Who was the British player of the Grass Court Season?

indiana · Tennis legend

Who was the British player of the Grass Court Season?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Jack Draper gets my vote, made good use of his wildcard to tune up go deep in back to back high level junior tournaments. Semi finalist in both singles and doubles at Roehampton and then the fantastic run to the Wimbledon junior final, to win his 4 hr SF 19-17 in the third and then make a decent fist of the final and still only 16 takes some beating.

JonH · All-time great

Well, the poll should have closed automatically, of the 20 voters, 13 went for Harriet.

Guess that's fairly conclusive.

Well done to all on their performances on grass and hope all move onto better things in the summer hardcourt season.

indiana · Tennis legend

Well Katie B had 2 votes before I put her case and err finished with 2 votes

Thanks Jon for all your stats and polls over the grass season.

JonH · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Well Katie B had 2 votes before I put her case and err finished with 2 votes
Thanks Jon for all your stats and polls over the grass season.

no worries indi. Apologies I've not been around much, work been a little crazy so time been Limited , but still reading most stuff posted here.

But as a consequence Wimbledon passed me by. I hope the hard court season goes well, was disappointed at showing in men's events on Challenger Tour this week. Hope Andy coming back will kick start the men again and kyle, Cam can push on the main tour. But biggest hope is we see Dan is for real and wants to get back to the level we know he can.

JonH · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Well Katie B had 2 votes before I put her case and err finished with 2 votes
Thanks Jon for all your stats and polls over the grass season.

by the way had a busy day trip of work to Edinburgh and Glasgow on Tuesday. Morning meeting at offices on George Street, afternoon near Glasgow airport . Been ages since I've been in Edinburgh apart from festival time and it was nice seeing it less busy! We went to see the musical sunshine on leith in April in Leeds (best musical ever !) and it was good to drive by some of the names mentioned in the show and the songs. ...Sutherland no more!

JonH · All-time great

In fact as I drove into Edinburgh on the route my sat Nav took me I drove through Meadowbank and the Meadowbank stadium, whatever happened to Meadowbank thistle, did they dissolve?

Michael D · All-time great

JonH wrote:
In fact as I drove into Edinburgh on the route my sat Nav took me I drove through Meadowbank and the Meadowbank stadium, whatever happened to Meadowbank thistle, did they dissolve?

There are two parts to the story Jon. Meadowbank Thistle moved and became Livingstone, but then Edinburgh City (formed 1928) took over the ground. They are a part-time professional side who are in the Scottish League Two. Currently the Meadowbank Stadium is being redeveloped apparently.

Livingston Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Livingston, West Lothian.

Livingston currently play in the Scottish Premiership and were founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, a works team. The club was admitted to the Scottish Football League and renamed as Meadowbank Thistle in 1974, and played its matches at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. In 1995, the club was relocated to Livingston, West Lothian and renamed after the town. Since then Livingston have played their home games at the Almondvale Stadium. In the ten years following the move to Livingston the club enjoyed notable success, winning promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2001, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in its maiden season in the top flight (finishing third after Celtic and Rangers) and winning the 2004 Scottish League Cup. However, the club hit financial problems in 2004, and was relegated to the Scottish First Division in 2006. In July 2009 the club faced further financial problems and were on the verge of suffering a liquidation event before a deal was struck. Livingston were subsequently demoted to the Scottish Third Division,^[2] but the club achieved consecutive promotions and regained its place in the top tier.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/livingston-return-to-meadowbank-where-it-all-began-1-4180608

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, Meadowbank Thidtle ( the former Ferranti Thistle ) became Livingston and Livingston will be back in the Scottish Premiership next season, promoted along with my St Mirren.

The article attached above is a bit tongue in cheek, I don't really recall that much rancour at all about the move of now over 20 yesrs ago, and Meadowbank as was were my local team since I had lived just a couple of hundred yards away. Aa admitted not remotely a Wimbledon to MK Dons situation.

Incidentally Edinburgh City for now are my local team to where I now live in Edinburgh, groundsharing with Spartans while Meadowbank Stadium is redeveloped. I nearly had two league teams on my doorstep with Spartans themselves being in last season's play-offs to get into the league.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 19th of July 2018 10:03:51 AM

JonH · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Yes, Meadowbank became Livingston and Livingston will be back in the Scottish Premiership next season, promoted along with my St Mirren.

The article attached above is a bit tongue in cheek, I don't really recall that much rancour at all about the move of now over 20 yesrs ago, and Meadowbank as was were my local team since I had lived just a couple of hundred yards away. Aa admitted not remotely a Wimbledon to MK Dons situation.
Incidentally Edinburgh City will be now local team to where I now live in Edinburgh, groundsharing with Spartans while Meadowbank Stadium is redeveloped. I nearly had 2 league teams on my current doorstep with Spartans themselves being in last season's play-offs to get into the league.

thanks indi and Michael. I recall the history now, didn't Meadowbank play at the athletics stadium, is that the same venue being redeveloped now? Is it being redeveloped as a multi sport facility?

indiana · Tennis legend

Indeed Meadowbank Thistle played at the athletics stadium / sports centre, all fans ( such as there were ) housed in the one permanent main stand ( the rest were temporary constructions at the two Commonwealth Games ).

Didn't know much about the redevelopment but found this on the Edinburgh Council site : www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/2432/masterplan_submitted_for_new_meadowbank_sports_centre_site

JonH · All-time great

Thanks - I guess we should stop this distraction at the risk of taking away from Harriet and her grass court tennis!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

It will be very interesting to look back and see who was the player whose performance over this grass court season had the biggest impact was it a flash of brilliance or the start of something more substantial. Harriets grass court season could not have really gone any better; success she thoroughly deserved. A product of her dedication and incremental improvement month on month this year.

The mixed doubles pairing with Jay added another dimension to this Wimbledon for me, they played beautifully and it was one of those rare moments where you saw two talented individuals, under no real pressure succeeding as a product of the joy of just playing tennis together. Something you get often as an amateur (although not always/ever the success).

I enjoyed watching Dan but any success he had was a product of a talent miss match through circumstance. Overall I think we may reflect on this grass court season as the period in which Emma Radacanu and Jack Draper first made their marks and stepped up to the plate as genuine prospects from an international perspective as opposed to a highly promising talent in our domestic ranks.

It was implied in earlier posts that Emma plans to turn pro at 16 and focus on the senior game. I think she may well side step all the nonsense that goes with major success at a junior slam and transition with a minimum amount of fuss, assuming she stays fit and healthy. Gabby through getting ill in the QF of Wimbledon a couple of years ago also I feel dodged this bullet (although at the time was very keen to take it and devastated). I feel doing really well in junior slams is a mixed blessing particularly for the girls if they are an old junior ie. soon turning or turned 18, a bit like peaking in high school in the US where high school sport is held in such esteem locally.

For Jack there has obviously been a lot going on for him and his family over the last 18 months, it is apparent that from a small boy he has set his targets high and indeed has high expectations of himself. Now having got to a Wimbledon final he will continue to grow up with many of his most stressful moments in plain sight a phenomenal challenge beyond most 16 year olds. To get to this level competing against boys upto 18 months older than he is and really at the first opportunity with an adult frame physically, puts him in a great place developmentally. He obviously needs plenty of slack over the next 3-4 years to add a mental discipline to his game that allows him to positively utilise his passion for winning with out it overflowing with negative consequences in terms of performance and reputation.

Successful summers come in different forms and despite Andys injury and Jo not quite reaching the peaks of last year I feel there were many positives, to cruelly introduce the moribund concept of Scottish football into what should be a celebratory and joyous thread is cruel in the extreme. Congratulations to them all and particularly Harriet.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Thursday 19th of July 2018 11:52:36 AM