good to see Liam playing the North American hardcourts challengers, been happy hunting ground for Brits the past decade or so (Andy, Kyle, Dan, Cam all done well over there in summer)

The Knight wrote:

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hope some Brits have a go at Newport qualies, though maybe with the hardcourt season Gatineau qs look more attractive

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 Newport qualies list is out and not a Brit in sight I am afraid

Newport Q , USA ATP 250 
Date: 7/16/2018 Original Cut Off: 180 Ranking Date: 6/4/2018 
Direct Acceptances: 14 Wild Cards: 2 

Main Draw 
  83 Kudla, Denis (USA) 
104 Bemelmans, Ruben (BEL) 
109 Stakhovsky, Sergiy (UKR) 
113 Smyczek, Tim (USA) 
116 Granollers, Marcel (ESP) 
125 Ramanathan, Ramkumar (IND) 
140 Arevalo, Marcelo (ESA) 
150 Bachinger, Matthias (GER) 
154 Jung, Jason (TPE) 
162 Tomic, Bernard (AUS) 
163 Safwat, Mohamed (EGY) 
165 Gunneswaran, Prajnesh (IND) 
179 Young, Donald (USA) 
180 Kokkinakis, Thanasi (AUS) 

Alternates 
192 Majchrzak, Kamil (POL) 
194 Estrella Burgos, Victor (DOM)
197 King, Evan (USA) 
205 Bolt, Alex (AUS) 
211 Smith, John-Patrick (AUS) 
240 Koepfer, Dominik (GER) 
304 Gomez-Herrera, Carlos (ESP) 
307 Sarkissian, Alexander (USA) 
308 Dancevic, Frank (CAN) 
309 Miedler, Lucas (AUT) 

 

flamingowings wrote:

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^^ might be saving themselves for the challenger tourney the week after.

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 Would make sense- Personally, much as I love it, I dont see point of grass after Wimbledon, sort of loses and meaning. My contact involved in Ilkley says they are pushing for a post Wimbledon grass court spot on the ATP Tour, I think that is daft. Entry will be terrible. Ilkley really should be pushing to get an earlier week alongside Stuttgart and Rosmalen...

Updated with withdrawals - USA looking strong

Confused why Norrie isn't playing

flamingowings wrote:

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Yeah the need to ditch Newport really - it's totally out of place. Even if they moved it earlier, you still have the issue of it being in the US rather than Europe.

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 Not sure that I agree with the logic/sentiment here.  There are clay court events after the French Open, hard court events after the US Open.  If Newport Tennis Club are good enough to stump up all the cash and resources to stage a tournament, surely they can decide what surface it is played on. Nobody is obliged to play or watch. It is the only US event played on grass. Slightly quirky maybe, but I like some quirkiness.  I remember Martin Lee making the semis ages ago, the points he earned were enough to boost his ranking to let him play main tour events for many months. 

I'd like to see Dan giving it a crack, he has the fast court game that could do well.  I'm not sure he'd make the cut for qualies so he may be better off preparing for a long stint on the Challenger circuit.

JonH wrote:

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good to see Liam playing the North American hardcourts challengers, been happy hunting ground for Brits the past decade or so (Andy, Kyle, Dan, Cam all done well over there in summer)

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 He played Gatineau and Granby last year as well. Hes got 20 points to defend across the two tournaments but at least he shouldnt have to qualify for Granby this year?