British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

L16:  (1) Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool CR 26 (13+13)  vs Miguel Reyes & Reese Stalder (MEX/USA) CR 172  (73+99)
L16:  David Stevenson & Marcus Willis CR 146 (80+66) vs Andrew Paulson & Nino Serdarusic (CZE/CRO) CR 182 (88+94)

L16:  Trey Hilderbrand & Stefan Latinovic (USA/SRB) CR 195 (108+87) vs Ariel Behar (URU) & Joshua Paris CR 198 (93+105)

L16: Ariel Behar (URU) & Joshua Paris CR 198 (94+104) defeated Trey Hilderbrand & Stefan Latinovic (USA/SRB) CR 201 (116+85) by 6-4 3-6 [10-2]

Felix Balshaw - born in Leeds, son of an England rugby legend, plays tennis for France.

Can't find much on the net; does anyone know the background to this?

Coup Droit wrote:

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greeny12 wrote:

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Felix Balshaw - born in Leeds, son of an England rugby legend, plays tennis for France.

Can't find much on the net; does anyone know the background to this?

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 There's been a few posts about him before , they might come up on a Google search

But he grew up in France, he's way more French than English in that way 

His dad moved there, I think, to play team rugby there, ages ago

His mum moved too, obviously, Felix was just a baby.

And they never came back

So he's grown up French (presumably has French nationality now too)  

I imagine the LTA have him on their 'poachable' list though

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 I think we joked that if they had Balshaw we would happily take Arthur F in return. 

Both would be nice!

I know SC points him out quite a lot when posting results, he seems to have played a few British players along the way

greeny12 wrote:

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Felix Balshaw - born in Leeds, son of an England rugby legend, plays tennis for France.

Can't find much on the net; does anyone know the background to this?

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Since my name's been mentioned, this is a comment I've posted once or twice when Balshaw's come up against British opposition, which is starting to happen more frequently (he's beaten Billy Harris twice so far this year, so he's becoming a pain in the proverbial!):

[He is] the son of the former England [& Bath] RU player, Iain, who was one of 19 England players who played during the win over Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final in Sydney, coming on as a replacement in extra time.  He moved to Biarritz in 2009 to play club rugby for Biarritz Olympique & that's where young Felix, who's 18 [now 20], grew up & obviously opted to take a leaf out of Evan Furness' book & play for his adopted homeland, though he'd have been not quite 3 when Iain made the move.

It's perhaps worth noting that he's currently at a career high of 186 &, as you may have noticed, now rates the designation "NG" (for Next Generation) after his name in the draw.  That signifies a player who's entered through the ATP's Next Gen Accelerator Programme, which is designed to help fast-track, top-ranked junior players & high-level young professionals under the age of 20 by giving them direct entry to or qualifying slots in ATP Challenger Tour events.  Clearly one to watch.

L28:  (Q) Borna Gojo (CRO) WR 148 defeated (8) Arthur Fery WR 34 by 6-3 7-6(2)