UK Pro League 2022

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

UK Pro League 2022

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Marty Davis - 1981 he qualified for Wimbledon, beat his namesake Scott Davis in the last round, won his second round 16-14 final set.

Same year, he played main draw Bristol (which he later won in the mid 80s) which was full ATP level and reached the last 8. He played the week in both venues, 6 singles matches over the 5 days, a couple of days he played early doors in one and drove to the other and played an evening or late pm match.

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Tuesday 1st of February 2022 11:30:59 PM

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

JonH comes home wrote:
Presumably players in Sheffield UKPL at the weekend could still also try and play Birmingham qualies at the same time, as UKPL is unofficial? If timings of matches worked out? That would be fun !

The famous instance of Matt Davis in the 80s, played through to the Bristol ATP 250 (or equivalent in those days) and played Wimbledon qualie at same time, travelling across the M4 for 3 or 4 days and playing twice a day. Im sure he reached the QFs of Bristol but would need to check!

ITF qualies start on Sunday and the UKPL finishes on Saturday so should be fine.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Madadman wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Presumably players in Sheffield UKPL at the weekend could still also try and play Birmingham qualies at the same time, as UKPL is unofficial? If timings of matches worked out? That would be fun !

The famous instance of Matt Davis in the 80s, played through to the Bristol ATP 250 (or equivalent in those days) and played Wimbledon qualie at same time, travelling across the M4 for 3 or 4 days and playing twice a day. Im sure he reached the QFs of Bristol but would need to check!
ITF qualies start on Sunday and the UKPL finishes on Saturday so should be fine.

Ah, ok, Id forgotten theyd changed it this year for the UKPL.

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

Bit of a comeback in the QF between Murphy and Harris. Harris was 9-4 up in the MTB, Murphy then came through 11-9!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

That is a big upset, Brandon winning. Billy didnt do too well in his opening UKPL week either, came 8th, so not having a happy hunting ground in this years event, so far

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Madadman wrote:
Bit of a comeback in the QF between Murphy and Harris. Harris was 9-4 up in the MTB, Murphy then came through 11-9!

Sorry, Billy, but thrilled for Brandon - as everyone knows I've got a real soft spot for him and he's had an extremely difficult time of it (not injuries, just background, personal stuff) - any success he gets I think he completely deserves

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

They'll likely have their reasons, and probably just so they can say they have tennis in their portfolio, but it does seem a bit pointless BT Sport covering this event and burying it behind the red button. It'll obviously be good for the event to get the additional windfall, but while I can quite imagine repeated shows like 'the best of Ronaldo', or 'Man Utd vs WBA 2005' will get a lot more views, there doesn't seem much point covering a live event and just sticking a bunch of (non live) magazine type shows over it on their main 4 channels. Bit of a shame because you can't pause, rewind, record etc. on the Sky platform I'm on, or when I was watching on the laptop either. The UKPL TV is probably better, but then they only cover the non commentary / non multi camera Court 2 matches.

2 one sided matches at the moment in the women's QF - Joanna has taken a 6-0 first set lead on Michelle, which is probably not a big surprise, but Malygina looks on course to perhaps do the same against Vasilescu on the main court, which is more of a surprise, she leads 5-0, but a game point for the Romanian, and now 5-1.

Joanna won 0 and 0 in 49 minutes. I'm not sure how the groups were arranged, but it would have probably been better to have had Andre and Michelle swap group positions.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 2nd of February 2022 01:45:14 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Malygina ended up winning 6-2 6-2, so plays Joanna in the SF.

Interesting match between Alice and Samavati, with the Danish girl coming through 6-4 7-5 to book her SF with either Anna or Nadia. Samavati wasn't happy with a lot of the calls throughout the second set, and then on break point at 5-5, she called an Alice shot out, which Alice couldn't believe - I had it on in the background and couldn't check to see if it was in or not, but a big moment. Samavati had an MTO in the second set, and probably a result of all the matches she has been playing, but she will get a day off tomorrow after 10 matches in 11 days. Not the most friendly handshake you will see.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Luke Johnson wins handily and joins Brandon Murphy, Ewan Moore and Harry Wendelken in an unlikely last 4.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

In the womens, itll be one Brit with an Estonian, Dane and Taipei players making up the last 4.

Is it me or should they really have been able to get more Brits. Somewhere in the blurb they talk about one guest per event from overseas, it feels like this week has been overkill.

the addict · Tennis legend

I reckon they are all saving themselves for Birmingham

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
In the womens, itll be one Brit with an Estonian, Dane and Taipei players making up the last 4.

Is it me or should they really have been able to get more Brits. Somewhere in the blurb they talk about one guest per event from overseas, it feels like this week has been overkill.

Anna beat Nadia 6-2 6-0 so she is the lone GB representative in the SF, although the forum does generally have a fair bit of interest in Joanna Garland.

It's a fine line. There were only 6 (of 12) official GB players this week (which obviously isn't great in itself), but even then, a few of them were kind of just making up the numbers, so I'm not sure what would have been better (if they couldn't have attracted higher calibre GB players with Birmingham on the horizon as TA says) to fill out the schedule with 3 or 4 more similar level GB players, keep it more domestic, in line with the actual purpose of the event, but then have such a stark contrast between the few more competent and those largely filling up schedules. I think this is probably the better alternative, even if a non GB player will likely end up with the title and biggest prize fund, like we saw last time.

Having a 500 odd Estonian vs a 600 odd Romanian, with no UK links, on Court 1 on BT Sport (even if buried on the red button) with multicamera angles, replays, commentary etc. was a bit of a stretch, especially as it is a domestic exhibition event, but then in other ways, it will add a bit more than what could have been selected. It's probably just unfortunate timing with all the GB W25s in and around it.

It would have been nice if there were a few more junior players competing - there was talk of only being allowed to have one per week, but then there have been up to 3 in the past, and the format is a lot less taxing now with only having to play 5 matches instead of the 7 as it originally started. Someone like Eva (if fit), or Mimi would have been a good addition this week.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great job by Brandon

Wins the semi-final v Ewan Moore, 6-4 6-1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Brandon will play Luke Johnson in the final, who squeaked past Harry W, 10-8 in the MTB

But the women's is 100% foreign, with Anna having lost her semi (and Joanna too). So it's Sofia Samavati v Elena Malygina