liam or Luke will be any better off points wise or prize money wise going playing 10ks miles away. So I fail to see how that does them any good to be honest.

indiana · Tennis legend

I certainly didn't foresee no Marcus, Luke or Liam in the QFs.

Hopefully today a lot to do with very good play by Jathan and Ashley ( sounds as if the case with Ashley vs Luke ), though I do note the mention of a MTO for Marcus vs Jathan - I hope nothing serious.

steven · Tennis legend

Klegou came back to win 2-6 6-2 6-1

Still, a very decent week for Keelan.

paulisi · Tennis legend

No suprise Ashley or Neil P will not play on grass, they are not really suited. Luke and Liam maybe, but i suspect they have a plan.

Should open the door for some of our lower ranked players to progress up the rankings if some of the bigger names are missing the 10k/15k's

Will help George C, JWH, Harry, Jathan, Toby who all have games for grass pick up points

Rob C into a final set

This should be set up for a Kyle v Ashley final

philwrig · Hall of fame

paulisi wrote:
No suprise Ashley or Neil P will not play on grass, they are not really suited. Luke and Liam maybe, but i suspect they have a plan.

Should open the door for some of our lower ranked players to progress up the rankings if some of the bigger names are missing the 10k/15k's

Will help George C, JWH, Harry, Jathan, Toby who all have games for grass pick up points

Rob C into a final set

This should be set up for a Kyle v Ashley final

When I was referring to the grass court season, I was really talking about Notts/Queens/Eastbourne/Wimby, not sure whether the grass court events after Wimby will be the same.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Fair play- most of our players aren't going to get far in strong challengers and tour events. Probably better to go elsewhere and play the futures grass tournaments after Wimbledon.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Phil - I assume the forecast isn't great for the rest of the week. Is there an indoor option?

Might help Jathan and anyone playing Torebo.

-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:42:21 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Summary from today:

Neil v Jack

I only caught the last couple of games, but I saw enough to tell me that Neil looks back to near his best. Aggressive and showing lots of energy on court, I was impressed. He must have a great shot at the semis here and then giving his SF opponent a good run for their money. Who'd have thought it 'Pauffers the clay court specialist.'

Jathan v Marcus

I joined this match at the beginning of the 2nd set and Marcus just didn't look right, just pushing groundies back to Jathan. Marcus then called for the trainer to have treatment on his left shoulder. But eventhough he was a break up in the second it didn't really look as if he would turn the match around. 1st time I had seen Jathan play and I was impressed, definitely a player to look out for in the future. I spoke to Marcus afterwards and he said he wasn't really injured just feeling the affects of playing alot of tennis in recent weeks. He didn't want to take anything away from what was a very good performance from Jathan.

Kyle v Jonny

Kyle played a strong 1st set, but maybe still not at his best, whilst Jonny really struggled. However Jonny brought his best brand of tennis in the 2nd set and for a while it looked like he could nick that set, he was feeling his back a bit, but hopefully he can stay 100% fit, because on the basis of his play in the 2nd set, he can really start to progress going forward. As for Kyle, just feel he's really not hit top gear yet, other than the 1st set yesterday. Tomorrow will be a good test for him.

Ash v Bambo

High level match with alot of tough rallies. Ash playing like he doesn't want to relinquish his crown. Ash's ball striking as good as it was this time last year. There wasn't much to choose between the 2 though and Bambo's game looks in good shape too.

Keelan v Dark Horse

I started watching this during the 2nd set, and initially I was impressed with Keelan's overall game but especially his 1st serve, but very quickly it became apparent he was playing a guy he not only might spring a surprise this week, but looks a solid bet going forward. From Benin, and looks like he could be a track athlete,he had a great variety of shot.

Rob v Eames

This was on the far side but it looked like they were going hammer and tongs, and it was no surprise when the match was levelled at 1 set all by Rob.

Mike Dicko was there like last year, so maybe there'll be an article in the Mail shortly.

-- Edited by philwrig on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:52:19 PM

-- Edited by philwrig on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:54:30 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

paulisi wrote:
Phil - I assume the forecast isn't great for the rest of the week. Is there an indoor option?
Might help Jathan and anyone playing Torebo.

-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:42:21 PM

Yes, but hopefully there'll be enough dry periods between the showers.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

QF: Daniel Glancy (IRL) & Neil Pauffley CR 1759 (935+824) defeated (4) Pirmin Hänle & Peter Torebko (GER/GER) CR 1652 (537+1115) by 3 & 4 smile

******

SF: Daniel Glancy (IRL) & Neil Pauffley CR 1759 (935+824) vs (2) Maverick Banes & Gavin van Peperzeel (AUS/AUS) CR 795 (477+318)

steven · Tennis legend

L16: (1/WC) Kyle Edmund WR 275 beat Jonny O'Mara WR 975 by 6-0 7-6(2)
L16: Robert Carter WR 834 is tied with (Q) Jake Eames (AUS) WR 1307 (CH 1105 in 2010) 4-6 7-5 blankstare (to finish tomorrow)
L16: Neil Pauffley WR 558 beat Jack Carpenter WR 888 by 3 & 1
L16: (5) Ashley Hewitt WR 424 beat Luke Bambridge WR 562 by 4 & 4
L16: (WC) Jathan Malik WR 928 beat (3) Marcus Willis WR 369 by 7-6(6) 6-3
L16: (Q) Keelan Oakley WR 1556 lost to Alexis Klegou (BEN) WR 690 (= CH) by 2-6 6-2 6-1

QF: (1/WC) Kyle Edmund WR 275 v (7) Peter Torebko (GER) WR 478 (CH 182 in 2012)
QF: Neil Pauffley WR 558 v Carter or Eames
QF: (5) Ashley Hewitt WR 424 v (WC) Jathan Malik WR 928
Non-GB: Alexis Klegou (BEN) WR 690 (= CH) v Daniel Glancy (IRL) WR 746 (CH 718 last Oct)

Ashley v Jathan H2H 1-0 - 7-6(3) 6-2, Glasgow 2012

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Jaggy1876 wrote:
I disagree they have more chance of raising their profile playing grass help with sponsorship plus prize money from wild cards and any points gained. I very much doubt Liam or Luke will be any better off points wise or prize money wise going playing 10ks miles away. So I fail to see how that does them any good to be honest.

I haven't given this much deep thought before (unlike all my other opinions of course smile ) but I tend to agree with you Jaggy (although it makes me a tad nervous to disagree with Steven and Indy).

Firstly, it seems bizarre to not want to be involved with your country's flagship premier event. Especially as they both have a good chance of qualifying. I'd have thought you'd want to be involved as much as you can.I can't think of any American or Frenchman or Australian who would turn up his/her nose at qualifying for your country's Grand Slam (although presumable some have).

In fact, if I were the NTC and funding them, I think I'd give them a general pass for the first week of Wimbledon and make it part of their programme that they had to attend.

After all, Luke and Liam have spent practically all year playing futures; they've barely seen any first-class tennis. And there are so few Challengers in the UK. They should go, participate, be hitting partners for the big guns, and see what they are aiming for.

I also think you've got a point Jaggy about the sponsorship. If Luke and Liam don't hit their matrix targets next year (and each year they get more and more difficult) they should, in theory, be dropped. Their chances of getting some independent backing would surely be better if they'd shown their faces at the main GB event.

As I said, there's probably a good argument to the contrary, but I think they should be part of it and raise their sights.

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting re the grass court absentees.

I must admit to a fair amount of ambivalence about grass court tennis - really like it at the top level, certainly compared to the wham bam, smash it days, but not particularly beyond that.

However, I think I am still looking at things pretty dispationately in not being convinced the grass scene is particularly useful for Liam and Luke at this stage. Of course, I hope they really progress and will be part of it in the future.

Would it get them particularly more helpful attention ? - debatable. The one thing I did ask myself and am still not really sure about - do they in some ways owe it to British tennis and the LTA to be part of it all ? Arguably, but I think the best way they can repay them ( and maybe improve their profile in time ) is ultimately be successful, and I still don't see any real case tenniswise that that is really likely to be achieved by playing these grass tournaments, more the contrary.

I appreciate that the grass court season and clearly particularly Wimbledon is the flagship part of British tennis. But grass is also very much a minority surface compared to clay and even moreso hard. So I don't think we quite have a like for like comparison in the possible disadvantages of young Brits playing on the big home grass court stages against the situations with the Americans, Australians and French. Whether they should feel any obligation, I addressed earlier.

If they were likely to be Wimbledon MD WCs you are in different territory, but for me the only discussion is whether they'ed be Q WCs or not.

Anyway interesting discussion and not one that I totally fling my hat on one side ( and ultimately it is just a few weeks ), but on balance I still understand them missing these grass tournaments and go with it.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Shame that Keelan didn't manage to capitalise this today but, as he says, it's been a good week.

And he can take 'comfort' from the French reports which claim that Wang's defeat yesterday was 'completely incomprehensible' and that he has now probably lost any chance of a QWC into Roland Garros !!!! Nothing like smashing a few dreams :)

Happy for Jathan (hope Marcus is OK). RJA was quite a fan of Jathan last year, I remember, so good to see another youngster doing well.