Oh, how sad. Though not surprising after all the travel after the DC.

Even more annoying that Groth won his match ...

As we have seen with James slow progress hovering around 100 for sometime. The 80-130 group is pretty tight interms of the difference in quality of players particularly those in their late 20s and 30s where their ranking truly reflects their ability, not many young guns passing through although there is a clutch just under a hundred.

These guys have spent theor early 20s getting there, they may perhaps, like Berrer, have a few years on the cusp of the top 50 but generally will make a fantastic living for a decade playing in the first couple of rounds of GS and are working very hard to stay there. Berrer is a pretty heavy set muscular fellow who looks like he grafts to stay in shape. 100 is just a number and James is going to have to strive hard to tread water.  

Although It is early days I feel James may unlike Kyle  need a new number, the constant pressure to make the top 100 drove him there that said we also must not underestimate the consistency of level of performance in this group. In terms of difference in quality of life achieved by regularly dining at the GS MD table it is beans and camper vans to caviar and five star ( great name for a band i think!) hotels. Once you've tasted it there is very high motivation to stay there.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Thursday 23rd of July 2015 05:24:36 AM

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Thursday 23rd of July 2015 05:28:09 AM

Feel for James. Really wanted to see him win this match and maybe go deeper. How long will he stay top 100 else. Yes he has worked hard to reach this position and full credit to him. But gut wrenching if you are only there a couple of weeks maybe. He has so many points to defend over the next few months. This week was surely a week that he badly needed to do well when you look at the draw as not every week will be like that on the main tour. A missed opportunity and maybe a costly one. Really hope he can get something going to stay top 100 even if only #99.

I always thought this tournament was going to be a "bridge too far" for Wardy given his recent schedule, although I fully understand his reason for going, given his seeding in an ATP event for the first time.

Perhaps the retirement in the doubles was a symptom of that fact - although I don't know that for sure.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 23rd of July 2015 10:44:59 AM

R1:  Marcelo Demoliner & Adrián Menéndez (BRA/ESP) CR 246 (80+166) defeated (4) Jonny Marray & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) CR 117 (60+57) by 4-6 6-3 [10-5]