Week 25 - Challenger (€137,560+H) - Ilkley Trophy, Ilkley, Yorkshire, Great Britain (grass)

JonH · All-time great

Week 25 - Challenger (€137,560+H) - Ilkley Trophy, Ilkley, Yorkshire, Great Britain (grass)

flamingowings · All-time great

Well sounds like a good plan in that case! Let us know what you think (on your review I might have to come down next year! ;) )

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I'll be looking to get next back next year. They had the women's final on first last year. They tried to arranged the schedule so that people could watch the England vs Panama World Cup match in the marquee between the matches. It was meant to be:

11am Yastremska vs Smitkova
1pm England vs Panama
3pm Stakhovsky vs Otte

The women's final was a lengthy 3 set match so was well after 2pm by the time the presentation took place, and thankfully, about 95% of the audience (packed crowd) stayed the duration. You'd have hoped they would after buying their ticket, but it wouldn't have looked great if there was an exodus in the final set.

JonH · All-time great

flamingowings wrote:
Well sounds like a good plan in that case! Let us know what you think (on your review I might have to come down next year! ;) )

Definitely ! The ladies final looks more appealing on face value, novak and koepfer dont excite me but theres a big prize for them so should be good. Effectively a Wimbledon fqr!

JonH · All-time great

Ace Ventura wrote:
I'll be looking to get next back next year. They had the women's final on first last year. They tried to arranged the schedule so that people could watch the England vs Panama World Cup match in the marquee between the matches. It was meant to be:

11am Yastremska vs Smitkova
1pm England vs Panama
3pm Stakhovsky vs Otte

The women's final was a lengthy 3 set match so was well after 2pm by the time the presentation took place, and thankfully, about 95% of the audience (packed crowd) stayed the duration. You'd have hoped they would after buying their ticket, but it wouldn't have looked great if there was an exodus in the final set.

England women the distraction this year, but they dont play Cameroon until 4.30!

JonH · All-time great

I noticed from earlier grass events koepfer has beaten lloyd g and lost to evo this season, novak lost to Paul jubb. So be interesting to gauge our brits on that basis.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Very good crowd at Ilkley. Give us a wave JonH!

JonH · All-time great

Ace Ventura wrote:
Very good crowd at Ilkley. Give us a wave JonH!

Only just read this, I would have waved and been seen as we sat just behind the umpires chair on the front row, good seats.

Tennis was excellent. I will report on ladies in the womens section.

Ilkley as a venue - as someone said above, Ilkley was crammed. 1000 I was told was capacity and it was full. Parking v good, lovely location and club house. There was a food court but reality was it was largely hospitality dining today with three options, a burger and hot dog seller, which was v upmarket and nice but £16 for two burgers and a fries was quite a lot I thought. A veggie food seller which looked like large quanities but to be honest I am a carnivore and it didnt interest me. And then a coffee stand with Danish pastries on offer. Queues therefore where massive for food as the mens singles finished around 1245 and ladies was due to start at 2 pm.

As for the match - v good game, Koepfer is a stocky fella, in the Wawrinka mold (ie not fat just well filled and muscular stocky). got off to a flyer, but Novak soon pegged him back and dominated through the first set and a half until Koepfer got a break and took the second set. Final set was excellent tennis, 7-6 with a tie break to 7-5.

Koepfer has a good game, talented, serving at around 132 mph tops according to the speed gun, so big serve and powerful but varied game. Made loads of mistakes first two sets though before getting it together. Novak is taller and should have served and played bigger but seemed to be steady eddie and made v few mistakes, serve around 116 mph so surprisingly slower. It all depended on whether Koepfer made mistakes or played winners and eventually he played more winners and got it done.

At the end he was delighted and we were lucky to him emotionally taking a call from someone at Wimbledon , Andy Jarrett perhaps if he is still Referee, telling him he had a wild card. He was quite teary and had also won his first Challenger title and as well as 18k euros for the win was now guaranteed £45k for Wimbledon, so a £60k day for him!

Jaffa · Challenger level

Yes, it's Andy Jarrett that they speak to. I know the tournament director and he says it is the best part of his job!

JonH · All-time great

Jaffa wrote:
Yes, it's Andy Jarrett that they speak to. I know the tournament director and he says it is the best part of his job!

Koepfer took the call on the court, and could hardly hear to be honest, he kept saying pardon, and then thank you, thank you. Definitely a tear in his eyes as he say in the chair!

flamingowings · All-time great

JonH wrote:
Jaffa wrote:
Yes, it's Andy Jarrett that they speak to. I know the tournament director and he says it is the best part of his job!
Koepfer took the call on the court, and could hardly hear to be honest, he kept saying pardon, and then thank you, thank you. Definitely a tear in his eyes as he say in the chair!

Aw that is so lovely! Glad you had a great time!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
Jaffa wrote:
Yes, it's Andy Jarrett that they speak to. I know the tournament director and he says it is the best part of his job!
Koepfer took the call on the court, and could hardly hear to be honest, he kept saying pardon, and then thank you, thank you. Definitely a tear in his eyes as he say in the chair!

Great to see Koepfer in last 16 of us open. Feels like seeing him at ilkley, we where there as he made his breakthrough.

Liked his game and hope he can keep progressing, top 50 potential for sure

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, that's one of the big thrills of the challenger and ITF 50 and 100s events in the UK, seeing the guys who go on to suddenly break through.

The top junior events are the same.

At the G1 event at Roehampton, I've see Coco Gauff, Whitney, Taylor Johnson, McNally, Kenin, Moutet, Snigur, Tsitsipas, Shapovalov, de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Opelka.....

And all for free - it's a bargain

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Got tickets for the finals day as a Xmas pressie this year, again! Yay! thanks to my Old Man. He is 80 in March and it was a pleasure to go with him last year and will be a pleasure again this year again!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I'm looking to go again next year (went in 2018), started looking into it a couple of days ago. Would look to go for Friday to Sunday again, but the same Premier Inn is quoting £200 this time whereas I got the same 3 nights last year for £120, and that's a big difference. Thoroughly enjoyed the 2018 event.