James Ward

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

RE: James Ward

Jaffa · Challenger level

Don't believe it until it is in writing. Nothing to stop them WD a week before, letting a LL in!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Old news but Marian Cilic withdrawn from Brisbane, will he just turn up and play the first round if his shoulders a bit dicky, I presume fiscally he is well beyond that and would withdraw with a view to the long term?

FriendofLouieG · Lower Club Player

Juan Martin del Potro apparently unlikely to make it, according to Ben Rothenburg. He is as yet able to play an effective back hand according to Argentine media.

Looking like James is unofficially in provided all of the withdrawals get confirmed before qualifying starts....

Other question marks:

- Kyrgios - pulled out of Hopman Cup this week with a back complaint
- Istomin - we will see if he really is ready this week
- Tsonga - pulled out of Hopman Cup
- Andrey Kuznetsov - pulled out of Doha this week

And of course Marin Cillic.

Let's see how many retirements / late withdrawals we get this week.

-- Edited by FriendofLouieG on Wednesday 31st of December 2014 10:30:44 PM

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Of course several of these may be just precautionary withdrawals, to make sure to be fit for the AO! So I'm not going to get excited until any withdrawals are official!

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I bet you anything a lot of these guys W/D or ret after James could have made the MD

steven · Tennis legend

I wondered what might happen when lots of players' 2014 week 1 points came off before this year's week 1 points went on, 2014 having been a 53-week year for tennis purposes) but I hadn't checked - the answer is, James rises 6 places to 101 (a new career high

) - just 1 ranking point (which probably equates to one more match win at some point last year) off the top 100!

goldenboy · Club Coach

so will this happen every week this year (i.e. last year's tournament points drop off just before this year's tournament takes place), or is this week a one off?

steven · Tennis legend

goldenboy wrote:
so will this happen every week this year (i.e. last year's tournament points drop off just before this year's tournament takes place), or is this week a one off?

Probably not every week (I haven't checked in detail yet but the timetable kind of catches up on itself at some points and the extended grass court season adds a bit of extra complication too) but it'll happen a lot, with the potential for 3 weeks worth of points to come off after some slams (or 4 weeks if a player played a Futures in the first of the relevant 4 weeks in 2014 and Challenger in the last of the relevant 4 weeks) and no points coming off for anyone the week before such a slam.

emma · Strong Club Player

hi, am new here but have been lurking for a while now, not as knowledgeable of British tennis as many of you but decided to join up anyway. I've read so much information on here so thank you.

James Ward is now 1st Alt on the list for MD as Marin Cilic has now withdrawn.

goldenboy · Club Coach

is this actually confirmed? seems he's struggling to make it but haven't seen any news that he's actually withdrawn. i imagine a few players will pull out 3 or 4 days before the start but that would be too late for James...

indiana · Tennis legend

Welcome out of lurkdom, emmas, and thanks for the good news ( OK, not for Marin, but you know what I mean ).

I think James will make it into the main draw, but the sooner it becomes official the better !

paulisi · Tennis legend

Cilic has a shoulder problem, but i'm not sure he has officially withdrawn yet.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

L'Equipe is saying he hopes to return in Zagreb - but they don't say he has officially withdrawn from the AO yet either. They say the Croatian press is reporting that he will not play.

-- Edited by Madeline on Monday 5th of January 2015 03:27:38 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmas wrote:
hi, am new here but have been lurking for a while now, not as knowledgeable of British tennis as many of you but decided to join up anyway. I've read so much information on here so thank you.

James Ward is now 1st Alt on the list for MD as Marin Cilic has now withdrawn.

Hi emmas (or Emma). smile

Good time to join as James hits hit new CH of WR 101 !!!