British Tour 2015

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: British Tour 2015

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

It was absolutely nothing personal against Tom. There were no digs at players. I made that clear.

I also specifically made the point that he may well be trying to get together a pot of money to fund a foreign trip.

It was a (rare) comment broadly in favour of LTA policy, a comment that the system is set up in such a way that, by paying large amounts of money in comparison to ITF futures, and aimed at a tennis playing level WAY below futures, it allows for an imbalance in the message it is sending out and incentivises people incorrectly. Obviously, the ITF monies will be increased soon and will help redress it. I'm all for helping the second tier of players but I can understand why the LTA has cut the Tour pool. (They now have to come up with a different credible policy IMHO but I'm not against this one)

Shhh · Challenger level

I realise this is not about Tom F but, does anyone have a clue to his plans? He has shown he can win futures events yet, he now hardly plays. Is it financial, injury or just plain none of my business!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I'm afraid I've no idea, Shhh, but also am curious.

I saw him play a couple of weeks back and was struck by the fact that he seemed very 'business-like' in his approach. A lot - who maybe are younger? although not much - were sort of larking around, matey etc. (no criticism). But Tom seemed a little bit more 'keeping himself to himself'. He also had what I took to be some family members with him (his mother?), who were also quite 'reserved'. Anyway, I had thought about seeing if I could ask him what his plans were, but it didn't seem very easy or quite appropriate. So I bottled it, and didn't. Which is unusual for me :) And, thus, am none the wiser !

paulisi · Tennis legend

He is very quiet and doesn't seem to hang around with the others.

He is due to play Wirral and i'll try and find out, but he can be quite elusive.

I remember him coming to his semi final at Sportscity with a racket and a marks and spencer bag....

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Tom will play Bloomfield in the final

(Tom obviously spent a fair bit of his teenage years in France - I guess he may well be a bit of an 'outsider' as far as the others go? Not in a bad way, of course, but just as a matter of fact).

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Second Tier 1 British Tour title in a row (.....):

Tom F def. Bloomers 6-1 6-2

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Oh Tom. Get back on the tour and into that Top 500, please.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Ok, Tom's entries were one thing. No criticism. Just a comment.

Marcus' entry to a Tier 2 Tour event, honestly, is something completely different.

I realise that there may be a reasonable reason (what?) but, on the face of it, Marcus is:

WR 342, fully fit, playing well and in good form, privately funded so with little financial pressure, publicly committed (according to his his manager) to raising the bar this year and focusing on Challengers etc, and leaving behind Futures, interested in also pushing the doubles profile . . .

And yet he has chosen not to make a short trip to france to play perfect level Challengers (with, as emma said, a quite generous Q draw this week).

But to play a tier 2 Tour event which can't even be used as a practice event: the level is so miles off his (not a single ATP ranked player, only Bloomers with any pedigree - which is a match only for the final, anyway - and youngster Ryan Storrie who is very promising but still just a youngster) so the quality of ball is going to be irrelevant as regards Challenger/ATP level tennis to which he is, supposedly, aspiring.

The only reason that would be 'normal' would be that it was his home club, possibly, home county, or he knows the President of the club who's asked him to play as a special favour, to boost sponsors and spectators. But as Marcus does not come from Norwich, and BT events don't give a tuppence-ha'penny (seeemingly) about extra sponsorship or spectators, then this all fades to nothing . . .

I would be cross if I had crowd-funded him, on the pitch that he put out, and then (without knowing any more) these were his choices . . .

Madadman · Top national player

There could be a few reasons why Marcus has done this. He may be focusing mainly on losing some more weight before going on a long stint of travel. So having spent most of the week in the gym etc.. 2 days of competitive tennis might have sounded better to him then just training. Looking at the draw his first game is not till Thursday at 14:30 and the final would be on the friday. So he could spend just one night there which wouldn't cost much but more than likely pocket 250£ and got a few sets under his belt.

With the challenger in France a few players might have looked at it the same way i had was that it is the only tournament above futures this week so might have a high level of players looking for a spot at sign in. This would potentially mean it is high risk to spend money to travel there for sign in if you haven't entered before the deadline.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I believe that the final is scheduled for Saturday. His first match is for Thursday, two matches on Friday, and then final come Saturday. So it's two nights. Not that one day makes a huge difference. I take your point, and there may well be reasons, I simply do not think that they are good reasons (although what do I know, it's only an outsider's view . . . . )

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, there could clearly be 'good' reasons for this week, but on the face of it ...

What I would say, even last year for some of the time I read words about challenger participation that didn't really happen, they only belatedly tieing in with actions. And when they did, it seemed to go well !

I really do look forward to seeing Marcus focussing mostly on singles and competing more at challenger level. This is a player that could and should have long been inside the top 300 at the very least.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Marcus withdrew.

Which, I guess, means either he's injured, in which case I wish him all the best and a very speedy recovery.

Or that he changed his mind, in which case I agree.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

In the semis:

(2) Bloomers beat Will Davies 6-3 6-1

(6) James Ling beat (3) Matthew Hough 1-6 6-0 6-3

(I like James Ling, tall player but solid and a real quiet fighter - he's off to the US in summer/early fall so all the best to him)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Congrats to Bloomers, victor against Ling, 6-1 6-2