Boys & Girls: Australian Open, hard - Grade A (Weeks 3/4)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Boys & Girls: Australian Open, hard - Grade A (Weeks 3/4)

Oakland2002 · All-time great

And why all things being equal would Aidan play with anybody other than Timofey Skatov. We may reflect on these choices in a decade and find it would have been a bit like asking Flemming why he played with McEnroe. Skatov is quite good.

DavidC · Tennis legend

A woeful set of results in singles and doubles

Boys R1 (L64)

Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) d. Jack Draper 6-3 6-4
Aidan McHugh d. Filip Cristian Jianu (ROU) 6-4 7-6(3)
(Q) Philip Henning (RSA) d. George Loffhagen 7-6(5) 7-5

R2

(Q) Jaimee Floyd Angele (FRA) v Aidan McHugh

Girls R1 (L64)

(5) Naho Sato (JPN) d. Gemma Heath 3-6 6-2 6-2
(16) Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) d. Ali Collins 6-2 6-2

Boys Doubles R1 (L32)

(1) Baez/Seyboth Wild (ARG/BRA) d. Draper/Droguet (GBR/FRA) 7-5 3-0 rtd
Ajdukovic/Miladinovic (CRO/SRB) v (4) Skatov/McHugh (RUS/GBR)
Marek/Tseng (POL/TPE) v Bosancic/Loffhagen (AUS/GBR)

Girls Doubles R1 (L32)

(6) Topalova/Vismane (BUL/LAT) d. El Jardi/Heath (MAR/GBR) 6-2 6-1
(WC) Da Silva Fick / Popovic (AUS) d. Collins/Rogozinska Dzik (GBR/POL) 6-3 4-6 [10-8]

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

As you say, David, a woeful set of results.

I know it's not really fair but when you think of the cost of taking this group to Australia for this period - and the almost total lack of results they've got (Aidan notwithstanding), it makes you think.

I wonder if there is an LTA trainer/coach group who's in charge of them? Or the LTA pays for all their own individual coaches to go too? (In France, it's always a designated FFT coach and that person is assessed when they get back and the kids' results are put down, in part, to their performance and is factored into that coach's year-end review).

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Personally I am not bothered by the results although success would be ideal. Our best juniors have to have the opportunity to be allowed to go for a number of reasons, primarily it is a fanatistic experience for them to work towards and in this group the likes of George and Jack have the opportunity to learn from it and come back.

It is also an opportunity to see how they cope, Marcus gave some insight into how his career may pan out when he attended the Aussie Open, to be successful requires sustained focus and insight as to the purpose of the trip. Marcus waved a big red flag and British Tennis needs to work out how to manage that with such a small pool of talent.

I would be very interested in the views of those that have been successful in their transition to the ATP/WTA tours ie the Andy, Hev, Joko, Kyle, Evo and Naomi as to how you should plan a campaign around a junior slam and their value. Actual training and coaching around the event is a small fraction of any given years work, being fit and ready is important but the psychological aspect of a major tournament is what they are experiencing and learning to manage.

Politically as a nation hosting a GS it is also important we are well represented

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I don't have a problem at all with going, Oakie. And you can never have 20-20 hindsight. Yes, the results are disappointing but it's hardly the end of the world. I'm not trying to be 'clever' after the event and say, 'oh goodness they lost, we should never have paid for them to go'. I just wonder how the coaching set-up is structured, what incentive system they have, how the actual coaches are evaluated, not the players. It's important.
I don't really buy off on the Marcus story either. Yes, you can say it showed a tendency. But so do lots of the antics of other players at that age. And indeed many never change (thinking Monfils etc.). So, yes, maybe the LTA handles it badly but that's hardly a reason to go to the other side of the world, just to 'test' them.
I also don't buy off on our obligations to send a contingent. The French often don't, especially to the US Open. I think our obligation as a GS nation is to have some GS players. Not send juniors. And unfortunately, that's where we slip up.
But, as said, no problem with the journey as such. Just a few questions.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I dont think its a test so to speak, only rarely for the outliers, for the vast majority it is about playing top level competition a long way from home, learning what is easy, what is hard etc. and being able to develop mechanisms and routines that allow them not only to cope but produce their best. If two or three of this group end up going back as seniors (even in qualifying) then that is worth the investment and I have a gut feeling that will be the case but only time will tell.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Monday 22nd of January 2018 02:06:45 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, but whether they go on to go back as seniors, or not, will not be down to whether they went as juniors, or not. It's not directly correlated.
The question of amount of investment in juniors and the return is obviously a huge question and an important one. And one trip to Australia is not really what it's all about.
James Ward never had the LTA pay for him to go, and did a lot better than just end up there in qualis. I don't think Jay Clarke ever got taken by the LTA either (although I might possibly be wrong). But these do not prove the trips are worthless in the same way that if George L, for instance, gets to 200 in the world and makes the quali draw directly this does not prove the trip was a success.
As said, I'm perfectly happy with them going, it's a big stage, and a good try out of level and spirit. But I would still like to know who the LTA pays for to go (every personal coach? how many trainers? etc. etc.) and how performance is then evaluated. (Whether they win or lose). Because it's not a bottomless pit.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Aidan is also the only British winner in doubles, and faces the same opponent twice tonight - his singles is first up on 19

Boys Doubles R1 (L32)

(1) Baez/Seyboth Wild (ARG/BRA) d. Draper/Droguet (GBR/FRA) 7-5 3-0 rtd
(4) Skatov/McHugh (RUS/GBR) d. Ajdukovic/Miladinovic (CRO/SRB) 6-2 6-2
Marek/Tseng (POL/TPE) d. Bosancic/Loffhagen (AUS/GBR) 6-3 6-2

R2

Angele/Wenger (FRA/SUI) v (4) Skatov/McHugh (RUS/GBR)

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Disappointing tournament indeed. We usually have some good success here.

Hopefully Aidan can make up for it.

indiana · Tennis legend

Like CD I am not as such against the trips though do slightly question how much the Aus trip is such an important "test" in itself and certainly would be interested in quite how much resources are involved and what do they try to draw from it going forward.

There is not for the first time though the question of priority and non priority / relatively ignored groups where there are not unlimited resources. The money being relatively splashed on our best juniors ( and that seems to go a fair way down ), and not just in Slams but much wider abd involving a lot of ITF travel, seems to continue the needle in the haystack look for and give opportunity for anyone that might become senior top 100ish.

Once into late teens and early 20s, when the LTA have however evaluated that the player will not reach such heights, then they seem pretty well left to their own devices unless they fairly dramatically manage to push through at a later date.

Particularly if they are not from a particularly wealthy background many good young players and their parents must concern themselves with the lack of any real safety net and onward help if and when they are not or cease to be part of the chosen few so may relatively pull away at an earlier stage and concentrate elsewhere, be it on other sports or more focussed education. Now professional sport in the main is tough, and the lower pro tennis circuits most certainly are, and noone is owed central help, but where the LTA might have it within their overall resources to help ease things and help more in the early senior years, an often very tough transition and when most players are still developing ( and perhaps provide / subsidise more lower level tournaments for many of the same group ), it is fair to want to know a bit more about where and how other resources are being used.

indiana · Tennis legend

Aidan on serve in the final set, having just saved the first couple of BPs of the set.

6-2 3-6 2-1*

indiana · Tennis legend

Bah, I just got caught out with the Aus Open site live scores serve indicator that doesn't move across until the first point of a game ( even though I had been aware of this annoyance ).

So not *6-5, but 6-5* with no final set breaks of serve.

indiana · Tennis legend

Final set TB ...

indiana · Tennis legend

Aidan wins 6-2 3-6 7-6(5)