wolf wrote:

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Article on Dan on BBC - www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/43927090

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 Reading this and the Stuart Fraser article several things come to mind:

- Dan really needs tennis in his life and seems to be truly regretful. Taking him on face value, I hope he channels that and really goes for it. 

- If he has only been training since end Feb, then that is 2 months - natural talent will come through but I suspect we will see an erratic return initially. 

- the qualies draw clearly anticipated, from the Fraser article, less than a full draw, he actually implied it might be less than 16. It makes one wonder what  the aim of this challenger is for the LTA. If it was to provide a platform (see next comment) for Dan, Wardy and Andy to gather ranking points, it may be worth it, I hope so. 

- Dan if he wins this can gather 105 points as I understand it, so that would take him to just inside the top 400. Another similar win at Loughborough would take him to mid 200's. He could possibly avoid Futures events altogether. Although Fuller says his schedule isnt determined, Fraser obviously feels Dan will go to Tunisia and join the crews on Jerba for a couple of weeks, presumably before coming back to Loughborough. Not sure about that - I reckon a good week here, more training and then Loughborough is more likely. And then the grass court haul. I cant see him missing Loughborough, it is close to Brum and also his girlfriend in Cheltenham, relatively, and I think is a slam dunk he will want to play there. There are only two weeks between Glasgow and Loughborough so Jerba seems a stretch if he isnt already entered, which he appears not to be. Bad week in Glasgow, out in qualies, and it might be different 

- Why Jerba though and not Turkey? Isnt Jerba clay, Turkey hardcourts? 

Overall, I feel we will see a rocky road for a few weeks with some good weeks in there. Lets say Dan does well enough to reach last 16 or quarters in the 5 challenger events between now and Wimbledon (presumably he wont get tour level wild cards? ) and maybe has one good week reaching a final, he could get somewhere around 125 points in 5 weeks, which would see him around mid 300's ranking wise. I reckon he would  take that. Some points at Wimbledon and he could exit Wimbledon around 300-350 ranking wise. That would be a good start to his comeback I reckon. And help GB in the strongest nations  rankings as well! 

Surely the aim of this challenger was not a platform for Evo and Wardy ( a bit OTT ) but maybe just as more a possible bonus if could help them and one or two others in original thinking re an Andy platform.

But Andy never appears to have been remotely guaranteed and we are left with a rather strange hastily arranged undersubscribed frankly looking slight mess of an event.

Anyway, only hope now that is that it does at least prove very useful for some Brits rather than just a useful event that has turned up for some peskies that prefer hard courts.

But basically a heck of a palaver over nothing very much really when so little is done in other areas.

If it is to prove a regular addition to the calendar and some players can more plan their schedule to come here then future ones should build up to rather more ( though the timing for some Brits probably just won't work ). For now this year's though is just an oddity and even more so if it is a one-off.

Jaggy1876 wrote:

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The whole thing is a bit strange, its a waste on money given the uptake, surely 2 or 3 25ks would have been better instead. The Glasgow public will have almost no interest in this, certainly not any more than the attendance at the last few years ITFs.

Im wondering if the LTA have been hiding money and got found out and forced into these 2 Challengers. Its all rather odd.

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 Perhaps like the FA, they are thinking of selling the LTA crown jewels and this is all a shop window. NTC Roehampton sold to Nick Bolletieri for $900m I see is the headline tomorrow!

Neil has progressed in Tunisia