Week 23 ITF ($100k) - Surbiton, Grass

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 23 ITF ($100k) - Surbiton, Grass

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

As I predicted a few weeks back the GB women are already starting to earn points on the grass where the men are failing. Also I believe in a near Vandyesq bold statement I also said Gabi would end the end GB number 2 behind Jo. Wasnt surprised in the slightest that Gabi won today. Id say that it will be a surprise if Heather keeps above Gabi and perhaps even by US Open time she might catch her.

So just to recap Gabi ahead of Heather by year end, and Cam ahead of Kyle after Aus Open for a bold double.

No reason that the Quintet cant go deep here, and although a big challenge I wouldnt be surprised to see one of our gang in the final again this year.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I think Gabi is good and getting better, if she was unwell showed significant mental strength to find a way to win today (I feel with time we may see that taking her into the top 50) tough draw for Heather who I think would have beaten all the other British girls today. Can't really see Cam going past Kyle anytime soon, not because he is not good just that Kyle can improve further and has the will to do it.

About 4-5 years back they was an interview with his mum who made a comment about how she thought he would do OK (that was the general theme I can't remeber precisely) because of how stubborn he was, increasingly it is looking like she knows her sons mentality and his desire not to settle for anything but his best, he has an opportunity to get close to the top 10 this year.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Wednesday 6th of June 2018 03:39:09 AM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Jaggy1876 wrote:
As I predicted a few weeks back the GB women are already starting to earn points on the grass where the men are failing. Also I believe in a near Vandyesq bold statement I also said Gabi would end the end GB number 2 behind Jo. Wasnt surprised in the slightest that Gabi won today. Id say that it will be a surprise if Heather keeps above Gabi and perhaps even by US Open time she might catch her.

So just to recap Gabi ahead of Heather by year end, and Cam ahead of Kyle after Aus Open for a bold double.

No reason that the Quintet cant go deep here, and although a big challenge I wouldnt be surprised to see one of our gang in the final again this year.

Well one reason for it not to happen is that 2 play each other in the next round biggrin

Katy and Katie B have really hard matches against seeds who are renowned grass specialists. I think Gabi's chances will be about 50/50 with Stollar who has been finding form herself recently. Given that 1 is guaranteed to go out (and through here), I think 3 through to the quarters would be a very good return here.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I was just looking to see if I could find any Surbiton 2nd round odds and the one I mainly use has a random market:

'2014 Wimbledon'

'Round 2 Matches'

Tim Henman 2/11 vs Andy Roddick 7/2

How random

indiana · Tennis legend

Jaggy1876 wrote:
As I predicted a few weeks back the GB women are already starting to earn points on the grass where the men are failing. Also I believe in a near Vandyesq bold statement I also said Gabi would end the end GB number 2 behind Jo. Wasnt surprised in the slightest that Gabi won today. Id say that it will be a surprise if Heather keeps above Gabi and perhaps even by US Open time she might catch her.

So just to recap Gabi ahead of Heather by year end, and Cam ahead of Kyle after Aus Open for a bold double.

No reason that the Quintet cant go deep here, and although a big challenge I wouldnt be surprised to see one of our gang in the final again this year.

These previously flagged ( as requested ) a few weeks back to be by next May but apparently new now even bolder predictions noted

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

We will stick with the original in regard Kyle/Cam, but Gabi and Heather I will upgrade.

Nix · Futures level

The other thing about Gabi yesterday was that she was not only playing against the no 1 seed but also largely the crowd, who were mainly supporting Heather. Although I struggle to choose when two Brits playing, so tried to keep it even. But even in the first set when she was struggling, she didnt berate herself for losing shots, she was rather thinking of the shot she should have played, eg should have sliced there, etc. I should imagine that helps with resilience.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Jaggy1876 wrote:
We will stick with the original in regard Kyle/Cam, but Gabi and Heather I will upgrade.

I am interested in why you feel Cam will out rank Kyle, I see potential for both to improve and do really well with good ATP tour careers, indeed I would love be to see them play more doubles together, but where do you see Cam finding an edge that will take him past Kyle. Gaby and Heather I understand and I think it will be a tussle that will hopefully motivate both. The Cam Kyle prediction much less objective.

Michael D · All-time great

Nix wrote:
The other thing about Gabi yesterday was that she was not only playing against the no 1 seed but also largely the crowd, who were mainly supporting Heather. Although I struggle to choose when two Brits playing, so tried to keep it even. But even in the first set when she was struggling, she didnt berate herself for losing shots, she was rather thinking of the shot she should have played, eg should have sliced there, etc. I should imagine that helps with resilience.

That's both interesting that the crowd should be so relatively one sided - that even at that kind of venue people still comparatively 'know' Heather more, and that Gabi should prove so resilient. It means she is being well coached/ prepared too. I loved her tweet afterwards that Steven posted. Methinks there is also a little payback there for the way she was treated at the FedCup. Whatever else Gabi does this tournament now she has shaken up the 'old' order of British women's tennis, at least the one that has been around the last 3-4 years. And I certainly think that's a good thing. It may even help Heather too. She also needs to do some rethinking, and I'd love to see a bit more resilience from her in response.

Nix · Futures level

I agree Michael, Heather could do with some resilience preparation. I saw her last year against Wosniacki at Eastbourne and she was doing really well and then there was a point where she missed a sitter smash into the net and her game just unravelled for a while. Gabi yesterday seemed to be able to keep plodding on, even though Heather looked much better in the first set. She just kept going until she had an opportunity to get back into the match.

As for the crowd, I wonder whether the lack of publicity at anything other than the elite levels has a bearing. Although if you follow tennis regularly (obsessively read this board!) youd know about our crop of younger players, if you only watch Wimbledon and Queens and read the papers, you may not even heard of Gabi (apart from the publicity about her illness at Wimbledon). Its such a shame because theyre a really promising group. Once again, it was nice to see them all hanging out together and supporting each others matches.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

And as exciting is the group behind that Fran, Emma, Holly perhaps Joanna Garland (heres hoping) and who knows Eden Richardson has made a very good start to progressing via the college route. Deserves a wildcard for the play offs as probably does all American Emily Arb who got one last year. Same with the boys. I think a certain Scotsman with a dodgie hip should take a certain amount of credit for inspiring this group of athletes topick up a tennis racket.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Very true, I have high hopes for this group, and the fact that they get on and have been hanging out together here and in Asia is great. My only downside is that I thought that they'd take Robbo through with them, and this doesn't seem to be happening as they've all whizzed past her now.
I hope this does spur Heather on to be better, but it certainly does feel like the first time Andy beat Tim, the changing of the guard..

the addict · Tennis legend