Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Traralgon 2, Australia (Hard)

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Traralgon 2, Australia (Hard)

TMH · Futures qualifying

So, James is two matches away from the top 100. C'mon Wardy.

Spectator · All-time great

The information about coaching (thank you, Optimist!) is very interesting ... but for me begs the question. Frequent readers will know that for some time there are those of us who have wondered why the LTA didn't do more to improve Mr Ward's coaching set-up. It's long been clear both that he performed better when he wasn't alone and also that he had top-100 potential. It would have seemed sensible - instead of concentrating solely on youngsters - to give him the help that seemed likely to get him over those last few hurdles. And very much in the interest of GB tennis, as well!

Please note that this isn't saying that there shouldn't also be a focus on helping the youngsters: it's clear that the set-up given to Mr Broady has been very positive and is bearing fruit, and one hopes that others in that age group will also begin to break through. But surely there could be a bit more of a both/and?

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

And I have wondered the same thing along with you all, Spectator. My understanding is that the current coach is paid for out of James' owns pocket.

Maybe he didn't gel with the LTA coaches or (seems more likely to me), they were already assigned to juniors or those making the transition to seniors. No idea really, but I do suspect it likely that with dedicated coaching support a few years earlier, he could have been playing around the ATP circuit a lot longer.

indiana · Tennis legend

Indeed.

The LTA seem to want to produce top players, sometimes it seems determined to find the absolute elite from somewhere in their chisen young group.

But here is a player that has shown for a long time that he can play to top 100 level, but wasn't nearly consistent enough to achieve that. Here was clearly a player who "could" be top 100 and probably now will be.

Yet, the LTA with occasional nods to understanding the different development of players around the globe and the increasingly later development and average older age of the top 100, just so often has not backed this up by actions.

I am very pleased for James. But the great thing also can be the message it sends to the LTA about how players can really benefit from support and backing through the age ranges.

I would very much like to think that the next GB mid 20s player that progresses into the top 200 and has top 100 potential gets much more SUPPORT from the LTA than James has too often not had.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Although, just to argue the devil's advocate, maybe it is the fact that now James has taken it into his own hands, and invested in his own coach, that is why it has really suddenly clicked and is working ? The 'coincidence' of his personal investment might be the key point.

When James was at the NTC, with plenty of coaches there, maybe it was too corporate, you have to use the coaches on the payroll. James has never seemed a guy who was really 'in the system' (loved his old cage-fighter fitness trainer). Can't help feeling that, in many ways, it's no harm for him to be well away from the LTA.

Ben W · Social player

steven wrote:
I too think he needs 2 wins to make the top 100. He may well have already done enough to ensure AO direct entry though - and to take out Boggo's CH, which would make him the 5th highest ranked British man this century.

... and the highest ranked British number 2 since Tim Henman 2007!

Spectator · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
Although, just to argue the devil's advocate, maybe it is the fact that now James has taken it into his own hands, and invested in his own coach, that is why it has really suddenly clicked and is working ? The 'coincidence' of his personal investment might be the key point.

When James was at the NTC, with plenty of coaches there, maybe it was too corporate, you have to use the coaches on the payroll. James has never seemed a guy who was really 'in the system' (loved his old cage-fighter fitness trainer). Can't help feeling that, in many ways, it's no harm for him to be well away from the LTA.

Quite possibly so, CD. But I think part of my argument would be that a system which seems fairly all-or-nothing and mandates that you use its own coaches is in itself problematic, especially for someone who has made it so far under his own steam. I would have been advocating for something along the lines of a match-funding block grant - "Here you go, Mr Ward, here's money towards a coach, provided you put up so much yourself" . They could require sign-off maybe on his choice and/or performance-related criteria for continuation of funding or whatever safeguards seemed appropriate.

EddietheEagle · County player

It's as much an LTA responsibility to do more for James Ward's tennis as it is to deal with Marcus Willis's weight. A national sports federation has no mandate to provide a babysitting service.

Spectator · All-time great

I'm not sure that tennis coaches would be entirely pleased at being equated with babysitters ....

Eddie, if the LTA generally took a hands-off approach and said that all players were entirely responsible for their own progress, there would be no argument for their providing a coach for Mr Ward. But they seem to have a sense that it's their mandate to get British players into the top 100 ... and then they fail to do something which fairly self-evidently would have quite a good chance at achieving that objective. That's where I begin to wonder.

GBJ · Club Coach

Why did James shout DANNYYYY!!! at the end? Is that his coach?

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

I'm sure it would have been ALLEZ

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Total respect to James for his performances this year. I think it is a product of maturity, frustration with his fiscal position and an understanding that he had to do something to change it. I don't think paying for a coach would have helped, he has paid and got full value. His Davis cup performances showed he had the mental strength to beat top 100 opponents but only when carrying the additional responsibility of team success. His fiscal position gave him the motivation to up the ante for himself.

Should the LTA support Evo who has plenty of talent until he is 28?

I would argue the best value is maintaining focus on the under 20's in the top 700 under 22's in the top 400 under 23's in the top 200, under 24's in the top 150' under 25's in the top 100 beyond that the players earn enough to fund themselves.

LouieG · County player

The Magician Santoro wrote:
I'm sure it would have been ALLEZ

Your signature needs updating, sir

Floody78 · Junior player

Didn't see it mentioned anywhere else, but it looks like James has pulled out of Helsinki.