Change what I said. Court 4 has excellent viewing.

Lost track a bit but think that is 1st set to Billy 6-2

how does playing without an umpire work? - surely a recipe for disaster

brendan wrote:

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how does playing without an umpire work? - surely a recipe for disaster

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  A lot of quali ITF matches, and nearly all money tournaments, have no umpire.

Most players are used to it. Clay courts are easier - marks to check.

Hard courts have to work on ethical basis - and a 'you call my ball out and I'll call your ball out' principle - most players are A1 fine (the Spaniards have a 'Macho' pride about it - often calling balls in that are out - sort of: As a man of honour, I can beat you even if I give you the benefit of the doubt and give you the point' - it's rather lovely.

they have the right to call the tournament referee if it's a complete debacle.

Billy wins 2&2. Far too much power for his opponent.

Back home now. Saw the very end of James Allemby's match which he lost in straight sets. The 2nd was 6-4 but I don't know the 1st set score. They had moved him to another court and (confession time) I didn't know who I was looking for, I actually walked passed his court a couple of times with realizing it was him.

Billy on the other hand, simply overpowered his opponent. His is a big guy with a very powerful and effective serve. At one point in the 2nd set, he won 2 service games in a row with 8 big first serves, none of which his opponent even managed to get back into play. It was 3 aces and 5 service winners in 8 consecutive points.

He also hits with a lot of power off the ground although on occasions, I thought he was trying to force things a bit too much. But given as the result was a foregone conclusion from the very early stages, it was not a bad idea to go aggressive and test out his game.

Off the court, Billy is doing it the hard way. He is traveling around Europe in a Ford Transit, basically lives in the back of it. He sleeps, cooks and eats in the van, while traveling alone. Such a tough way to try and carve out a career.

He is a very personable young man to talk to and we spent a lot of time chatting after his match. I am hoping to get back down tomorrow for his QR2 match. We watched a bit of the match to decide his opponent. The young Spaniard was clearly the better player and won the 1st set, but then started to struggle with injury and ended up retiring. So Billy will play someone from Uzbekistan, despite the draw sheet on the ITF site showing a Japanese opponent. Not sure what happened there.

Bob in Spain wrote:

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Back home now. Saw the very end of James Allemby's match which he lost in straight sets. The 2nd was 6-4 but I don't know the 1st set score. They had moved him to another court and (confession time) I didn't know who I was looking for, I actually walked passed his court a couple of times with realizing it was him.

Billy on the other hand, simply overpowered his opponent. His is a big guy with a very powerful and effective serve. At one point in the 2nd set, he won 2 service games in a row with 8 big first serves, none of which his opponent even managed to get back into play. It was 3 aces and 5 service winners in 8 consecutive points.

He also hits with a lot of power off the ground although on occasions, I thought he was trying to force things a bit too much. But given as the result was a foregone conclusion from the very early stages, it was not a bad idea to go aggressive and test out his game.

Off the court, Billy is doing it the hard way. He is traveling around Europe in a Ford Transit, basically lives in the back of it. He sleeps, cooks and eats in the van, while traveling alone. Such a tough way to try and carve out a career. 

He is a very personable young man to talk to and we spent a lot of time chatting after his match. I am hoping to get back down tomorrow for his QR2 match. We watched a bit of the match to decide his opponent. The young Spaniard was clearly the better player and won the 1st set, but then started to struggle with injury and ended up retiring. So Billy will play someone from Uzbekistan, despite the draw sheet on the ITF site showing a Japanese opponent. Not sure what happened there.

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 Interesting, can't say he isn't trying his best by doing it that way. Might even be able to earn a few pennys by driving another player to the next tournament for Petrol Money.
Seen a few converted vans on travel blogs etc... would be interesting to see how he has done it. 
Thanks for the updates/news/insights Bob.