Aljaz Bedene

indiana · Tennis legend

Aljaz Bedene

Michael D · All-time great

Vandenburg wrote:
Bedene is a joke, he has wasted tax payers' money in the form of lta legal fees. He should now repay this money, or better still, give it to Evo.

Wrong target, it is the ITF that is the joke. Bedene tried everything he could possibly do and more. And in that context, your comment offensively cheapens the extreme effort he did make.

flamingowings · All-time great

Why should Bedene give anything to Evo?

Evo has been disgusting in his behaviour towards Bedene and let's not forget, is serving a drugs ban currently.

Bedene has not taken wildcards or anything away from other GB players because he was always ranked high enough to be in the draws on merit.

Bedene got absolutely screwed by the authorities on never being eligile to play for GB and throughout his various tribunals has clearly fought this decision for years. All he wanted to do was play DC ties and the Olympics. Now he can (but not for us). Good luck to him.

-- Edited by flamingowings on Saturday 16th of December 2017 09:00:37 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Vandy's comments are (deliberately?) provocative, and daft

The LTA are big boys - they did not spend their legal fees on Bedene to do him a favour, out of charity. It was self-interest, to make our Davis Cup team stronger. And no problem with that. It was a gamble and it ended up failing but they knew the risks and it was not based on any representation that Bedene made that he then failed to keep.
As far as I'm concerned, Bedene is still an asset to British tennis because he is employing a British coach. I always support players who have a British coach/team/hitting partner - their package is half British - I don't 'not support' a GB player because they have a foreign coach, their package is half-british too (and, yes, the player is the more important element but the GB coach is part of our tennis infrastructure and, if Bedene is providing work/experience/etc. for one of them - and Nick Cavaday seems a nice guy - then good on him, that helps British tennis).

Samson · Lower Club Player

I feel so sorry for Bedene, this whole era must've been a frustrating one for him. It's also a shame we lose a top 100 player. I will still look out for his results and cheer him on.

Samson · Lower Club Player

Vandenburg wrote:
Bedene is a joke, he has wasted tax payers' money in the form of lta legal fees. He should now repay this money, or better still, give it to Evo.

Why Evans? Do you think he needs some cash whilst waiting for his ban to end?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Absolutely no problem with Aljaz at all, seems like a very nice chap. Also a pretty sesnsible idea to revert to Slovenian particularly given our trend to all thinks introspective and Brexit. I mean if your genuinely not British why would you have anything to do with that nonsense.

I did find his Tennis a bit uninspiring to watch and that probably is a reflection of an intrinsic tendency to become only truly one eyed in my devotion to a player unequivocally committed to the British cause. Evo has many faults but he ticks that box and I feel even if he were not allowed to play DC for GB he would not be pegging it off to Wogga, changing his name to Bruce and seeking to represent the green and gold.

While a Brit I enjoyed following his fortunes and of course he now has all the prestige of the number 1 slot in the Slovenian top 25 Tennis players but to be honest I wont be logging in to Sloveniantennis.net any time soon to follow his progress around the clay courts of Central Europe.

Strongbow · All-time great

Good luck to Aljaz smile

blob · All-time great

For a player in Britain to be 'bureaucracied' to death, and it not be the fault of the LTA, is at least... refreshing?
Good luck to him

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Never made a secret of the fact that I am a big fan of Aljaz and this really won't change that. I understand his decision and I don't see how he can be blamed when it was the rigidity of the ITF that has ultimately forced him into this position.

One thing I would point out. He holds British citizenship and has no plans to give it up and so even if he is playing under another flag he is still a Brit and as has been pointed out earlier in the thread hires a British coach and regularly practices here and works with other British players.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

If he's still a Brit (even if he's playing for another country) can we still include him on this site? I for one would like to still see how he is doing. It's not his fault this has happened and I for one would thus like him to be an honorary Brit at least for the time being and folllow his fortunes without having to join slov.net.

indiana · Tennis legend

We can do what we want

And Vandy has rather helpfully, by the way of responses to his comments, helped indicate some of the general feelings.

Clearly everyone can follow Aljaz as much as they personally wish to and as long as this thread is here add comments as they want.

Apart from my first line, anyway in my view there is the strong remaining British links and the clear ongoing varying amounts of interest from some so no need for this thread to go anywhere.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

From a pure forum point of view, and although a big fan of Ali B, my feeling would be that, if other Brits are playing, he should be reported in the thread for that tournament, but that we shouldn't start a specific thread for an event if there are no other Brits playing (but Bedene), in which case his progress could be reported in this thread. Which should certainly stay in the individual players section.

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
From a pure forum point of view, and although a big fan of Ali B, my feeling would be that, if other Brits are playing, he should be reported in the thread for that tournament, but that we shouldn't start a specific thread for an event if there are no other Brits playing (but Bedene), in which case his progress could be reported in this thread. Which should certainly stay in the individual players section.

Ah, I hadn't really considered whether to / how to report individual results.

I agree re not starting a tournament thread just for him. If there is a thread because of other player(s) then yes maybe his progress could be reported but not his specific matches and results listed as with the others? Kind of as we already do sometimes mention other players of interest in tournament threads with Aljaz probably being of more interest than most others that we sometimes add comment about.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

My view would be keep the specific thread and if anyone wants to post in tournament threads so be it but I feel he will become less relevant as time passes. Obviously he is now in the Slovenian top 25 Tennis players unless it is renamed the top 25 British Citizens playing tennis board.