Wimbledon Wildcards - Men

paulisi · Tennis legend

Wimbledon Wildcards

scottie1 · Futures level

Thu 16/06/2016 11:00
Joshua Milton [1/440]
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James Marsalek
6-2 6-1 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 11:00
Joe Salisbury
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Neil Pauffley
6-4 6-7(4) 6-2 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 11:00
Jonny O'Mara
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Alastair Gray
6-1 6-3 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 11:00
Marcus Willis
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Luke Bambridge [3/517]
7-6(8) 7-6(5) All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 13:30
Daniel Cox
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Richard Gabb [2/459]
6-4 6-3 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 13:30
Jay Clarke
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Alexis Canter
6-2 6-0 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 13:30
Joshua Sapwell
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Ryan Storrie
6-4 7-5 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Thu 16/06/2016 13:30
Daniel Smethurst [4/533]
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Finn Bass
6-3 6-3 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Fri 17/06/2016
Marcus Willis
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Joe Salisbury
6-3 6-4 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd - Court 17
Fri 17/06/2016
Daniel Cox
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Daniel Smethurst [4/533]
6-1 6-4 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd - Court 18
Fri 17/06/2016 11:00
Joe Salisbury
-
Joshua Milton [1/440]
2-6 6-3 6-3 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Fri 17/06/2016 11:00
Marcus Willis
-
Jonny O'Mara
7-5 6-4 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Fri 17/06/2016 11:00
Daniel Cox
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Jay Clarke
7-5 6-3 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd
Fri 17/06/2016 11:00
Daniel Smethurst [4/533]
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Joshua Sapwell
6-3 6-2 All England Lawn Tennis Club Ltd

Madadman · Top national player

Bob in Spain wrote:
I intend to "have a word" with Marcus at Wimbledon qualies. Why did he make all that effort to get fit for the tour only to stop playing - assuming that is the case. I need him back in that top 500 as we are a bit light in that department at the moment.
Having said that, there was a comment made by Marcus around Feb (to Mike C I think) where he said he would not be back on the tour until June. So may be this is the start of a comeback.
And like others have said here, if there is a spare WC floating around, Jonny would be my choice.

I'd be surprised if his reason was anything other than financial. If he does go back on the tour full time. Id imagine the French club stuff would have funded that. Let's hope he can have a good qualifying and that will a) give him some much needed points and b) help fund him a bit longer.

steven · Tennis legend

Ben Rothenberg reporting that Brydan does now have a main draw wildcard!

Edit: and confirmed that all 4 play off R2 winners get QWCs, i.e. including Dan S

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 18th of June 2016 12:19:07 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
Ben Rothenberg reporting that Brydan does now have a main draw wildcard!
Edit: and confirmed that all 4 play off R2 winners get QWCs, i.e. including Dan S

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 18th of June 2016 12:19:07 PM

They do make him wait each year, but they've got in before he possibly moves back ahead of Liam and Alex in the rankings after 3 months off.

Certainly going well at Ilkley

Madadman · Top national player

Still 2 wildcards left for MD if I'm right. Only way I can see them used is if Milton had a blinder at Nottingham this week.

steven · Tennis legend

I remember them leaving main draw wild cards unused before but I don't remember them doing the same with QWCs - Jonny and co. must be gutted that they've decided to do that this year

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes. What IS the point of leaving quali cards unused????

Nobody gives you any credit for it.

i.e. the press don't care in the slightest if all the Brits lose in QR1 - they don't get interested until the real thing starts. And the money amount for turning up isn't enough to get them excited re the headlines.

Leaving three (THREE!) is just daft. That's about 10k of funding you've refused to give (for nothing).

Jonny, the youngsters, practically anyone, frankly....

RJA · Hall of fame

Madadman wrote:
Still 2 wildcards left for MD if I'm right. Only way I can see them used is if Milton had a blinder at Nottingham this week.

They need to make a decision before the qualifying draw is done tomorrow night. Presumably if either Millot or Przysiezny win Ilkely they will get one.

As for leaving 3 qualifying wild cards unused, I am utterly disgusted by it. If I was to say what I really think about the people running in tennis in the country I would be risking a visit from the police.

indiana · Tennis legend

Very decent performances in Nottingham I note by our two best juniors, Jay and Ryan.

Why not ?

Kounosuke · Intermediate Club Player

The Wimbledon site says they have given one of the Doubles WCs to Aussie Lleyton Hewitt and some unknown Brit called Jordan Thompson.

And they also don't appear to have any idea as to what nationality Brydan Klein is, saying he's German in the Singles, but stateless(?) in the Doubles.

edit: When did Stepanek become British?

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2016-06-15/wild_cards_announcement_for_the_championships_2016.html

-- Edited by Kounosuke on Saturday 18th of June 2016 02:15:45 PM

DavidC · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
I remember them leaving main draw wild cards unused before but I don't remember them doing the same with QWCs - Jonny and co. must be gutted that they've decided to do that this year

Actually the same thing happened with QWCs last year - 4 went to players from the play-offs, which left 3 unused once Ed made the draw on his ranking. So it is at least a consistent policy to allocate a maximum of 4 from the play-offs.

steven · Tennis legend

DavidC wrote:
steven wrote:
I remember them leaving main draw wild cards unused before but I don't remember them doing the same with QWCs - Jonny and co. must be gutted that they've decided to do that this year
Actually the same thing happened with QWCs last year - 4 went to players from the play-offs, which left 3 unused once Ed made the draw on his ranking. So it is at least a consistent policy to allocate a maximum of 4 from the play-offs.

Ah, OK - I was out of the loop at this time last year so wondered after I posted whether a precedent might have been set then!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I know I will be in the minority but Slam qualifying is the elite of challenger level tennis, the system is pretty generous in terms of rewarding British players on the cusp of decent performances at that level, in reality the well is dry at the moment in terms of any other British players being ready to benefit over and above the equity of letting the next guy in on ranking.

RJA · Hall of fame

I have given this a couple of hours to sink in and honestly I am even more pissed off than I was before.

Lets just look at two players.

Daniel Smethurst - Manchester lost in QR2, Surbiton lost in QR2. Reaches the play off final by beating Finn Bass and Joshua Sapwell before being soundly beaten by Dan Cox. In total he managed four wins in the grass court season, three against unranked players and one against a player ranked 715.

Jonny O'Mara - Wins 3 qualifying rounds in Surbiton and then wins his first round match against a player ranked 244. Won his first round of the play off but lost in two tight sets to Marcus Willis in R2.

Objectively Jonny's grass court results have been better than Dan's yet Dan gets the QWC simply because he got a lucky draw in the play off. Now I get that lucky draws are part of tennis but we are talking about a discretionary decision on awarding wild cards. If there weren't any wild cards left over I would grumble about how it was unfair but accept that sometimes life isn't fair. Of course that isn't the case here and the powers that be are simply handing 3 qualifying wild cards to whoever is next on the list rather than use their bloody common sense and give an opportunity to young British player who having dealt with a number of set backs has showed some really encouraging form in recent weeks. Perhaps I am biased, and no doubt cases could be made for others, but I really do think that of the guys who lost in rounds 1 and 2 of the play off that Jonny has by far the strongest case. We aren't talking about extravagant rewards like with a main draw wild card, just an opportunity for a young guy to shine on a big stage, the kind of thing that can give a huge boost to someone's career. I find it before baffling and extremely disappointing that the people with the responsibility of promoting British tennis are so bloody small minded.

NB: Just in case anyone thinks I was having a go at Dan Smethurst, I wasn't.