Aljaz Bedene

Jan · Hall of fame

RE: Aljaz Bedene

Kounosuke · Intermediate Club Player

Bedene qualified with a 6-4 6-4 win over Michal Przysiezny, and then gets drawn against Djokovic in R1.

-- Edited by Kounosuke on Saturday 17th of January 2015 07:41:16 AM

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Ouch that's harsh. Good to see him keep on winning matches.

Sandman · Social player

Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but when is the switch supposed to be confirmed?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great showing from Aljaz and I guess he'll be on a big show court - great experience - and it'll be televised !

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Sandman wrote:
Not sure if it's been mentioned before, but when is the switch supposed to be confirmed?

I think it should have already happened but there was some delay because of a paperwork problem. So presumably any time now.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

For the stat lovers - Novak v Aljaz

NO. 1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (Q) ALJAZ BEDENE (SLO)

Head-to-head: first meeting

DJOKOVIC           v                BEDENE

27                    Age               25
1         ATP Ranking (19 Jan) 116
48                  Titles    0
180-33 Career Grand Slam Record     0-6
43-6 Australian Open Record      0-2
606-141    Career Record    26-34
392-82    Career Record - Hard    17-14
2-1          2015 Record 4-1
2-1          2015 Record - Hard     4-1
22-8    Career Five-Set Record   0-0
3   Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
172-102   Career Tiebreak Record 11-10
1-1    2015 Tiebreak Record    2-0

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 19th of January 2015 08:51:30 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Interesting article about him in today's Times (subscription required). It is headed "Bedene keen to serve under new flag", but confirms that it is unlikely that he ever will, even though

[Bedene] insists that he will fight the newly passed ITF rule, voted in by all the constituent nations of the ruling body, of which Great Britain is one, that players who have already represented one nation in the Davis Cup and/or Olympic Games cannot transfer their allegiance to another. Bedene has already employed a solicitor and an immigration lawyer to fight his case.

Bedene, born in Ljubljana, moved to Britain almost seven years ago and has been a permanent resident in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, since 2011. "I really want to play for Britain," he said. "That's my life goal, actually.

"I felt the conditions back home in Slovenia were not something my tennis could gain from. The conditions in England, especially the facilities, are some of the best in the world. I'm feeling at home now."

Bedene maintains that he filed his application long before the new legislation came into force and has fulfilled the five-year residency requirements for European Union nationals seeking a British passport. He is also clearly not becoming British to benefit from LTA funding, because he has already turned 25 and is too old to qualify under the new financial set-up at Roehampton.

indiana · Tennis legend

Ha, so Aljaz has the better 2015 record :)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Stircrazy wrote:
Interesting article about him in today's Times (subscription required). It is headed "Bedene keen to serve under new flag", but confirms that it is unlikely that he ever will, even though
[Bedene] insists that he will fight the newly passed ITF rule, voted in by all the constituent nations of the ruling body, of which Great Britain is one, that players who have already represented one nation in the Davis Cup and/or Olympic Games cannot transfer their allegiance to another. Bedene has already employed a solicitor and an immigration lawyer to fight his case.
Bedene, born in Ljubljana, moved to Britain almost seven years ago and has been a permanent resident in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, since 2011. "I really want to play for Britain," he said. "That's my life goal, actually.
"I felt the conditions back home in Slovenia were not something my tennis could gain from. The conditions in England, especially the facilities, are some of the best in the world. I'm feeling at home now."
Bedene maintains that he filed his application long before the new legislation came into force and has fulfilled the five-year residency requirements for European Union nationals seeking a British passport. He is also clearly not becoming British to benefit from LTA funding, because he has already turned 25 and is too old to qualify under the new financial set-up at Roehampton.

If Bedene hasn't been a permanent resident for 5 years, could that be a reason for turning down his application.

indiana · Tennis legend

I thought all the signs are though that his citizenship application is likely to be successful.

Re the ITF change of rules for representing countries, that clearly is a big issue. Generally retrospective rules would seem unfair, but I certainly don't know all the facts or what the ITF have required of him.

Just seems a pity when he was clearly in the process long before the ITF rule change was even announced, quite apart from the 'dead rubber' discussions.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
I thought all the signs are though that his citizenship application is likely to be successful.

Re the ITF change of rules for representing countries, that clearly is a big issue. Generally retrospective rules would seem unfair, but I certainly don't know all the facts or what the ITF have required of him.

Just seems a pity when he was clearly in the process long before the ITF rule change was even announced, quite apart from the 'dead rubber' discussions.

Indy, I don't think there's any doubt about his eventually being granted British citizenship. Rather it's concerned with the vexed question of whether he'll ever be allowed to represent us in the Davis Cup following the rule change.

indiana · Tennis legend

SC, I was responding to Phil's post above mine in that he seemed to be concerned about Aljaz's citizenship application. At least that is how I took it with his reference to 5 years permanent residency, which I believe may be relevant to British citizenship but I very much doubt has any direct relevance whatever to the issues with the ITF's rules on representing countries.

So I was just saying that, like you, I personally had little doubt about him getting British citizenship, but there clearly are issues to try to overcome with the ITF. We are on the same page :)

Spectator · All-time great

Not a bad score against Mr Djokovic: 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Many more highly ranked players have suffered much worse!

EddietheEagle · County player

Not bad, but having watched most of the match, the vast difference in movement, acceleration, weight of shot and so on, was abundantly obvious. An under-the-weather Djokovic was imperious, fly-swatting at times, Bedene made to look like a lightweight. Woe betide his opponent when Djokovic throws off whatever is ailing him at the moment.