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Post Info TOPIC: George Loffhagen


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George Loffhagen


I can't see a thread dedicated to this young man, but if Maia Lumsden can have one, I don't see why he can't!  wink  There's glowing report by Barry Flatman in The Sunday Times on the future prospects of three young Brits, George being one, Jack Draper & Aiden McHugh the other two, under the heading "Life after Murray?  Loffhagen is GB's best hope".   A sample of the comments:

[...]  Last summer at Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal asked Tim Henman to suggest a British junior who might serve as a worthwhile practice partner and without too much hesitation, Loffhagen was put forward.

"I'm not just saying this to exaggerate but this kid could turn into something very, very special," said Alan Jones, the man who was first tasked with coaching Loffhagen when the youngster was only eight years old. This year will be Jones' 50th as a coach at Wimbledon and in that time he has seen many British youngsters fail to fulfil their promise, while others have overachieved. But Jones, who guided Jo Durie to the world's top five 34 years ago, is convinced that Loffhagen has the quality to become Britain's best.

"He's got so many things going for him," said Jones. "He's a phenomenal athlete who puts me in mind of the French player Gael Monfils. He hits the ball very hard off both forehand and backhand and he's got considerably stronger and bigger in the last year or so."

Later on:

[Loffhagen] joined JTC, an independent academy based at Chiswick and Northwood in Middlesex, which is fronted by Henman's former coach and LTA performance director David Felgate. Since last summer, Jones' son Ryan has taken over the role of coach after previously working with a couple of top 50 players, the Croatian Borna Coric and [Kyle] Edmund. The pair, along with regular JTC practice partner Draper, flew to Australia on Friday. The younger Jones has high hopes for the trip that begins on Monday next week in the Victorian country town of Traralgon before heading to Melbourne.

"George is the obvious one to look at and having spent the past five months with him, it's very clear he has so many very good attributes." said the coach. "Dad talks about him being like Monfils but I'd go a step higher and compare many aspects of his game to that of Novak Djokovic. I work with him on court and watch him in action and there's so much that is exciting.

"He's so fast across the court but he has also got control. He not only defends well but can develop a point, knowing when to attack. As he has grown, his serve has become more of a weapon and he's got a real class backhand that can hurt opponents, either coming low up the line or going crosscourt.

"Of course he is still very young. There's a few things temperament-wise that I would like to see George improve, and in some ways he is still extremely immature. He is rather inclined to sulk if things are not going well for him but the good thing is that he's a perfectionist and, as we have seen with Andy Murray through his great years, that is no bad thing."


As a matter of interest, does anyone know how the surname's pronounced?  As a German-speaker, I instinctively feel it's "Loff-haRgen", but I presume (I have to stop & think) monolingual Brits would say "Loff-haYgen".   



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Challenger level

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Thanks Stircrazy, to my shame I hadn't even heard of this guy!

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 Its really not as bad as they say :)



Tennis legend

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Shhh, he's a 'little fave' - where have you been ?!

And SC, when I saw him play last time the umpire certainly pronounced it the German way. But, then, I don't think the umpire was English so that doesn't tell you much. Got be 'hargen', though, surely.....

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Anther exciting prospect then. Interested in seeing how he gets on in the junior slams this year and as he dips his toes into the ITF senior events.

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GO TEAM GBR IN 2024!



ATP qualifying

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Pronounced Loffh-ah-gen (at least I've never heard those who know him put the R in)



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The Optimist wrote:

Pronounced Loffh-ah-gen (at least I've never heard those who know him put the R in)


 But that's the same as having the 'r' in, isn't it?

i.e. 'ah' is pronounced 'ar'.

As opposed to 'ay', which was SC's other suggestion.



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Coup Droit wrote:
The Optimist wrote:

Pronounced Loffh-ah-gen (at least I've never heard those who know him put the R in)


 But that's the same as having the 'r' in, isn't it?

i.e. 'ah' is pronounced 'ar'.

As opposed to 'ay', which was SC's other suggestion.


I assumed though that the O was saying that these people pronounce it as "ah" ie "a" with no 'r" sound as opposed to "ar" or "ay". It seems to me not at all unlikely that whatever the name's origins it may have become anglicised even within the family, and it has gone the "ah" / "a" phonetic rather than "ay" route. 



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I'm still confused confuse

To me, 'ah' and 'ar' are the same (unless you're doing a French roll of your 'r's)

But it's not the end of the world - I've been confused before ...... smile



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Coup Droit wrote:
The Optimist wrote:

Pronounced Loffh-ah-gen (at least I've never heard those who know him put the R in)


 But that's the same as having the 'r' in, isn't it?

i.e. 'ah' is pronounced 'ar'.

As opposed to 'ay', which was SC's other suggestion.


Yes, I meant "ar" as in "car" (no rolled "r").  It's very difficult to represent sounds when general readers are unlikely to be able to follow phonetic transcription (which Activeboard wouldn't support anyway!  disbelief ).



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Tennis legend

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Clearly the confusuon is simply that to many folk "ah" and "ar" are not the same. To me ( and I think The O ) "ah" is basically "a" ( as in: ah, what's all the confusion about? ) and when we say an "ah" sound that is what we mean. The O specifically said that he had never heard those who know him put an "r" in - so answering how these people at least pronounce his name.



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ATP qualifying

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Put it this way, no definite R sound in it anyway.  Depending on the speaker maybe a hint of one.....   So not Loffh arrr gen but Loffh ahhh gen.  Stress more on the Loff.  



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Social player

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Anyone know whats happened to George? Only played 4/5 events this year and has been seen nowhere since March!

Injuries maybe?

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Social player

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Anyone know whats happened to George?

Seems like hes stopped playing completely.

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cya


Intermediate Club Player

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Probably taking some time of to do A level exams? 



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Hall of fame

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George is entered for the Roehampton $25k in a few weeks

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