GBJ wrote:

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So those who have seen Neil play - what kind of ranking do you think would be 'reaching his potential'?

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Difficult to say.

But based on the way Neil came back from effectively about two years out with injury from 2010 to 2012 to get the results that pushed him up to his CH 406 in August 2013, around the end of 2013 I would have imagined top 250 was not unrealistic.

Some folk will remember quite a discussion around AEGON Funding about that time with Neil's name to the fore. Some of us felt that the LTA were too obsessed with their matrices and not considerate enough of a still relatively young guy who had been out for two years and clearly on the rise ( we thought ). These were the days when the LTA were relatively into funding many more than such hand to mouth existers as Laura Robson and Heather Watson !

Given all of that, I have been disappointed to see how Neil has done over the last two years, but what was there in 2013 is surely still there now, just not coming out for whatever technical, confidence or other reasons.

I have only seen Neil live once, in May 2014 in the SF of the Edinburgh futures, a fairly accomplished tidy win over Ashley Hewitt. Did he though strike me as looking top 250 / 300 potential then? - not really, but he had been in better general form the year before. 

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 12th of September 2015 02:55:28 PM

SF:  (2) Dan Cox WR 335 defeated Neil Pauffley WR 954 by 7-5 3-6 6-2

*****

Final:  (WC/1) Dan Evans WR 333 vs (2) Dan Cox WR 335

Cracking day in Nottingham today. Will post a bit of my analysis later!

Will look forward to reading it! Especially around the doubles: am wondering how good Messrs Glasspool and Ward-Hibbert seem as a team. Given their pedigree, one wonders whether they might actually be contenders for Challengers or the Tour if they stay together and get some good coaching.

A1 tennis academy wrote:

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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.

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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.

As promised then, a brief review of today's action in Nottingham.

I was watching Evo vs Pavic and so only caught glimpses of Cox and Pauffley until after the rain delay. After a break a piece in the first 2 games, neither Dan (Evans) or Pavic really looked like breaking again in the first set, the highlight of which was an absolutely sublime hot-dog / tweener / whatever at 0-30 down in I think either the 6th or 8th game of the 1st set, which really turned the point on it's head and rescued what could have been a tricky situation. Pavic is a solid enough player but Evo just had far too much variety for him, and I'm sure he's not the first player to find Dan's squash forehands and sliced backhands a nightmare to deal with. Dan was hitting very nicely from the back of the court, particularly off the backhand side (which was flowing gloriously today) and was patient enough to hit with Pavic and wait for the right moments to go for winners. Once he had the mini-break in the 1st set TB he never looked like losing it, and similarly after breaking early in the second there was only going to be one winner. We were also treated to some trademark Evans chit-chat, both with his usual self-directed monologue of abuse, inspiration and random French words, and also with the umpire (possibly the same one he had a run in with earlier in the week?) who felt the full force of Solihull sarcasm after failing to overrule a few consecutively horrendous calls off Pavic's serve. All in all, Dan looked as focussed as I've ever seen him, with excellent shot selection and execution, and never looked (to me at least) like losing that match - the rise of the phoenix continues.

In the other semi-final, Neil seemed to struggle after the rain delay. Dan C was playing his usual brand of tennis and was hitting with an impressively consistent depth from the back of the court. I know some of our fellow posters' discussed Neil's short, sharp style of looking to finish points early, but unfortunately for Pauffley today he was sucked into a lot of long rallies, which almost invariably ended with Neil going wide/long (although often by the smallest of margins). It's been a good week for Neil but I think on today's evidence he maybe just needs a little more help with putting together a game plan, and then having the conviction to stick with it. He certainly didn't look likely to out-rally Cox, but on the occasions he was able to step in and be aggressive, he generally came out on top. I can also confirm that he's a genuinely nice guy - thanking the ball-kids every time, applauding his opponents shots and just generally carrying himself well (and of course allowing me my 'fan-girl' moment to take a picture with him  ). Hopefully he can kick on from this week and make a move up the rankings. As for Mr Cox, he's in fantastic shape physically. As he walked off the court after the win over Neil, he told the tournament official he wanted to play the doubles straight away and seemed a little miffed at having to wait 15 minutes to play again. I think he'll struggle a little against Evo in the final though as he does seem to lack a bit of zip and penetration on the groundstrokes. Hopefully it will be a good match, I'm just gutted I won't be able to get down and watch again!

And now, just for you spectator, the doubles!

The result was certainly a fair reflection of the way the match went, although if anything it could have been JWH and Lloyd in 2 sets. Cox and Rice had their moments, but JWH in particularly was fantastic around the net - great hands and a nice bit of flair to the way he went about his business. Lloyd served well and hit well from the baseline, but JWH was the stand-out player in the match today for me. There were a few fairly comical moments, including a Rice topspin forehand that wasn't even a mis-hit but actually bounced twice before rolling into the net, which had the pair of them laughing. Also a little bit of verbal sparring between Josh and Dan over a rather sketchy call, which was a little bit 'storm in a teacup' . Lloyd and Josh look like a good pairing, they were having fun out there together and seem to have a good relationship and excellent communication, so I see no reason why they can't continue to play together, although it's worth noting that Dave was far from his best today, and Dan had literally just finished his singles. As I say, Josh stood out today but I saw enough from Lloyd to think that we're right to be excited about him coming through the ranks. Nice variety on his serve, powerful and accurate on the groundstrokes and a nice touch around the net. Looking forward to seeing more of him in the future(s) 

 

Thank you very much for that comprehensive write-up, thejester, very much appreciated.