Week 17 - Challenger ($50,000) - Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, Tallahassee, Fla, USA (green clay)

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

Week 17 - Challenger ($50,000) - Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, Tallahassee, FA, USA (green clay)

brendan · Strong Club Player

btw the pedantic squad just called to say that Florida is FL not FA

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 17 - Challenger ($50,000) - Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, Tallahassee, Fla, USA (green clay)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: James Ward WR 180 defeated Axel Michon (FRA) WR 228 by 7-6(5) 6-4

greatunclebulgaria · Lower Club Player

woo hoo 7-6 6-4

Spectator · All-time great

Hurrah! Very glad about that.

Vandenburg · Futures level

I very much see the next few months as a make or break for James, if he can somehow do well in the second half of the season and finish the year ranked 160, he can have another crack next year. If he slips towards the 300s than that is that. game over.

RJA · Hall of fame

A win is and win but I am not going to get too excited about beating Michon. He is likely to play Jared Donaldson in round 2 and that will be a better indication of his level.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, Axel is nothing much and certainly didn't bring that much to the court - a bit of lefty-ness, but not a lot more.....

However, for James, at the moment, any win is good.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

It was only an OK performance from James. But I think he has struggled with confidence for lots of reasons of late, so he will be glad to get the win. The 2nd set was better, he got a much better read on the lefty serve. Having said that, Michon was poor in the last half of the match. I would just love to see James get a few more wins!

Spectator · All-time great

Jared Donaldson at this point is not an easy next round. At any rate, our 3/4 GB doubles match has started, and it's 1-1 on serve.

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Donaldson played Bedene recently and when things started to get away from him he was very vocal between points, beating himself up and moaning about his play. Very much like Andy on one of his walkabouts in what Paul Annacone likes to call the "mumbletank". If James can start fast there is a decent chance Donaldson will beat himself.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: (WC) Morgan Phillips & James Ward UNR defeated Ruan Roelofse (RSA) & Darren Walsh CR 366 (122+244) by 4 & 4

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

QF: (WC) Morgan Phillips & James Ward UNR vs (2) Dean O'Brien & Donald Young (RSA/USA) CR 251 (125+126)

RJA · Hall of fame

theemptyvessel wrote:
Donaldson played Bedene recently and when things started to get away from him he was very vocal between points, beating himself up and moaning about his play. Very much like Andy on one of his walkabouts in what Paul Annacone likes to call the "mumbletank". If James can start fast there is a decent chance Donaldson will beat himself.

Donaldson is frequently like that but it doesn't always have a negative impact on his play. Last week he beat himself up relentlessly on his way to a good QF victory over Gerald Melzer.

The big thing for him at the moment is his first serve percentage. When that is good he is tough to beat but some days he is well below 50% first serves in.