Week 38 - ATP 250 - St Petersburg (Hard) - doubles

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 38 - ATP 250 - St Petersburg (Hard) - doubles

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Week 38 - ATP 250 - St Petersberg (Hard)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

QR1: (q6) James Ward WR 243 lost to Ante Pavic (CRO) WR 365 7-6 6-2

RJA · Hall of fame

Another week and another very poor result. James served for the first set at *5-4 but couldn't get it done and the second set was seemingly one way traffic.

thejester · Satellite level

I think James would benefit from dropping down to play some bigger futures events. His confidence must be shot and whilst it would be hard for him mentally to do that barely a year after making the top 100, I feel it would be his best shot at getting some points on the board and giving himself a platform and some confidence to have another go at this.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

These results are painful to read and I really feel for James right now.

As someone said a few weeks back, he might benefit from ditching this season altogether, taking a couple of months off completely and coming back at the start of next year with a new mindset.

thejester · Satellite level

RE: Week 38 - ATP 250 - St Petersburg (Hard)

RJA · Hall of fame

But as I said last time this was raised it would mean James starting next year ranked something like 420. I just don't think he would be willing to accept that and if he does go that low chances are he will call it a day.

thejester · Satellite level

RJA wrote:
But as I said last time this was raised it would mean James starting next year ranked something like 420. I just don't think he would be willing to accept that and if he does go that low chances are he will call it a day.

Quite possibly, although perhaps he can take comfort by what Evo showed could be done with a run of futures events.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Barring some turnaround (which would come out of nowhere), James will surely call it a day. He's about to lose the majority of his points, though they were weak points and replaceable with any type of form, and without any GS/ATP entries the money runs dry.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

It does, though, sort of depend on what the alternatives are.

If he hasn't got any other obvious or appealing ways to earn a living, he may well try to carry on. Many others do, for exactly that reason.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: (1 smile ) Dom Inglot & Henri Kontinen (FIN) CR 65 (40+25) vs Guillermo Durán & Mariusz Fyrstenberg (ARG/POL) CR 135 (57+78)
R1: Paolo Lorenzi & Adrian Mannarino (ITA/FRA) CR 342 (238+104) vs Jonny Marray & Adil Shamasdin (CAN) CR 154 (84+70)

Dom & Jonny & their respective partners meet in the QF if they win their first round matches. cry

Spectator · All-time great

The Inglot/Kontinen pairing looks interesting! Not great draws for either - good luck to both!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
The Inglot/Kontinen pairing looks interesting! Not great draws for either - good luck to both!

I thought so, too. Lindstedt is in tandem with Qureshi here. They are the fourth seeds & earlier put out the local wild cards, Barrère & Olivetti, in three sets in their opening matvh.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Coup Droit wrote:
It does, though, sort of depend on what the alternatives are.

If he hasn't got any other obvious or appealing ways to earn a living, he may well try to carry on. Many others do, for exactly that reason.

Yes, you're right. He appears to have many connections and hopefully has inroads to a variety of future prospects, but whether they are appealing is a different matter. Similarly, maybe James feels like he's about to start clicking again - we can only speculate.