Week 23 - ATP Challenger 125 - Surbiton, Great Britain (grass) - singles

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Week 23 - ATP Challenger 125 - Surbiton, Great Britain (grass) - singles

wolf · Tennis legend

FQR: (q2) Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI) WR 194 defeated (qWC) Harry Wendelken WR 673 by 7-6(2) 6-3

FQR: (q9) Alex Bolt (AUS) WR 240 defeated (qWC) Ben Jones WR 930 by 6-4 7-6(3)

FQR: Paul Jubb WR 308 defeated (q4) Omar Jasika (AUS) WR 206 by 6-4 6-4

FQR: Kyle Edmund WR 496 defeated (q7) Ryan Peniston WR 215 by 7-5 6-3

brittak · Satellite level

Bob in Spain wrote:
Top effort from Billy to get another win against a Top 100 player.

Indeed. Reinforcing argument for a Wimbledon WC (if there is still any doubt over it).

wolf · Tennis legend

L32: Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) WR 136 defeated (WC) Arthur Fery WR 246 by 6-3 6-2

L32: (WC) Billy Harris WR 201 defeated (8) Juncheng Shang WR 92 by 6-3 7-6(8)

wolf · Tennis legend

L32: (1) Alex Michelsen (USA) WR 60 vs (Q) Paul Jubb WR 308

L32: Joao Fonseca (BRA) WR 230 vs (Q) Kyle Edmund WR 496

L32: Adam Walton (AUS) WR 96 vs (2/WC) Daniel Evans WR 62

9vicman · Satellite level

brittak wrote:
Im not entirely convinced by Fery at the moment.

I know hes been talked up a lot on here but to me hes struggling to make any form of a decisive breakthrough.

I saw him play at Nottingham last Summer and thought he played ok but I am not sure he is a top 100 contender. I know hes had some injuries this year which will have stalled his progress somewhat but I was hoping for a better score today.

Happy to defer to others with better knowledge than I but the jury is still out for me right now.

I think it's difficult to properly assess Arthur. He was playing really well indoors last autumn and had some big scalps, but has been struggling to stay injury free. I think he's talented but is he going to get a proper run at it.

-- Edited by 9vicman on Monday 3rd of June 2024 06:13:30 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I didn't know that Greg Rusedski is coaching Ben Jones

He was very vocal from the sidelines - rather like you'd be with a 5 year-old - 'that's the way, well done, keep positive.....'

I hate that style of coaching ......

AND he had a little notebook in which he was doing old-fashioned point noting. Ridiculous. It's not even into an excel sheet or something - you can't do any data searches on it - you can't compare and contrast and run tests - it's just 1950s style coaching when there was no option

Ben, use your money (or your parents' money) more wisely

The standout match was Altmane v Mochizuki, a truly top-drawer, gob-smacking cracker

Billy was a hero, of course

The young gun Swiss players were also interesting

Didn't see Arthur

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting, CD.

I initially thought you meant Greg was noting points of interest during the match, in which case I didn't see any big problem, especially if you didn't know what he waa going to do with these notes.. But do you mean he was literally recording each point as it was scored?!

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

The quality of hitting in Billy's match was tremendous. I had no idea that Billy was such a big guy. If he can maintain the level he showed today, he should win a decent haul of points this grass court season. The tie breaker was a close affair, but Billy had the better of the second set - I think four BPs in two games. If you are able to, watch the tb.

At one point in the second set, Shang took a fall. Not a heavy fall, but a fall nonetheless. He spent a couple of moments dusting himself off, brushing the grass from his arms and legs. He was given a time violation! I was shocked! Shang had a conversation with the umpire and thankfully the unpire announced "no time violation". I'm pleased that the umpire was able to listen to reason. Just a few games later, Shang got a code violation for ball abuse, there's no defence for that one! But he could have hit the ball, much, much harder. It landed on somebody's garden path, I'm sure it would have been more cathartic if he'd hit over their roof!

Is anybody going on Thursday?

steven · Tennis legend

Without tickets for Centre (where Billy certainly seemed to get the biggest crowd and, no wonder, the biggest cheer at the end as he repeated last year's opening round win against the same player, though this year it was in R1 of the main draw instead of R1 of qualifying), I only saw two GB men play today.

The first was Harry Wendelken, who did well to keep both sets close against no. 2 Q seed Hüsler, though I only saw the 1st before heading off to the other side of the grounds to watch Naiktha and Ben, intending to come back again if it went to a decider.

Ben Jones v Alex Bolt was entertaining and noisier than the other matches around it in terms of players letting off steam after points. I stood just behind and to the left of someone who was making copious notes, didn't recognise him from the back of his head, but recognised him immediately once he opened his mouth. Take one point at a time, Keep it paahsitive, etc. Not bad advice under the circumstances, albeit very obvious! I originally thought he was just noting down things to talk about but he did seem to be scribbling after every point, so maybe he was doing a point-by-point. I must have been inches away from CD at some point if he noticed this too!

I get CD's point about not doing it electronically being very old-fashioned but maybe Greg just finds that any issues stick in his head more if he does that and had no intention of using it as his main post-match analysis tool - after all, they can view the whole video afterwards if they want to.

Clearly someone (mainly Ben himself, no doubt) is doing something right given the big improvement in his doubles ranking, his big win yesterday and his good performance against a strong Aussie today.

thegingerlightbulb · Intermediate Club Player

Seems a bit harsh. At least he is trying to give something back, unlike Henman.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

thegingerlightbulb wrote:
Seems a bit harsh. At least he is trying to give something back, unlike Henman.

Just me, but I'm assuming that Tim and Greg are both just doing a job. If Greg were doing it for free, or highly subsided, then true. And I don't know he's not. But, again, my assumption is that it's a regular job.

And Tim does a lot of charity work (and for free, generally, I believe) which is giving far more back than coaching one player for money

And, yes, Ben's made a lot of progress. Which has to be partly (or even mainly) down to Greg. No question. But that's normal - it's what you employ him for.

PS Nothing againt Greg - his 'platitudes' are just a question of style. Not a hanging offence smile . And his lack of IT savvy is a bit daft, if you compare it to others, but he's obviously a product of his own coaching and, again, not a biggie.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Tuesday 4th of June 2024 07:09:05 AM

emmsie69 · Top national player

In Greggs defence there is an Aussie high jumper that writes notes after every jump so he's not alone in keeping it old school.

the addict · Tennis legend

In defence of Greg and to contrast coaching styles a certain well-known tennis coach appeared to be playing Candy Crush on his phone whilst the girls were warming up.

Nix · Futures level

Also in defence of Greg, he also does charity work. And I think it's normal for coaches to charge for their services. I quite like the encouraging-style coaching. It seems refreshing compared to the dour, critical Jeremy Bates-style. Maybe he's tailoring it to Ben's personality and needs?