Bob in Spain wrote:

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The suspense is killing me

Thanks for all your efforts Brittak.  The amount of work gone into this by yourself, and indeed others (JonH, Indi) on previous polls is enormous and hugely appreciated.

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 Youre welcome! Is helping while away a few hours whilst locked up with my family!

brittak wrote:

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I havent done any big analysis but I think there is a nice range of players that have made the Semis.

John de Mendoza and Claire Colman are perhaps the surprise packages from earlier days through to Marcus, Fitzsy, Sean and Laura representing the later generation. All to play for I think.

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 I am still stunned John Lloyd is out! He would have been my vote in the final had he made it, going to have to think long and hard in the semis. And in the womens, a lot of my favourites have actually gone out!   

indiana wrote:

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The women's contest is looking very uncertain with no-one polling more than 7 votes in R2.

But perhaps one or two did have an underlying bigger vote which some folk chose to distribute elsewhere on this occasion. It will be very interesting to see how it all evolves.

In general they have been great contests for memories about some players and enlightenment about others. Looking forward to the past foreign players ones after these fascinating GB ones conclude. 

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 Out of interest, which men and women have accumulated the the most votes over the two rounds combined? Are there any players looking standoutish so far? Recognising all can change with new groupings of course!

Andy Parker wrote:

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Sad Sam Smith didn't make it through, and surprised that Virginia Wade and Tim Henman didn't poll better, as they are probably our most successful retired players from the Open era onwards, It will be interesting to see if someone obscure wins, or whether one of the big names wins in the end - I expect the latter, but there were some very obscure players making it through, so who knows.

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Granted of course Virginia snd Tim's sucesses and I generally wanted them to win, certainly against foreign players and in big matches. Great to see British success on the big stages. 

But I have yet to see a poll in which I would pick either as my favourite player and as we narrow things down it is looking very unlikely that I will. 

brittak wrote:

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I havent done any big analysis but I think there is a nice range of players that have made the Semis.

John de Mendoza and Claire Colman are perhaps the surprise packages from earlier days through to Marcus, Fitzsy, Sean and Laura representing the later generation. All to play for I think.

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  I have been looking at the qualifiers in the womens section. Some who vote will tend to only know the later generation. Others ( like me) will have fond memories of the older generation.  It's probably fair to say that the older generation had greater success at Grand Slam level.

Those players are represented by Grand Slam finalists: Barker, Brasher, Jones, Wade, Truman. To that list can probably be added Durie (who along with Barker and Wade) has had substantial media profiles.

Croft, Keothavong and, to a lesser extent, South are more recent retirees with strong media profiles. Baltacha played fairly recently and died in sad and well-known circumstances. Robson is well-known currently and indeed has not officially retired. 

Hobbs, Shaw and Tyler did not achieve much at the highest level but were ranked in the Top 3 in UK and were all very personable.

To me those who do not really fit any of the above categories and thus seem to be relative surprises are: Colman, Cross, Rae and Slater.

My prediction is that, from a very strong field, the winner will be one of Barker, Wade, Baltacha and Robson.

The men don't tend to lend themselves to such straightforward analysis. My view is that the clear favourites should be Henman and Taylor who performed by far the best at Grand Slams. The only other one who may get near (through engaging personality) is Willis. Some who dropped by the wayside were probably better players but have negative media personalities!  Paul Hutchins who died recently probably became more well-known after his career ended because of his tireless contribution to British tennis. Paul will be getting my vote.

-- Edited by telstar on Wednesday 6th of May 2020 06:07:37 PM

-- Edited by telstar on Wednesday 6th of May 2020 06:20:37 PM

telstar wrote:

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brittak wrote:

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I havent done any big analysis but I think there is a nice range of players that have made the Semis.

John de Mendoza and Claire Colman are perhaps the surprise packages from earlier days through to Marcus, Fitzsy, Sean and Laura representing the later generation. All to play for I think.

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  I have been looking at the qualifiers in the womens section. Some who vote will tend to only know the later generation. Others ( like me) will have fond memories of the older generation.  It's probably fair to say that the older generation had greater success at Grand Slam level.

Those players are represented by Grand Slam finalists: Barker, Brasher, Jones, Wade, Truman. To that list can probably be added Durie (who along with Barker and Wade) has had substantial media profiles.

Croft, Keothavong and, to a lesser extent, South are more recent retirees with strong media profiles. Baltacha played fairly recently and died in sad and well-known circumstances. Robson is well-known currently and indeed has not officially retired. 

Hobbs and Tyler did not achieve much at the highest level but were ranked in the Top 3 in UK and were both very personable.

To me those who do not really fit any of the above categories and thus seem to be relative surprises are: Colman, Cross, Rae and Slater.

My prediction is that, from a very strong field, the winner will be one of Barker, Wade, Baltacha and Robson.

 

-- Edited by telstar on Wednesday 6th of May 2020 06:07:37 PM

 Mmm - take a look at women group 2! Brutal!