Weeks 27 & 28 - Wimbledon (grass) - men's doubles

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

RE: Weeks 27 & 28 - Wimbledon (grass) - men's doubles

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: (1) Henri Kontinen & John Peers (FIN/AUS) CR 3 (1+2) defeated (WC) Scott Clayton & Jonny O'Mara CR 573 (255+318) by 3, 4 & 4

L32: (WC) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 190 (91+99) defeated (8) Rohan Bopanna & Edouard Roger-Vasselin (IND/FRA) CR 37 (21+16) by 7-6(6) 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3

L32: Sam Groth & Robert Lindstedt (AUS/SWE) CR 87 (52+35) defeated (3) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares (BRA) CR 11 (5+6) by 4-6 6-3 4-6 7-5 7-5 bleh

L32: (WC) Jay Clarke & Marcus Willis CR 1590 (882+708) defeated (2) Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut (FRA/FRA) CR 11 (7+4) by 3-6 6-1 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3

*****

L16: Marcus Daniell & Marcelo Demoliner (NZL/BRA) CR 105 (56+49) vs (WC) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 190 (91+99)

L16: (16) Oliver Marach & Mate Pavic (AUT/CRO) CR 67 (36+31) vs (WC) Jay Clarke & Marcus Willis CR 1590 (882+708)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

For those musing re Davis Cup, I think Gary of A1 has every right to come on and make a snooty post....he was rather sneered at for suggesting Marcus in his mind was a possible future DC dubs player.............

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

But well done to the pair.... a highly entertaining match..... and such and unlikely result. May they continue through the draw. And for all our comments about Marcus' conditioning etc (including mine), it's clearly not holding him back in the dubs.

the addict · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
This must have been a good result as the BBC actually showed the last three games on the main channel, albeit after the match had finished. I really hope they show a bit more in their highlights programme.
The last few games were actually shown live on the red button...
Not that Red Button thing again. the Spanish "Multi Deporte" channels had gone offline.

I watched the whole match on the red button (or on the BBC website when my wife wanted to watch someone else).

Bob, told you before, get yourself an iphider and you can see whatever you want.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

And the defending Wimbledon champions are.....out! Haha, what a result! This has an even better feeling than last year with Marcus because of Jay and the debut adventure he is on. A shared adventure and two players that are easy to like. It's happened too late in the day for the highlights program though, literally finished the minute before the program started. All that time talking about Djokovic, they should have been talking about this British story.

As for Marcus playing doubles, for me he'd have to show commitment to the tennis circuit first. But if he does that, then I'd definitely be interested in them testing him out in DC over Dom. And frankly it's be more exciting to see him a part of it.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I sort of feel that the Davis Cup is a bit of a red herring. Marcus could certainly go along, in Dom's place, but Dom practically never plays anyway, it's nearly always Jamie and Andy. And you're not going to break that partnership, if that's what Andy wants.
But I do feel that whoever put Marcus and Jay together was inspired - there are many players who wouldn't meld well with Marcus (he's hardly a standard player or character) - I couldn't see Brydan, say, working with Marcus or even Joe Salisbury really. But the difference in age with Marcus makes an interesting dynamic that brought out the best in both of them.
Also for Jaggy and me and other doubles sceptics, it's lovely to see such a groundswell of support for doubles - and yet be confirmed that scratch pairs are just as good as confirmed ones and that doubles rankings are simplt a nice bit of fiction

Spectator · All-time great

I'd agree with The O that there's quite a lot of justification for Gary here - leaving aside the DC question, he was always clear that he felt Mr Willis could play Tour-level doubles ... and yes, there was a lot of skepticism around! That said, people who felt you couldn't assume that winning a number of Futures tournaments necessarily meant someone would be a Tour-level doubles players also had a point: Mr Willis is somewhat sui generis.

I'd also agree with CD on the inspiration of the partnership: great idea and great dynamic. And what a great thing for Jay Clarke - if how you start at a place can affect how you continue, this certainly has given him some good first impressions of the main competition at Wimbledon.

But (in a rare disagreement with CD) I wouldn't go along with the idea that a few wins for a new pairing means that scratch pairings are as good as established ones ... or that doubles rankings are a nice bit of fiction. No one said a parallel thing when Donskoy beat Federer or Istomin beat Djokovic. As with singles, doubles rankings are over the course of a year, and they reflect long-term quality. You can have a new pairing which does well in a tournament- and an established pairing that doesn't ... but extrapolating too far feels problematic.

None of this is said to take anything away from Mr Willis and Mr Clarke - indeed, it's the fact that Mahut and PHH's ranking does represent something that makes the GB win so wonderful. And wonderful it is. Well done.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Congratulations to both, obviously only saw it on main channel due to watching the real stuff before it. If my calculations are right if they win the next round Marcus will have made the same amount of prize money from the grass court season as he did for qualifying and making R2 last year. So makes sense for him to continue is some capacity....However again similarly to Jamie and Bruno losing to Groth surely this again proved my point a bit about doubles.

indiana · Tennis legend

Just a chance to say a bit more than "Yay !!!" - but not about who's vindicated about what or not, partly or wholly. That can be for another time if going down that path.

I only tuned in at stages although I went back and watched in full from the MP game in the fourth set to the end. How great it must have been to have been following much of it live with that conclusion.

It was a match often of great doubles skill, laced with dramatic turns and the home very likeable underdogs beating the reigning champions. So enjoyable !!!

And now Jay will indeed very likely reach the top 300 before he turns 19, just not quite in the way that's been recently talked about

Huge well done to both Marcus and Jay. And well done to the Skupskis too !!

PS: Schedulers, Court 14 ( opening match ) for Clarke and Willis on Monday ?! You cannot be serious !!

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 9th of July 2017 01:37:40 AM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
PS: Schedulers, Court 14 ( opening match ) for Clarke and Willis on Monday ?! You cannot be serious !!

I rather think they are, Indy! furious Is that one of the streamed courts? That said, Kontinen & Peers are first on 16, while Ken & Neal are last on 2...

Priesty · Challenger level

As has been said what a fantastic result! With tennis-hating company at home I was having to follow scores on the Wimbledon app and feared the worst when the 3 MPs went in the 4th. To my mind, for them to regroup from that was absolutely remarkable!

Great boost for both not least financially, and hopefully for Jay makes up for the disappointment of the FQR although given Ofner's progress in the MD I think he can hold his head up very high indeed.

Good luck for tomorrow both!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

My comments, Spec, about scratch pairings and doubles ratings were made slightly tongue in cheek

Although not completely .......

In Roland Garros this year, it was won by unseeded Harrison and Venus, who'd only played four tournaments before RG, losing in R1 of three of them. Pospisil and Sock won Wimbly as a completely scratch pair. Marray and Nielson's wildcard win is, of course legendary.

I realise it's cherry-picking. But when the world's players ranked 708 and 882 beat those ranked 4 and 7, having barely played together before, it's a truly brilliant story - and given the above examples, why should it stop there? Coz it has to beg a few, just a few, questions re rankings and established partnerships....

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Stircrazy wrote:
indiana wrote:
PS: Schedulers, Court 14 ( opening match ) for Clarke and Willis on Monday ?! You cannot be serious !!
I rather think they are, Indy! Is that one of the streamed courts? That said, Kontinen & Peers are first on 16, while Ken & Neal are last on 2...

I must admit, I don't understand why they are on a smaller court than the Skupskis. I would have thought that Clarke and Willis would have been a TBA match. Still, the advantage I guess is that it's got a fair chance of being televised being first up.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Fabulous win for Marcus and Jay, what a great experience it is and long may it continue, I don't think Marcus is really DC material in the ideal world unless he gets a regular partner ?Dom and starts ripping up the world of doubles.

I know we have done this too death but this win purely underlines the potential he has or increasingly had, he is on a par with Jamie at the very least as a singles player but not got close to the level at which Jamie found frustration and then focused his entire energies on becoming the best doubles player he could be and to be fair he didn't do that badly!

Perhaps Marcus should focus on the mixed as well he would undoubtedly be a charming partner and athleticism is not an absolute the problem would be getting a decent rank to allow access based on merit to tournaments other than Wimbledon. If not plan B: the "Good Morning" sofa.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 9th of July 2017 09:49:06 AM