Week 30 - Challenger ($50,000) - Kentucky Bank Tennis Ch., Lexington, KY (USA) - Hard

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Week 30 - Challenger ($50,000) - Kentucky Bank Tennis Ch., Lexington, KY (USA) - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh dear Evo. I didn't see any of the shenanigans, but reading up err a tad unprofessional, mate, to put it mildly. A bit like old days when futures often seemed below him and he had some weird performances in them. Actually at the start of his climb back he was generally very good in futures but this seems a bit of a reversion at the new beneath him level of a seemingly less than ideally run challenger.

As Bob says hopefully a one off, and given that it does seem so challenger related there is reason to think that may indeed be the case.

Hopefully we will see a much better, more focussed new British #2 next week. Steven advised that he has been there before, though that seems almost another era.

2. Dan 705
3. Kyle 698
4. Aljaz 695

Quite tight too and potential to get tighter for #5 through to 9 from James to Lloyd. As mentioned while looking like it will mainly be them just missing US Open qualifying there is potential for them all to make Aussie Open qualifying plus indeed Ed, though literally all making it must be very unlikely. We could I guess unfortunately end up with more close but no cigars. Let's hope for at least a few in itself and for the progress that that would mean.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The trouble with the old Dan/new Dan argument is that it's obviously a bit simplistic.

As granny would say, we're all just a balance between our good angel/bad angel.

And although the balance may shift for the better, the two of them are still there, sitting on our shoulders, clamouring to be heard.

So James may well look vacant and completely 'caught in the headlights' at times. But he's probably not.

And Kyle can look completely flat and down-heartened at times. But almost certainly isn't.

And Dan can certainly look as though he's itching for a fight and wants any excuse to go into one. But, again, he's probably not.

So, in the knowledge that supporters of Kyrios, Halys, Paire (and many more) know exactly what we're going through, all I can say is:

Congrats Brian Baker - really glad it was you on the other side !

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Round-up:

L32: Brydan Klein WR 266 defeated (WC) Eric Quigley (USA) WR 431 by 3 & 4

L32: (WC) Brian Baker (USA) WR 384 defeated (3) Dan Evans WR 80 by 7-5 4-6 7-6(6)
L32: Liam Broady WR 275 defeated (WC) William Bushamuka (USA) WR 2022 by 2 & 2

L32: (Q) Lloyd Glasspool WR 282 defeated James Ward WR 244 by 6-3 3-1 retired

*****

L16: Brydan Klein WR 266 vs (7) Frances Tiafoe (USA) WR 157 (CH = 156 last week)

L16: (WC) Brian Baker (USA) WR 384 vs Liam Broady WR 275

L16: Nicolas Meister (USA) WR 290 (CH = 263 last month) vs (Q) Lloyd Glasspool WR 282

Over to Liam for a spot of revenge!

steven · Tennis legend

As Indiana said, the last time Evo was GB no. 2 (at least, I think 2013 was the last time without checking too much) seems as if it was another era - he had edged just ahead of James at the time, with both of them ranked around 250.

TMH · Futures qualifying

steven wrote:
As Indiana said, the last time Evo was GB no. 2 (at least, I think 2013 was the last time without checking too much) seems as if it was another era - he had edged just ahead of James at the time, with both of them ranked around 250.

I seem to recall Evo setting a CH at #123 whilst James was not all that far behind (either 150s or 180s) - was this later on or am I mis-remembering?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

TMH wrote:
steven wrote:
As Indiana said, the last time Evo was GB no. 2 (at least, I think 2013 was the last time without checking too much) seems as if it was another era - he had edged just ahead of James at the time, with both of them ranked around 250.
I seem to recall Evo setting a CH at #123 whilst James was not all that far behind (either 150s or 180s) - was this later on or am I mis-remembering?

Yes, but I'm guessing that Bedene was number 2 then, and Kyle number three, so Evo was four and James 5.

Doonan · Intermediate Club Player

I would imagine it was in 2013 when Evo reached the US Open 3rd round, in which case Kyle wasn't as highly rank and Bedene wasn't British. But I can't remember how high Ward was...

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, for the original position, as steven says.

But I think when the rankings that TMH is talking about were in force, that's quite recent.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Nice start for Lloyd who is leading 3-0*

As someone else said, he looks very, very comfortable on the hard courts over there (not altogether surprisingly).

Way more so than on grass.

PS They seem to have got rid of ballboys/girls all together !

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Wednesday 27th of July 2016 03:55:16 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

First set in the bag by 6-3. smile

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Meister giving very little away and making Lloyd work for every point. But Lloyd eventually holds after a monster game to seal the 1st set as stated by SC above.

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Nice start for Lloyd who is leading 3-0*

As someone else said, he looks very, very comfortable on the hard courts over there (not altogether surprisingly).

Way more so than on grass.

PS They seem to have got rid of ballboys/girls all together !

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Wednesday 27th of July 2016 03:55:16 PM

Evo's conducting a one day training camp for them.

indiana · Tennis legend

Re Evo going GB #2 this coming Monday I was looking at the Universal Tennis Ratings yesterday ( bear with me non UTR lovers ) and Evo and Kyle were level to two decimal places. Does tie in with my thoughts that their overall performances have been pretty similar. Interestingly Cam Norrie is their fairly clear GB #5.

1. Murray 16.26
2. Evans 15.50
2. Edmund 15.50
4. Bedene 15.26
5. Norrie 15.13
6. Glasspool 14.93
7. A Ward 14.90
8. J Ward 14.88
9. Klein 14.83
10. Corrie 14.77

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 27th of July 2016 05:18:19 PM

steven · Tennis legend

TMH wrote:
steven wrote:
As Indiana said, the last time Evo was GB no. 2 (at least, I think 2013 was the last time without checking too much) seems as if it was another era - he had edged just ahead of James at the time, with both of them ranked around 250.
I seem to recall Evo setting a CH at #123 whilst James was not all that far behind (either 150s or 180s) - was this later on or am I mis-remembering?

OK, now I have checked properly wink (the first time I'd checked, I was only trying to find an example of when he'd been GB no. 2 before because Indiana wasn't sure he had ever been)

The time Evo became GB no. 2 that I was thinking of was in July 2013, when he was ranked 252 http://www.britishtennis.net/gbtop25m/2013wk28.htm - James had just dropped a lot of points at that stage but went ahead of him again a couple of weeks later.

Dan then became GB no. 2 again (WR 169) http://www.britishtennis.net/gbtop25m/2013wk33.htm after reaching the 2013 Aptos final. He then dropped back to GB no. 3 again a week later but returned to GB no. 2 yet again (WR 149) after reaching R3 of the US Open as a qualifier http://www.britishtennis.net/gbtop25m/2013wk37.htm, then remained GB no. 2 for over 10 months (covering the period when he made that 123 CH http://bit.ly/2014w07m ) all the way through to week 31 in 2014 http://bit.ly/2014w31m - his Vancouver 2013 runner-up points came off at the end of that week.

So he'll return to GB no. 2 just under 2 years after he was last GB no. 2, at which point he was ranked 146.