Week 36 - Great Britain F9 ($15,000) - Nottingham (Hard)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Week 36 - Great Britain F9 ($15,000) - Nottingham (Hard)

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

Since his capitulation in Glasgow I can't help feeling that Dan Cox's biggest problem is lack of confidence rather than ability. Today being a set and 2-0 up in the second I'm sure he was thinking it might be his day. He broke Evo at the start of the third set but was again broken straight back and has ended up being thumped in a match he might have won. At least with confidence you are only one or two tournaments' away from getting it back, I was hoping this would be the one for him. At least with having the good sense to enter the doubles he has earned a bit of money this week.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well, at least this will be some net positive points for Dan Cox - he has 9 coming off in September (and nothing in October) so 15 here will make a decent addition.

And a reasonable pay-cheque too, I think it's 1272 dollars for the singles, and 270 for the doubles.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

The 42 points that Evo has accrued during the last two weeks should see him rise to about 270 in the rankings. At this rate, Aussie Open qualies look a dead cert as he only needs another 15 points or so to get into the Top 250.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Bob in Spain wrote:
The 42 points that Evo has accrued during the last two weeks should see him rise to about 270 in the rankings. At this rate, Aussie Open qualies look a dead cert as he only needs another 15 points or so to get into the Top 250.

Excellent! Tough draw coming up in Turkey but it has been a good return for Dan so far. A few more successful challengers and he should be in a great position.

RJA · Hall of fame

It was a bit of strange match today. Evo went up an early break but didn't really look that comfortable and played a dreadful game at *4-2 to let Cox back in with the latter probably deserving to take the first set. He served pretty well, played with a lot of intensity and was solid from the baseline making very few errors and hitting a surprisingly high number of winners. Evo looked a bit sluggish and off the pace, played a bit too passively and by his standards was quite subdued. The second set started the way the first had ended and Cox broke to lead *2-0. The next game was the turning point. Evo's irritation finally boiled over into anger picking up a code violation, having a lengthy argument over a perceived bad call and suggesting that some people in the crowd should "shut the **** up". As is often the case with Evo anger and confrontation seemed to spur him on and he broke back. Evo's was now a playing at a bit of a higher standard and perhaps backing up what Mark1968 said earlier Cox's confidence just seemed to evaporate. His intensity dropped and he frequently found himself on the back foot and struggling badly with his serve. Evo broke again at 3-3* and then took the set quite comfortably. A sloppy start to the third by Evo allowed Cox to get a break but it never really felt like it was a genuine momentum swing. Evo broke straight back and turned to his camp and simply declared "I am going to win this", it was delivered as a statement of fact not as a hollow brag and proved perfectly justified as he upped his level further a cruised through the set with Cox unable to offer any significant resistance.

Hopefully this is the last time I ever see Evo play in a futures event.

RJA · Hall of fame

sherbert wrote:
RJA wrote:
A1 tennis academy wrote:
Notice that Neil frequently getting off to a strong lead in first set then opponents coming back need to figure out whats going wrong with a good coach attending these matches I am sure could figure it out !
its not fitness might be tactical awareness when you watch Neil hit you cant help thinking that his ranking should be significantly higher.
While it is never nice to say you have to assume that when a player consistently fails to serve out sets and matches that it is at least partly mental.
I completely agree with you there RJA and it is something I have been trying to talk to Neil about for the last couple of years. He won't have any of it though. I think because he is so cool and calm, he doesn't believe that he could be being affected by something 'mental'. If anyone has any ideas on how to tackle this (that don't involve talking to someone) I would really appreciate it as I think it could change a lot of results if we could do something about it.

Players will happily seek out professional help on anything technical, tactical, physical, health related, nutrition, etc but suggest to them that they should talk to someone about the mental side of the game and many of them, especially us men, would rather jump off a cliff. Unfortunately being calm and fairly laid back most of the time is not inconsistent with having mental blokes at key moments.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I agree with RJA, sherbert.

Talking to a sports psych expert is not saying that you have a mental problem. No more than working out with a physique/ conditioning / fitness trainer is saying that you have a fitness 'problem'. Or getting technical coaching is saying that you have a technique 'problem'.

They are just all parts of the game, that should ALL be worked on, with (if finances allow) professional help.

sherbert · Lower Club Player

Neil won't even agree that not serving sets/matches out or hitting a lot of double faults is mental. He just doesn't believe that is his issue. I think even if I did get him to consider it a possibility...there would be no chance I could get him to talk to someone. Talking isn't Neil's strong point anyway!

indiana · Tennis legend

Maybe he could talk initially to Johanna Konta.

Spectator · All-time great

Thanks, RJA and thejester for the match reports - and especially, thejester, for your kind report about the doubles! Much appreciated.

While I've never seen him play, I'm always conscious that JWH is our "other" (ie often not mentioned when people talk about Mr Golding, Mr Broady et al) multiple junior GS champion. (Not to mention the Eddie Herr final [l to Cagnina+], the Orange Bowl (d. Cagnina+, Thiem/Kern], the Copa Gerdau, and the Trofeo Bonfiglio [d. Lokoli+, Garin/Quinzi, Nishioka+, and Cagnina/Krueger]) Most of his big wins were with Mr Broady; one was with Mr Bambridge. Would love to see him replicate that junior success in doubles at the senior level.

Glasspool and he are both at Soto now, yes? If they could form a permanent partnership and win a few more Futures, perhaps they could go for Challengers at some point soon ... maybe when their singles rankings are also a little higher so that they could try to play in both.

Incidentally, my recollection was that JWH's junior singles record was not anywhere near his doubles record. This is true - partially because his doubles record was so spectacular. But what I hadn't realised until I went back to check was that almost all of his final-year losses were to really good players: Nishioka, Elias Ymer, Kaichi Uchida, repeatedly to Quentin Halys and Bourgue, and one to Peliwo (in the middle of his "I'm winning everything" period). Interesting.