BeefyDeedz wrote:

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freerider wrote:

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A131 wrote:

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Stircrazy wrote:

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No better news on the "plastic Brit" front:

QF:  Luke Saville (AUS) WR 220 defeated Brydan Klein WR 196 by 4-6 6-4 6-4

He went a break down fairly early in the decider, but couldn't recover the second.  All up to Dino now.

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Stircrazy - I take it you see BK as more of an import than someone who genuinely wants to represent GB. Does he have a bit of a past so to speak?

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 He is an australian who only plays under gb flag as he has been disowned by australia  for racism and general bad behavoour. Nasty bit of work who i will always chchecheer against

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 He is a British citizen.

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 And appears to be doing his utmost to deal with the behaviour issues he acknowledges as an issue. It seems that since swapping the little Union Jack in the corner of his flag for a nice big one, which as the son of a mancunian he is entitled to do he has been engaged in much less controversy.

People grow up and should be given the opportunity to bloom, I agree tolerance for his antics as a teenager and in his early twenties understandably ran out in Australia, he has no UK funding and one could see the switch as an act of deliberate leaf turning giving him a chance to change. 

He has also shown a desire to transfer his elite potential demonstrated as a junior into an elite ATP tour professional, when it may have been easier to quit, and British tennis can do with a few of those. 

I'd also say the alleged racist bahaviour from Brydan can be taken with a pinch of salt. Not condoning any type of behaviour but having lived over there Australians tend to be more relaxed with PC comments than we are and regularly jest and make what we would call racist here but is seen as sport or not intended to be offensive references.

Said it before, but just to add to Oakland and Jaggy's comments: a guy is not to be held over a barrel for the rest of his life for one thing he said, in anger, in the heat of a match, when he was a teenager, however disgusting it was. And his on court behaviour is sometimes well over the top but so was McEnroe's, Nasty's, and plenty of others who were still 'forgiven' (by and large). And I'll make the same point, that James McGee's was the worst I saw all last year (Klein's included), and yet I don't think he's an a-hole.....

Brydan, I read, attended the 6-month 'racial sensitivity' training course (or whatever it's officially called). Therefore, he's done his time, probably learnt a thing or two, has obviously grown up a lot (even if not completely). Maybe he's not hiding it, freerider, maybe he's just changed ???? People do.....

Jaggy1876 wrote:

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I'd also say the alleged racist bahaviour from Brydan can be taken with a pinch of salt. Not condoning any type of behaviour but having lived over there Australians tend to be more relaxed with PC comments than we are and regularly jest and make what we would call racist here but is seen as sport or not intended to be offensive references.

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 Calling a black south african player a "kafir" is pretty unexcusable in my books.  

 

Edit  just read through the rest of the comments fair enough if you want yo support him give him a google and make your own mind up i have made mine and noone will shift my view on it

-- Edited by freerider on Friday 5th of June 2015 10:16:24 PM

Freerider I don't need to google it I know of the Kaffir incident and I also know of Brydan when I lived in Australia a few years ago so I probably know him better than you. Young Australian boys use words all the time they shouldn't more than what we do over here their culture has racial undertones at times referring to people from different countries when the intention itself is not racial. You regularly here Wogs Poms Jocks Micks etc over there even in the workplace. I'm not condoning his behaviour but we are always high and mighty and very British in our PC ideas. In fact Brits are hypocritical in this regard as we are probably one of the most predjudiced countries you can get.

Ridiculous to hold grudges really.

Brydan is now making an honest go of his career under the GB flag.

Living in Australia myself, I appreciate what has been said by Jaggy and I also agree with Coup Droit that he has been punished and that it is time to move on.

Brydan is a good grass court player. We should support him and not judge him, in the same way as we support any British tennis player.

Had a great week overall in Manchester, but OMG the weather is unpredictable.

A few observations/ thoughts about the week.

I was very impressed with Klein's tennis, I felt yesterday that Saville ( R3 at Wimby last year ?) only won because he outlasted Klein. Klein did have a MTO for his knee. He continues to very unpopular with a large group of fellow British players. Thought that might have softened over the last year, but doesn't look like the case.

Also gained a new found respect for Josh Milts. Always liked Josh as a person, one of the friendliest British players you'll find, but he really dug deep against Moriya and hit some very impressive groundies in that match, showed great matchplay qualities as well. I also hadn't realised that due to serving issues in the past, he doesn't get on his toes when he serves, which I've never seen before.

Felt Wardy was getting better as the week wore on, and he also assured me that his knee problem is no longer an issue. His coach is a nice guy as well. I joked that doing well this week was comparable with Arsenal picking 3 points at Old Trafford.

Marcus as always was good value, during his match against Baggy,he had an x rated exchange with a few spectators after a dubious call, which was comedy gold. Even Baggy had a smile on his face at stages during the match.