He is not very little, already hitting with much more power when last competing on grass at Roehampton in the summer. Very impressed with his progress but as he said in his London tennis tube interview as he is playing seniors he feels no pressure and can be aggressive.
But, yes, his logic of going for it more makes perfect sense - his juniors game (from the couple of times I've seen it) was more based on solidity and lovely technique, rather than aggression.
Regardless of who wins this week, I think performance of the week has to go to Jack Draper. Came through 3 qualifying rounds dropping hardly a game and then taken the 4th seed to a 3rd set breaker. Hats off to you young Jack. The future is bright.
Always difficult when two Brits play but well done to Finn Bass, with another top-1000 win (over Josh Paris), and another point. He only got his first ATP point a month or so back. And now he's got 8.
And, yes, definitely hope to see Brandon in the main draw again.
I agree with the comments above - it seems to me that there's a fair chance that the powers that be do not look too favourably on Oli.... let's hope that it is temporary and that his results speak for themselves and force the issue .....
Did Oli do something to offend them? I don't really get it.
A federation takes it very badly when someone they've put a huge amount of time and effort into suddenly quits, or changes nationality, or whatever. (Especially when that federation is short of players and there is a lot of pressure to produce some new 'stars').
I'm not saying Oli's to blame at all, just that I bet the LTA were not at all happy.
Thanks, I see.
For me this is pretty short sighted. Quite a few of the players that have had success early on need time find themselves and decide what they want to do with their lives as it's been tennis tennis tennis from an early age. For me it's better that a player comes into it again of their own choice than staying in it half heartedly. (Laura comes to mind but I'm not sure that that is entirely fair). I hope that for British tennis' sake that Oli has decided to make a go of it and that the LTA will help him. It would be a waste if he gets injured/cheesed off/discouraged. He's obviously playing at a decent standard despite his break
I look forward to seeing Jack playing more senior tennis. Played some great stuff this week, plenty of controlled power on both sides.
Absolutely. It's my firm belief that all of our youngsters should play more adult tennis - it's so crucial to the learning curve. Difficult, though, when the LTA don't really value it and there are fewer and fewer ITFs here, and very little team tennis: the British Tour events offer some but there's often a lot of youngsters in those too so it doesn't really serve the purpose. Jack, I'm sure, will have less trouble than most in accessing suitable events. And it will be really interesting to follow him - it was certainly an excellent start.
It's obviously entirely up to Oli, the more British players in the top 100 the better. I think he needs to play a bit and work out how he feels, there is no escaping the fact that futures is a grind, to break through the challengers level requires total commitment even for the very talented. Still very early days on the come back trail, British tennis were very supportive of Evo once he showed he was on it and built up a head of steam, I just don't think he is on their radar quite yet.
Oh I'm sure Oli will be on their radar. Just rightly or wrongly the controllers are choosing not to truly acknowledge his presence for the moment. We see nothing yet ...