Just in response to paulisi's post about Harry now being in france, it seems that he has joined Stade Clermontois (the main club in Clermont-Ferrand - stuck right in the middle of France and blinkin' cold in winter).
That's the same club as Naomi and Tara, so it may well be them who recommended it to him.
I don't know if he'll be living there full-time but it's a very good club with about 10 men of his level or better, although several of the Spaniards look as though they only come for the team matches, and a fair number more of players who are not too far off. I assume he's been signed up to the team, which will also entitle him to free group training throughout the year, as well as (maybe) free rackets etc.
Harry has moved full time to France and has been there for a few weeks - I think he said he was training on the South coast(Cannes?).
Smart man Re south coast, I mean . . .
Clermont-Ferrand is not top of the tourist attractions (cue angry response from all Clermont-Ferrand natives and fans . . . )
Purely curious, do you think he's going to live near Cannes (let's say) and just go to Clermont-Ferrand for team matches ? Which would be a bit strange but possible. Or is he just in Cannes for the summer months and then will move full-time up to Clermont-Ferrnad for the start of the new tennis season (October) ?
No idea CD - he didn't mention Clemont - Ferrand to me, however he needs to earn some cash to pay for his coaching/accomodation so i'm guessing this plus Gary Lewis's team will cover some of the costs.
Meanwhile Peter Ashley is the last player through, courtesy of a tiebreak.
No idea CD - he didn't mention Clemont - Ferrand to me, however he needs to earn some cash to pay for his coaching/accomodation so i'm guessing this plus Gary Lewis's team will cover some of the costs.
Meanwhile Peter Ashley is the last player through, courtesy of a tiebreak.
Also possible that he's been a non-active member of Clermont-Ferrand for several years (which wouldn't show on the federation site) and that he's actually in the process of changing to another club in Cannes/south coast.
Which would be logical and mean that Clermont-Ferrand is a red herring ! Sorry . . .
Harry is entitled to full French benefits, of course, so (in theory) there's no reason he shouldn't get certain housing allocations and the like. And, if he's playing for a team (down there or elsewhere) he'll get free coaching (up to a certain amount).
R1: (1) Ed Corrie & Dave Rice CR 369 vs BYE R1: Andrew Bettles & Jack Carpenter CR 3369 (1614+1755) vs (WC) James Marsalek & Adam Thornton-Brown UNR R1: (4) Dan Cox & Brydan Klein CR 608 (365+243) vs BYE R1: George Morgan & Josh Ward-Hibbert CR 1067 (648+419) vs BYE R1: (WC) David O'Hare (IRL) & Joe Salisbury UNR "defeated" Chris Anguelov & Adam Skalsky UNR by a walkover R1: BYE vs (3) Luke Bambridge & Liam Broady CR 594 (280+314) R1: Oliver Hudson & Neil Pauffley CR 2480 (1695+785) vs Joe Cooper & Sam Holt UNR R1: BYE vs (2) Lewis Burton & Marcus Willis CR 454 (226+228)
*****
QF: (4) Dan Cox & Brydan Klein CR 608 (365+243) vs George Morgan & Josh Ward-Hibbert CR 1067 (648+419) QF: (WC) David O'Hare (IRL) & Joe Salisbury UNR vs (3) Luke Bambridge & Liam Broady CR 594 (280+314
29 Brits, an Irishman, a Frenchman and a Bulgarian.
I'll put the draw with up to date rankings here later if nobody else has done it by then. If you're going to, probably worth saying here first so we don't both do it! (though I write it out for my list to create tweets from anyway)
-- Edited by steven on Monday 8th of September 2014 04:36:44 PM
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!