I'll post a bit more info later. Interesting day(and long)

sherbert wrote:

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Everyone else as shocked as me? Obviously needs to just play against people in the top 250...

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Tell Neil, good luck against Snared Danser in the next round. I think you have been on the board long enough to know who I am talking about

sherbert wrote:

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paulisi wrote:

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sherbert wrote:

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Everyone else as shocked as me? Obviously needs to just play against people in the top 250...

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That's the best I've seen Neil play for a long time. Serve very well, returned superbly. It was very comfortable, although the top seed didn't play anywhere near what his ranking suggested.

 

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Played similar against Felipwo in Tunisia. Just wish he could do it consistently. First thing he told me was he served 5 aces on the trot at one point. (I'm always moaning at him about double faults).   not sure how well his back will hold out tomorrow - although didn't think he would manage today either.  

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 I've always thought that Neil's good tennis is good enough to get him inside the top 250, but his consistency level has been letting him down. I remember back at the end of 2012 when he was on that great winning run and it looked like he was making a major breakthrough. Still think he's got enough time to get up there in the rankings.

Bob in Spain wrote:

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sherbert wrote:

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Everyone else as shocked as me? Obviously needs to just play against people in the top 250...

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Tell Neil, good luck against Snared Danser in the next round. I think you have been on the board long enough to know who I am talking about

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 I've been racking my brain...but have no idea what you mean haha! I am still not worthy of the board!

That is very clever! I asked Neil who Snared Danser was...he had no idea what I was talking about haha! Makes sense now though.

I wasn't going to post on twitter, but I thought the Evo story merited a post and I got inundated with tweets on the back of that.....

As for the Evo story - I don't know, the reasons why he didn't turn up. I don't think anyone did, although there was some hearsay. A lot of the players were not surprised, especially given that he didn't commit to his tennis last week at the British tour event. (I heard from several sources it was not tennis related....)

Courts were slow and heavy. Attendance was fantastic, never seen so many people for a futures event. There must have been 30-40 watching before three different lots of schoolchildren arrived such that it was really busy for a few hours. Nice to see Gosling, Nottingham and Bath all sending coaches.

Toby Martin - terrific first set, nothing in it in terms of ability. Very high standard and players of a similar style. Second set, Toby struggled on first serve and Mertens got everything back in court. The scoreline flattered Mertens, who looked very competent and was defensively excellent.
Toby's nearly there in getting the results to match the performance. Last two ITF tournaments he has pushed a seed close and won a British tour in between, so I have no doubt the results will come. Definite top 500 material.
Richard Gabb - only caught the end of this match. Lootsma has a massive serve and played some big points at crucial times. Lootsma is better than his current ranking.
Rice v Salisbury - this was a serve a volley fest. It could have gone either way, but Dave's experience told after Joe was a break up in the final set.
Milton v Bettles - Josh has been ill for a could of weeks. He said he probably shouldn't have played in Switzerland and he wasn't right today. He had to call Nigel on in the first set and he was struggling for energy. It looks like Bettles may have picked up an injury playing doubles as he had an ice pack strapped to his midrift.
Bambo - very tight match. Not much between the two of them and it was quite a decent match. Bambo served twice for the second set without joy. The second set was a break fest.
Marcus Willis - Marcus is still not 100% after struggling with tonsillitis for a while. Match was really intriguing. Firstly for those who have never seen Nicolas play, he switches hands so never plays a backhand and his work rate was excellent, chasing down everything. This made it even more difficult for Marcus as he was using his court craft to try and win the match, lobs slice, drop shots and everytime he went to the backhand for a lob or a pass, he switched hands to play as a forehand. First set Marcus didn't mix it up enough and played too many lobs, slices, drops very early and got punished. (it worked in the end as Nicolas found it harder to chase down these shots). Second and third sets he mixed it up a bit more with more baseline rallies and deserved to win in the end. Marcus is a great entertainer and is fantastic to watch as his game is so different to anyone else.
Josh Ward Hibbert - serve dominated match. Josh's serve has improved massively since I last saw him and he is hitting bombs. I'm guessing probably the biggest server on show this week. He was the better player for most of the first set, but the tie break seemed to take the wind out of him. He was broken straight away in set 2 and that was game over.
Evan - didn't see to much. Struggled after a good start and tried to force winners and made lots of errors on the back of this. Definite potential there, it just needs to be managed and coached well.
Clayton v Storrie - first time seeing Ryan and he played really well for a set and a half for such a young lad. He is only small and was supported by Gosling and family or friends with him. Very solid technique, double handed backhand, nice forehand and an ok serve which will develop with age. Scott struggled early on, lots of errors and was 4-1 down to Ryan in the first set, before breaking back and edging a very long tie break(Ryan had four set points). Second set, Scott cut down the errors and got on top, but a good learning curve for Ryan who looks like a decent player for the future. If Scott can tidy up the errors, he has the game (as he proved in Egypt) to move up the rankings quickly.
Neil - mentioned on previous post. Very impressive.
Hudson v Walters - saw very little, but what I saw was scrappy. Hudson injured himself at 6-6 in the first set (back and groin I believe) and Marcus ran away with the match after that. Marcus' first senior point.
Cox v Tom F - high quality match, little between the two players, which still indicates to me that Tom F would be a top 300 player if he played full time on tour. Dan served really well. Match wouldn't have looked out of place in a final. If Dan plays to this standard he will go deep this week.
Imran - real baseline match full of long rallies. Imran stayed with him for the first set and pinched the first set, but lost his timing in the second set and the writing was on the wall. That was still going at 6.45 when I decided to call time.
Didn't see much of the other players or much of the doubles.

As for tomorrow's matches -
Dan Cox should be too strong for Moraing
Neil if he recovers sufficiently should beat Arends
A half fit Marcus Willis will beat young Marcus
I cannot see Bettles, Rice or Scott coming through their matches, but you never know.

Bob in Spain wrote:

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Thanks for making me feel so jealous. Great to hear the reports but makes me feel as though I want t be there.

Are you back there tomorrow ?

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I wish - I have to earn a living I'm afraid. I'll be at the final on Saturday if we have a British player involved. Otherwise my reporting will have to wait until the next tournament in the NW, Didsbury Challenger??