The bit about the Wimbledon wildcards is interesting: "We won't be handing out wildcards to players unless they have a chance of winning a round or two. We want winners, not losers."

This suggests that he's unlikely to follow the Felgate plan for wildcards. I hope it doesn't mean that quite a few foreigners get wcs ahead of Brits.

It suggests that Boggo, Arvind Parmar and Martin Lee are likely to get wcs as players who have the ability to win a couple of rounds and beat top 100 players and have that proven pedigree.

Bloomers and Baker also must get automatic wildcards, they haven't yet really been given the chance to show that they can beat top 100 players.

If Wild cards were given out on the best ranking rises in the last 12 months then excluding Boggo and Parmar.....

(From the Top 10 Brits)

Martin Lee - Rank May 05 = 667, now 257 a rise of 410 places.

R Bloomfield - Rank May 05 = 379, now 267 a rise of 112 places.

Jamie Baker - Rank May 05 = 586, now 292 a rise of 294 places.

Matt Smith - Rank May 05 = 529, now 347 a rise of 182 places.

Alan Makin is 96 places worse off this year than last.

Count Zero wrote:

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UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:
British wildcards for Wimbledon are also under review as he revealed he would be discussing the matter with Jeremy Bates.
bads news for boggo there, him and jeremy are hardly best mates i think.

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Given Boggo's record at Wimbledon I think there is a strong case for making him qualify. It might do him some good.

Just picked this up from the Beeb site.  I disagree with Draper and am happy that the likes of Mackin and Martin have been given another shot.  I just wish Jane had got a WC too.  What do you think?
 
British quartet handed SW19 spots

Britain's Jamie Delgado, Alan Mackin, Martin Lee and Naomi Cavaday, and former finalist Mark Philippoussis have all been given Wimbledon wildcards.

Delgado and Cavaday earned their spots after winning wildcard play-off competitions at Raynes Park.

But the All England Club has also given places to beaten finalist Mackin and losing semi-finalist Lee.

The move has been criticised by Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper.

Draper is adamant home-grown players should not benefit from a leg-up into the comparatively lucrative first round if their ranking is not considered to deem them worthy.

"It is disappointing to see some of the further wildcards that have been handed to British players today," he said.

"The LTA advised the All England Club to limit the number handed out. We feel additional lucky loser wildcards do not help in creating a winning culture in British tennis.

"Good luck to all British players at Wimbledon - but in future years the LTA will work closely with the All England Club to establish a water-tight system that rewards winners and potential future winners."

Delgado beat Alan Mackin 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the men's final after earlier beating second seed Lee, while Cavaday beat British number five Jane O'Donoghue 2-6 6-4 6-4.

"I didn't play my best tennis today but I've played well all week," said Cavaday.

"I'm delighted. This was a really tough week for me and the standard was really high," she added.

The 17-year-old from Kent, ranked 536 in the world, will be joined in the women's main draw by fellow Britons Anne Keothavong, Katie O'Brien, Sarah Borwell, and Melanie South.

Their compatriots Alex Bogdanovic, Richard Bloomfield and Jamie Baker will compete in the men's draw.

The final two wildcards went to 2003 finalist Philippoussis and to Andrei Pavel.

mjd wrote:

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Correction - Richard has beaten top 100 players.He beat Vladimir Voltskov then ranked 66, he is one of the few Brits to have beaten Wesley Moodie and last year took a set off Arnaud Clement in Washington and only lost in a 3rd set tiebreak of (7-9) - He also gave credible performances against Feliciano Lopez and Anthony Dupuis.
I do agree it's difficult getting the chance to play such opposition but it is necessary in order to see how you must raise your game.
 

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Apologies mjd, I'd completely forgotten those fantastic wins over Voltchkov and Moodie. At Surbiton 2003, he also took a set off Sweden's Joachim Johansson which is an extremely impressive achievement on grass - considering how powerful Johansson's all-round game is. A friend of mine watched that match that year.
Talking of Johansson it's a real shame that his career has been sidelined so much by injury because at his best he was definately a top 10, possibly a top 5 player. The amount of power he could generate off both sides was amazing. At the Aussie Open v Agassi one year, he served something like 50 aces !

Draper needs to realise that although we obviously want British winners at Wimbledon we also need to give young players the chance to test their games against top 100 players and reward them for their progress.

Also, from a fan's perspective I always find the first few days of Wimbledon the most exciting in the whole calendar year as there's loads of Brits in the main draw. Having so much home interest in a major tournament really makes it for me and personally, the tournament wouldn't be anything like the same if there were only about 4 Brits in it and a load of foreign wcs.

Personally, I don't know why Draper felt the need to change the previous wc rules for Wimby + 3 being awarded for the wc playoff.

What we also need is at least another ATP tournament in Britain in the autumn [and preferably one in early spring aswell] so that the Brits get more opportunity to play higher ranked players as that will really help them improve. BBC/ITV/C4 should also be given full TV rights to this tournament

UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:

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RJA wrote:

Given Boggo's record at Wimbledon I think there is a strong case for making him qualify. It might do him some good.


I have to disagree with you on that one RJA, it's true that Boggo has underperformed at Wimby in the past but he's our best chance of getting a 4th Brit in the top 100 in the near future and so British ATPs need to give him all help they can at the moment. After the fantastic last 12 months he's had [winning 4 challengers] it would be extremely unfair to deny him a wc.

As CZ says, the Escude and Fed matches were just unlucky draws. The Sargisian match was possibly the most disappointing of all, not just because of the defeat but because of the manner of it. Hopes were high for Boggo, he'd reached the Surbiton final, won matches at Queens [coming within a whisker of rd3] and Nottingham [beat Gambill] that year and in that form I thought he had a genuine chance of beating Sargisian. I saw the match and Alex just seemed so unfit - he was giving up on a lot of shots and not making much attempt to chase down balls. From the first point of the match he basically looked like a defeated player which disappointed me - where was the fire, the passion ? ! Last year, although it looked like a good draw on paper, Kim played a really excellent match, Alex wasn't quite at his best but he gave his absolute all which is all you can ask of a player. He wasn't quite able to capitalise on some chances which cost him but he will surely have been able to learn from that.

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Actually I agree and on balance I would have given him a wc because of his form in the last year. What I was getting at is that there becomes a point when you have to ask if Brit's should be given a wc year in year out regardless of how they do.

Essentially I am agreement with Draper. We have to stop rewarding failure and mediocrity. I'm all for youngsters getting wild cards and yes British tournaments should support British players but giving players wild cards over and over again can be counter productive.