Week 23 - Challenger (€64,000) - Nottingham, UK (Grass)

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Week 23 - Challenger (€64,000) - Nottingham, UK (Grass)

indiana · Tennis legend

Disappointing.

I know they were all ( initially ) playing seeds, but even before Dan S's reassignment I felt we would snatch at least one win in addition to the Dan E vs Dan C winner. Not to be.

Re putting on more challengers, I am sure that the LTA are aware that they nearly all walked into seeds, so surely, but surely, there will be a much wider consideration of the GB players' generally improved level. I'd expect them to be thinking in rather more depth, whatever the draw and results here.

Note : I really do believe they will consider it in much more depth. I may not always agree with them, and they may still come to a conclusion on challengers that I don't like, but they are not stupid !

steven · Tennis legend

A pretty rubbish day for the men really, even taking into account the tough draw - we can't really blame that completely when Dan S got a LL and still lost, though to be fair, he's probably one of Brits who gets the least advantage from playing on grass.

L32: (Q) Marcus Willis WR 339 lost to (1) Igor Sijsling (NED) WR 55 (CH 52 in Feb) by 3 & 1

L32: (WC) Kyle Edmund WR 295 lost to (8) Dudi Sela (ISR) WR 110 (CH 29 in 2009) by 6-4 2-6 6-2

L32: (WC) Dave Rice WR 313 lost to (5) Kenny de Schepper (FRA) WR 72 (CH 62 in Apr) by 2-6 6-3 6-1

L32: (WC) Dan Smethurst WR 244 lost to (LL) Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL) WR 329 (CH 312 in 2012) by 6-3 3-6 6-2

L32: Dan Evans WR 134 beat (WC) Dan Cox WR 225 by 5 & 5

L32: James Ward WR 168 lost to (2) Steve Johnson (USA) WR 64 (= CH) by 3 & 3

L16: Dan Evans WR 134 v (3) Marinko Matosevic (AUS) WR 66 (CH 39 in 2012)

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

indiana wrote:
That was a heck of a tough ask for Marcus. Well done on him getting there.

Grass in Nottingham clearly didn't phase Sijsling after his last match being against Ferrer on Chatrier in RG.

Plus I think he's not unhappy on grass anyway.

It's some achievement win a set 6-1 with Marcus's serve on grass . We just keep battling away it was nice that Louis cayer spent an hour with the boys discussing their doubles tactics

I hope taking Fleming & Sa to a 10-8 champs tie break is enough to convince the powers that be that a doubles WC for Wimbledon is deserved .

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
Re putting on more challengers, I am sure that the LTA are aware that they nearly all walked into seeds, so surely, but surely, there will be a much wider consideration of the GB players' generally improved level. I'd expect them to be thinking in rather more depth, whatever the draw and results here.

Note : I really do believe they will consider it in much more depth. I may not always agree with them, and they may still come to a conclusion on challengers that I don't like, but they are not stupid !

Let's not forget that this event has one of the best fields of any 75K challenger.

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

indiana wrote:
Disappointing.

I know they were all ( initially ) playing seeds, but even before Dan S's reassignment I felt we would snatch at least one win in addition to the Dan E vs Dan C winner. Not to be.

Re putting on more challengers, I am sure that the LTA are aware that they nearly all walked into seeds, so surely, but surely, there will be a much wider consideration of the GB players' generally improved level. I'd expect them to be thinking in rather more depth, whatever the draw and results here.

Note : I really do believe they will consider it in much more depth. I may not always agree with them, and they may still come to a conclusion on challengers that I don't like, but they are not stupid !

Challengers at this time of year pre Wimbledon always going to be tough although I would like to see more GB challengers I don't necessarily think that this is the ideal time of year .

Whats more important than challengers is 100-200% more prize money for futures which is the main reason that sponsors like myself or wealthy parents /relatives are critical . Sponsors are still

Important but should not be critical to get to the stage that Marcus & Lewis have progressed to !

It's particularly tough if your 17-19 years old a prospect eg Jon O mara and not yet getting sufficient prize money to meet overheads which means you are then worried about where the next slice of bread is coming from instead of focusing on your tennis

steven · Tennis legend

Post-match interview with Evo: www.youtube.com/watch

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A1 tennis academy wrote:
indiana wrote:
Disappointing.

I know they were all ( initially ) playing seeds, but even before Dan S's reassignment I felt we would snatch at least one win in addition to the Dan E vs Dan C winner. Not to be.

Re putting on more challengers, I am sure that the LTA are aware that they nearly all walked into seeds, so surely, but surely, there will be a much wider consideration of the GB players' generally improved level. I'd expect them to be thinking in rather more depth, whatever the draw and results here.

Note : I really do believe they will consider it in much more depth. I may not always agree with them, and they may still come to a conclusion on challengers that I don't like, but they are not stupid !
Challengers at this time of year pre Wimbledon always going to be tough although I would like to see more GB challengers I don't necessarily think that this is the ideal time of year .
Whats more important than challengers is 100-200% more prize money for futures which is the main reason that sponsors like myself or wealthy parents /relatives are critical . Sponsors are still
Important but should not be critical to get to the stage that Marcus & Lewis have progressed to !
It's particularly tough if your 17-19 years old a prospect eg Jon O mara and not yet getting sufficient prize money to meet overheads which means you are then worried about where the next slice of bread is coming from instead of focusing on your tennis

I know we've been through this a bit but, yes I agree that Futures prize levels should be higher.

However, as Ratty has said, there are plenty (indeed thousands) of players who are willing to carry on in the futures at the existing pay levels (so what incentive to raise it?) and there are plenty of other areas where high level is not rewarded with any financial gain.

Classical music is the one I know best - thousands of excellently skilled musicians who have practised 6 hours a day throughout their youth and have no job to go to, or no job that pays more than subsistence levels. And yet the numbers don't drop . . .

Also, it may be a particularly British problem. We believe that when we have kids they will be a cost centre up till the age of 18. (It used to be less, age 14 not that long ago). In France and Italy (the two I know best) parents think it is 100% normal to fund children up till the age of 25 or so. This applies to even poorly off parents (although not horribly poor parents, of course).

What I mean is, there are no grants to university students - basic uni fees are free and 50% students live at home. So, living expenses etc. are paid by parents. Many young adults with jobs will also live at home. Very modest-off families will take out loans to help the kids at age 23 or 25. I'm not saying it's good, just that it's normal. And so parents will pay the expenses of the 20 year-olds going out to play tournaments. It's expected. (Money tournaments, league tennis fees, coaching fees also help a lot).

Anyway, yes, the results were a bit disappointing today. With that number of three-setters you'd hope to at least win one of them :(

philwrig · Hall of fame

Smethy needs to be cut some slack as he was playing with a heavy cold, and Evo's doing it tough at the moment with his knee problem. Coxy was right in the match until Evo found a 2nd gear in the second set. Conditions were very tough, cold and windy. I blame myself for Ricey's change of fortunes. He was a set up and on serve at 4-3 in the second when I came to watch, only won 1 game after that :(

paulisi · Tennis legend

Cheers Phil - nice to get some insider knowledge.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
indiana wrote:
Re putting on more challengers, I am sure that the LTA are aware that they nearly all walked into seeds, so surely, but surely, there will be a much wider consideration of the GB players' generally improved level. I'd expect them to be thinking in rather more depth, whatever the draw and results here.

Note : I really do believe they will consider it in much more depth. I may not always agree with them, and they may still come to a conclusion on challengers that I don't like, but they are not stupid !
Let's not forget that this event has one of the best fields of any 75K challenger.

This! ^

I completely agree. The kind of challengers I want to see in GB are regualr 35Ks plonked in a week where the entire tennis world are not descending on GB.

That way it is still challenger quality not ATP qualies or even Masters series standard.

Sisjling is effectively top 50, Johnson is at his CH of 64, De Schepper well inside top 100, Sela has a good grass record (at times) and Smethers falls ill at the wrong time.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

There's a camera fixed on the centre court here yet it doesn't look like we are going to get a stream of Dan's match.

RJA · Hall of fame

Julia Carrot wrote:
There's a camera fixed on the centre court here yet it doesn't look like we are going to get a stream of Dan's match.

Just when I think the LTA can sink no lower in their bid to be one of the most incompetent organisations in country they always find another way to screw something up. Absolute clueless bunch of clowns.

indiana · Tennis legend

Otherwise they're great. Go, RJA :)

DWH · Club Coach

Strange that the ATP Challenger live stream is showing Court 4 instead of Centre Court.

The LTA player (which I assume is only for the ITF women's matches) is still streaming Centre Court but the middle of the court is obscured by the semi transparent graphic advertising Joko Vs Pliskova.

So you can partially see Evo. Haha.