There's just a certain something about Oli that keeps me believing in him as having a decent chance of reaching the top 100 in time. Still, certainly got work to do here, but it would be really good to see him come through qualifying, and beat all these odds.

Interesting to read that he is apparently rebelling a bit by even being around for the grass court season. Yes, the LTA deliver extremely important funding, but I do think it is very important to fully take account of different individual traits and recognise say these who like a stage and could really benefit or at least remain more enthused by these few weeks.

QR1:  (qWC) Dave Rice & Sean Thornley CR 465 (232+233) defeated (q7) Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Adil Shamasdin (FRA/CAN) CR 227 (120+107) by 7-6(4) 6-3

An unfortunate case of Rhyne's revenge for that Nottingham loss Still, 2 through - could be worse!

QR1: (wc) Josh Milton WR 569 lost to Rhyne Williams (USA) WR 195 (CH 114 last Aug) by 3-6 6-3 6-2
QR1: (wc) Josh Ward-Hibbert WR 795 lost to Wayne Odesnik (USA) WR 192 (CH 77 in 2009) by 3 & 4
QR1: (wc) Dave Rice WR 316 lost to (q29) Marc Gicquel (FRA) WR 159 (CH 37 in 2008) by 6-7(5) 6-1 6-2
QR1: (wc) Oli Golding WR 352 beat (q8) Peter Gojowczyk (GER) WR 108 (CH 99 in Jan) by 4 & 1
QR1: (wc) Brydan Klein WR 456 beat Maxime Authom (BEL) WR 230 (CH 143 in 2013) by 6-3 1-0 ret.
QR1: (wc) Marcus Willis WR 322 lost to Daniel Kosakowski (USA) WR 279 (CH 230 in 2013) by 3 & 3
QR1: (wc) Ed Corrie WR 355 lost to (q20) Sam Groth (AUS) WR 125 (= CH) by 6-3 7-6(2)
QR1: (wc) Alex Ward WR 358 lost to (q21) Ricardas Berankis (LTU) WR 137 (CH 67 in 2013) by 3 & 4

QR2: (wc) Oli Golding WR 352 v Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) WR 180 (CH 52 in 2010)
QR2: (wc) Brydan Klein WR 456 v (q9) Denis Kudla (USA) WR 135 (CH 90 last Jul)

OK, after a pretty cool, and VERY blustery day spent at qualies, here's what I saw, in the order I saw them:

Quasi-Brits:

Klein - played quite reasonably, served quite well, and - importantly - was calm and 'respectful' - but Authom was shaking his right arm after each shot and clearly wasn't quite right so it was no surprise that (a) Klein won the first set and then that (b) Authom retired (However, certain credit to Klein - if he hadn't closed out the first set, Maxime might not have quit).

Bedene - lovely player. Super timing, takes the ball early, very fluid. And fair play too. Pleased he won. (And he had some good English support too).


Established Brits:

Josh WH - pretty poor first set (apart from the first serve). Daft double faults. Flat-footed. Awful backhand return of serve. All done via force.
Second set was completely different (apart from still some daft double faults - an ultra aggressive second serve that usually misses implies you don't believe you can win a rally). But some really good tennis. Close set. Some real class shown. A lot of work to do (and I hope he's up to doing it and has a good coach) but the second set was exciting.

Dave Rice - the best I've seen him play. Nice work. Still has problems keeping low and balanced - he's usually up on his toes, half falling over. But some lovely tennis at times. Marc was going in for true French theatricals - including the hissy fit to end all hissy fits in the tie-break. Which was provoked by an ill-advised (IMHO) warning by the umpire, at 1-6 down in the tie-break, for kicking up the court. (The courts, by the way, were in really poor condition - this court in particular - I've no idea what the groundstaff have been up to). Unfortunately, after the warning (and the summoning of the ref etc.) Marc 'got cross' and started to play a lot better. Dave tried but was outplayed and lost concentration a bit.

Marcus - started really well. Served well, some unexpected touches. But got broken rather unfortunately at 3-3 in the first (missed a couple of volleys/shots by an inch) and then seemed to get down on himself rather. Lack of experience/intensity would be my diagnosis. Wasn't really 100% in every shot like most of the players used to playing at this level.

Ed - a super match. Nothing to reproach himself for. 100% commitment and some super tennis. A very short rain shower in the second set TB was really unfortunate but, net net, Groth was probably just the better player - however, the second set could have gone either way.

Alex Ward - nice to see him play (never seen him before). very respectable performance against a guy with wonderful timing and return of serve. Alex however looked like a clay court player on grass (not surprising really given where he was yesterday) - too far back compared to the Lithuanian. But good match.

Oli - served well but didn't do a great deal else. Which is no criticism because the German had, in technical terms, a 'real gob on'. No idea why but he was pretty poor and just looked as though he didn';t want to be there. Even Oli looked rather taken aback. But Oli dealt with it very well - keeping up a good, if not amazing, level of tennis and keeping concentration. Well done to him.

Josh Milton - good effort. Not very good match. War of attrition in blustery conditions. Didn't see the third set.

Dave/Sean in the doubles - a lot of fun. And, yes, the crowd like doubles. Sean was well pumped. Well played.

Didn;t see Marcus and Lewis.

Thank you for this, CD - very good to have your impressions.

Well done to Mr Golding. From the little I've seen of Mr Corrie on grass, it looks as though it should be a very good surface for him. Hope he and Mr Smethurst get a kind doubles draw -would be nice to see them go through at least into the second round.

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 16th of June 2014 06:59:44 PM

Thanks CD. Much appreciated.