Week 26 - Wimbledon men's qualifying singles, Roehampton, Great Britain (grass)

JonH · All-time great

RE: Week 26 - Wimbledon men's qualifying singles, Roehampton, Great Britain (grass)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
JonH wrote:
Well done to Wardy, anyone know who he plays next, I couldnt find a post but I am sure there is one (sorry SC or BiS if they have posted it!)
There wasn't, Jon, as the match to decide Dino's opponent was still in play when his finished, but, as if by magic:
FQR: (qWC) James Ward WR 363 vs Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) WR 285 (CH = 176 last October)
It will, I believe, be the best of five. Bonzi despatched the q 32, Bublik, by 3 & 4 in his match.
Would this be the right time to shout "Bonzai" ! Or is that non PC??

It might be - if it were pronounced that way! wink By the way, you can be as un-PC as you like, as far as I'm concerned. I still refer to the person who chairs one of my meetings as the chairman (especially if it's actually a man), as I fail to see how an inanimate object can run a meeting! wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
I havent followed the tennis closely today, working harder than usual for me! (dont tell my client that! Or my wife!)

Has anyone any insight into what happened to Dan? It seems like he just hit a wall looking at the score and comments , is that broadly it??

Well done to Wardy, anyone know who he plays next, I couldnt find a post but I am sure there is one (sorry SC or BiS if they have posted it!)

Ok, re the men today, Dan's problem (IMHO) was simply that his serve let him down. And this may well be due to fatigue.

He started off missing a lot of first serves and with his second serve being way too soft. Bachinger just ate them for breakfast. This got Dan rattled and his back-of-the-court game suffered a bit too. Bachinger also had a lovely purple patch in the first set and could do no wrong. Dan kept trying but it was one-way traffic. At 0-5 he threw in the towel and mentally moved onto the next set.

And he dug really deep and played better, his running around seemed fine, but he still got absolutely no free points on his serve, served more DFs than normal, and weaker serves in general. Might be shoulder fatigue, or legs, or just one of those days. But it meant he was always fighting an uphill battle. And even his groundshots didn't have the punch they normally do (although again credit to Bachinger for playing well).

He didn't look too angry at the end. Although I didn't go too near him, just in case smile

Alex had got a bit lucky in his last match and was a fair way off in this one.

People will have seen Lloyd on livestream - a good performance, not far off, the crowd were impressed.

And Jimbo ended up being our sole flag bearer through to FQR. He played very well, capitalising on his strengths and not getting sucked into things he's not so good at. A professional, proficient performance.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Thanks for the report CD. Gutted for Dan with most of the rest of the forum, just one match too far I guess, so roll on the US swing. I just hope that his ranking is now high enough to get him into events where he can pick up decent points, and the Americans give him the odd WC.

JonH · All-time great

thanks CD, really interesting insight.

As an aside, 10 out of last 32 players in mens are seeded. Not sure if that is record low but shows how a) the field is so even b) how on grass the field gets evened out apart from the top guys who really know how to play on this stuff.

really think James Ward will win tomorrow, he knows grass and is a stronger pedigree than his opponent

Jiwan · Club Coach

Agreed with CD, Dan's serve was not on today and was under pressure constantly. I thought Dan competed well though and there were some great shots from both players. Some really nice rallies / using all of the court, but Dan not really coming out on top of them. A real burst of energy from Dan at the start of the second set (with a growing crowd) seemed to reinvigorate him and rattled his opponent. In fact he looked like he might go a double break up in the second set but Bachinger regrouped and that was it . No tantrums or controversies either. Dan looked happy to be there which was nice to see. It was a tall ask to keep performing at this level so frequently.

Today was another punishing day of heat /no cloud cover. This must take some toll too, playing as much as he has recently

Oakland2002 · All-time great

We have been lucky this week! What a corker of a day, unfortunately Alex Ward was outclassed a shame for him given the lift last years performance gave him. The difference in rank really showed. A decent performance from Lloyd and I think the only person who can feel slightly frustrated at not being there is perhaps Jack FH who has shown real promise this year.

I agree Dan looked happy to be back, a little subdued but hopefully that will go. A great shame he did not get a wildcard to this event from a spectators perspective as undoubtedly he ran out of steam, the politics of it all is neither here nor there as he has plenty of conditioning work to do.

Bacchinger bar the black pants, where were the Blazered pant police who tried to kick Emma Radicanu out yesterday for coming through from the academy, looked ripped, relaxed and ready to go. Dan is technically so gifted that despite his fatigue he stood a punchers chance as illustrated by the brief period of resistance at the start of the second set.

Yes, he has played a lot of tennis in a short period of time. I don't think it will do him any halm at all, the shots are all still there it is conditioning and plenty of tennis he needs. More power to his elbow, seeing him back carving the ball around the court with a semblance of graft and guile was a delight, I just really hope he can take those talents and showcase them at the level at which they deserve. So much work to do ideally he will enjoy doing it.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Wednesday 27th of June 2018 06:14:58 AM

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

Dan's first set was strange. 6-0 in men's grass court tennis is a very rare thing. Most of the games were competitive though. Bachinger was playing at a very high level.

Needing a loo break after only 6 games is odd, but it was exactly the right thing to do, and it was sufficient to disrupt Bachinger's rhythm. Dan got the early break and I thought he would turn things around. However, Bachinger's level soon returned to where it was at the start of the match. He hit a drop volley from a reasonably challenging position and it bounced back over to his side. Clearly it was going to be his day. One area of Dan's game that may have been slightly weaker than normal (I haven'y looked at the stats) was his serve. Or maybe it was the Bachinger return, but Dan got few easy put-aways after his first serve.

Dan maintained steely determination, but today it wasn't going to be enough. If Bachinger maintains this level, he could win several rounds next week.

I didn't see Mark Hilton around, I'm not sure what their coaching arrangement is. Where is Dan basing himself at the moment?

There was a camera on every single court. Why go to all that bother?

jb288 · Satellite level

Disappointed to still hear Dan calling himself a f**got when he's upset...not, apparently, worthy of a code violation, but when you're playing in front of kids, not ideal.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

jb288 wrote:
Disappointed to still hear Dan calling himself a f**got when he's upset...not, apparently, worthy of a code violation, but when you're playing in front of kids, not ideal.

Dan't always been homophobic, which is one reason I've never taken a liking to him despite disliking the Wimbledon's decision to punish him twice. Not great, but then if that is the only way it shows up these days in public, then I guess he's entitled to his views.

flamingowings · All-time great

I feel the same way Helen.

Jimmy09 · Intermediate Club Player

Well done Wardy, great result! As for Evo, he's played a hell of a lot of tennis, we were expecting a strange performance at some point!

I would still have loved to know what would have happened if he would have won his first round match at queens??

As for calling him homophobic, absolutely not, sport is frustrating and sometimes its hard to control what you say, having known Dan previously i would have just said it was a knee jerk reaction.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Um, really not Jimmy, I was privy to a 'private' conversation he had in a minibus on the way to a tournament. He was definitely homophobic then, and it sounds like this hasn't changed.

I agree that it's just too much tennis physically and mentally, a week or two off, then the hard court swing. I'd expect him to make USO qualies at least.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Whether actually homophobic or not, he should chose another term, it's not tricky, there are plenty to chose from.
And many older people have (rightly) had to 'train' themselves out of of using knee-jerk reaction terms that are now not appropriate, for one reason or another.

Anyway, 'plonker' of the day award goes to Gulbis:

Gulbis, playing on a 'show' court where people are right close on both sides, was getting upset that people were walking along and moving during the rallies (some people stop, but not all, and to be honest you've got to live with it). And as part of his constant moaning to the umpire he said:

"If I MUST play this tournament, you would think people would show me (it?) some respect"

Not sure about the 'me' or 'it' but his whole implication was that he was too superior for playing qualis (someone claimed he had asked for a MD wildcard and been miffed when it was turned down).

General mutterings was that there was no 'MUST' about it, no one was forcing him to play and if he so above such things we'd all rather he didn't, quite frankly.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I think there's probably a lot of inappropriate behavior out there, especially at lower levels. The thing is that there are sportspeople, and they get thrust into the public eye and then get judged by their outward appearance. They all have their own personalities and opinions (which they are entitled to, whether I/we agree with them or not). Then they have to learn to be PC, which takes time. I have less patience for the likes of Gulbis though as he's that bit older and has been around for long enough to know better. Hope Dan gets there too, but I bet that they're not alone, it's just that we probably don't get to hear about most of it.