Another great day at Roehampton. Camped it out a bit on Court 1. Didnt want to miss Dan so sat through the 1st game in that court to make sure I had a seat, stayed in for Liam as well. Dan started off slowly but slowly upped his level. Not sure hell have enough for Schoolkate but we shall see. Liam was close, Holmgren was boom or bust on his serve. When 0-40 up in the penultimate game Liam really went for it on the return to hit a winner should have tried to just make it a hard return to return personally. What might have been!
Some good wins elsewhere.
I see Tarvet has the same opponent in round 2 as last year.
Another great day at Roehampton. Camped it out a bit on Court 1. Didnt want to miss Dan so sat through the 1st game in that court to make sure I had a seat, stayed in for Liam as well. Dan started off slowly but slowly upped his level. Not sure hell have enough for Schoolkate but we shall see. Liam was close, Holmgren was boom or bust on his serve. When 0-40 up in the penultimate game Liam really went for it on the return to hit a winner should have tried to just make it a hard return to return personally. What might have been! Some good wins elsewhere.
I see Tarvet has the same opponent in round 2 as last year.
Thanks for that. Yes, I would have thought try to make Holmgren play on the first couple of BPs anyway unless the serve was sitting there to be really hit?
My thoughts ..... weather was actually quite good - warm, sunny but quite breezy and not stonking hot
Dan and Henry will be having a cold one tonight, I'm pretty sure
Dan won his match with grittiness and experience.
And then turned up at Henry's court to coach - by the way, Dan, wear a cap !!!! He's sitting there, in full sun, no cap, and you're not well endowed on the hair front, Dan
Henry played an excellent match - in fact, both did, and it was a very entertaining match
Henry ultra fluid, so much acceleration, with quirky leftiness to help
In the second set, when it was getting tense, the chinese supporters clapped very loudly when Henry hit a DF to concede a BP
Error.....
Henry turned to them, and muttered really crossly: cheering a DF ?????
And looked a bit riled - fired an ace - and turned to the chinese guys and really 'growled' at them
And then was ultra focused for the next couple of games - adrenalin pumping - and played a scorcher of a game to break Zhang
Well-deserved win - and Evo's encouragement and coaching was good to hear
JoMo was outplayed and, similar to Anton, if your game is basically just a big serve, the one thing you cannot do is lose it at the key moment
The DFs, at absolutely key moments, were the undoing of both
Jay's match was a real one that got away - clutching defeat out of the jaws of victory
Liam was ultra close, and the crowd loved him. And with 3 BPs at the end of the third, you thought he'd got it. But one too cautious return, one too ambitious return, and one great serve from H, and the chance slipped....
And Oliver Bonding's was, to me, really disappointing - he was the better player for most of the first set, was winning by hitting weighty balls, placing them well. And had chances. But then played a dreadful tiebreak. And then panicked - his brain went to mush - like porridge - his takeaway was that he needed to go to Plan B, and he started trying different things, which didn't work (his volleys are OK but nothing more) which didnt work at all, he lost easily, having got himself into a tailspin, when his takeaway should have been I'll carry on as before, as I was winning, and just tighten up the key poings. (Coria, ranked 750 or so, fell to the floor, and was running round his team as though he'd won the Wimbledon final.....)
Oli Tarvet is a joy to watch - SO in your face - pure physical presence - and such great use of his legs, he anchors himself so well. If anybody could tell me, what's the significance of 'Gareth'? His team, and him, kept saying it when he played well .....
Billy made it look very easy - but his opponent wasn't that great
Didn't watch any of Oli C. Or Mark.
Didn't get to see that much of Max, as Henry needed me :) But he was very tenacious and the crowd got behind him. And after watching him as a kid, when he was still training in Spain, I think, and marking him out, it's amazing how things come on - what a super win
And, go, Paul. He's a slender lad but has lovely timing and it was another high quality match. Loved it.
-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 22nd of June 2026 08:39:46 PM
Liam was close, Holmgren was boom or bust on his serve. When 0-40 up in the penultimate game Liam really went for it on the return to hit a winner should have tried to just make it a hard return to return personally. What might have been!
The commentators actually remarked on the fact that he was consistently serving a double fault & then following that up with a thumping ace! He actually served 18 of the former & 16 of the latter in the course of the match!