R1: Denis Kapric & Lukas Ollert (GER/GER) CR 2014 (855+1159) vs Jonathan Binding & Keelan Oakley UNR (0+1185)
R1: Lucas Bouquet (FRA) & Jonny Gray CR 2545 (1731+814) vs Jaimee Floyd ( the little dear's only 16. Don't think much of his parents' taste in names) Angèle & Evan Furness UNR (0+1397)
As CD's mentioned in the juniors thread (I think ... though I lose track of threads), the two young Frenchmen are among the top nationally, so the defeat's probably not one to be surprised by. That's the difficulty with youngsters: they're either potentially an easy victory or a trap for the unwary ... but it's often hard to know which in advance.
PS: What with Nicola Kuhn playing for Spain and Evan Furness for France, things are getting very confusing. Next thing you know, Giovanni Bloggi will be a Dane; Joe Bloggs a Swiss; and Josef von Blogg an Irishman.
-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 26th of September 2016 07:29:13 PM
As CD's mentioned in the juniors thread (I think ... though I lose track of threads), the two young Frenchmen are among the top nationally, so the defeat's probably not one to be surprised by. That's the difficulty with youngsters: they're either potentially an easy victory or a trap for the unwary ... but it's often hard to know which in advance.
PS: What with Nicola Kuhn playing for Spain and Evan Furness for France, things are getting very confusing. Next thing you know, Giovanni Bloggi will be a Dane; Joe Bloggs a Swiss; and Josef von Blogg an Irishman.
-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 26th of September 2016 07:29:13 PM
I also keep a special eye out for 'English' names that crop up under foreign flags, especially in the youngsters, in the hope that we can 'nab' them !
Of course, it doesn't take into account that a lot of British names are not Charlie Smith any longer but all the same.....
I recently saw a Michael Clark playing for Greece and thought -now, wouldn't he like to come over to the wild side and play for Britain??? Of course, his parents might be American or Australian or whatever - in fact, my plan has so many holes in it, it's like an old bucket. But a positive attitude and all that. There's a decent young Swede too with a British dad. Just ripe for the plucking....
And, of course, Evan Furness is a pet project of mine - now surely he'd like to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond????? Not only is his dad British but he's a tennis coach, for goodness sake.... Of course, that's probably the very reason that he's advised his son to stick to France..... But at age 22 or so, when the FFT steps back a bit, I'm ready to welcome the young man !
Yes, I think what's so surprising to me about Evan Furness is that it's such a British name, which I find rare in France, where even if you have a foreign last name, you'd normally have a very French first name. Ditto with Nicola Kuhn: I can't think offhand of any other Spanish players with such a decidedly non-Spanish name. Whereas from the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Germany etc, names that reflect a variety of heritages are much more common - witness our own top women over the past decade, or the current US Challenger, in which the US players include Austin Krajicek (Dutch last name, though not first), MacKenzie McDonald, Dennis Novikov (Russian), Frances Tiafoe (Sierra Leone), Alexander Sarkissian (Armenian), and Ernesto Escobedo (Spanish/Latin American) just in the top half of the draw, or the Junior Fed Cup, where the Canadian team is Bianca Andreescu, Isabelle Boulais, and Layne Sleeth.
And yes, I do keep an eye out for potential 'new Brits' ... though as you say, for the aforementioned reasons, you never know - the best British hopes of expropriation may well be people with names reflecting a completely different linguistic heritage. And it's a dangerous game. We'd have a lot to lose as well if others got the same idea .....
the little dear's only 16. Don't think much of his parents' taste in names) Angèle & Evan Furness UNR (0+1397)
