Manshester Challenger

Niall · Pro player

RE: Manshester Challenger

Niall · Pro player

From MTF:

Harsh Mankad d. Joshua Goodall 7-6(1) 7-6(5)

If true that is a disapointing result but it has still been a great couple of weeks for Joshua.

Sheddie · administrator

Shame that Josh wasn't quite able to cap a fantastic week with his 1st challenger title but still some fantastic wins which as Niall says, will take him up to 268. Mankad may be ranked lower than Josh at 396 but he's been as high as 222 and was in the top 250 at the start of the year. Grass is his best surface, he's a great volleyer [has been 152 in doubles] and serve-volleys a lot. In the past couple of years he's beaten Dave Sherwood, Richard Bloomfield, Jamie Murray and Martin Lee on grass. He also had about 5 match points against Andy Murray in Binghampton in August 2005 which shows that he has the class to beat players of that calibre.

Recently he's been out-of-touch, losing to Andy Kennaugh last week in straights in Felixstowe but he's been out injured for 2 months from April to June so maybe he's starting to rediscover his form.

This week he's beaten a string of top quality grass players: Jean-Francis Bachelot [who's won here in the past], 7th seed Luke Bourgeois who reached the Felixstowe final last week, Pospisil who beat Parmar in straights and Dupuis who reached the Queens quarters a few years ago and beat Andy Murray in straights at Newport last year.

268 will be a new career high for Josh and the grass court season is still going with Nottingham next week, hopefully Josh will have something still left in the tank for that. The great thing is that he'll now be able to play challengers on a regular basis and having come back from a set down in his last 8 matches before the final, shows his fitness is excellent.

I think that a key aspect of Josh's form on grass this year is his relatively new decision to serve-volley a lot, lot more. I saw him a couple of times last summer and although he had the really massive serve, he had the tendency to get drawn into long baseline rallies against the clay-courters because if they started to read his serve he didn't have much else to finish them off and it would end up with Josh making the ues.

Hopefully I should have a report and quotes to post a bit later

Sheddie · administrator

By the way, Josh has capped one of the best weeks of his career with a title as he and Ross Hutchins beat Guccione and Oger 3-6, 7-5, 10-5

Mankad speaking after his 7-6, 7-6 win over Goodall:
"It was a very close match but I think the weather was in my favour all week being hot and a bit humid which I am used to. Also the weather meant the excellent grass courts were that much faster which suits my game.” said Mankad, who becomes the first Indian winner in Manchester since Krishnan in 1958.

“I have to say that this tournament is so professional and I can find no fault with any part of the organisation and player facilities.” he added.

Some more reports and quotes from throughout this week:

Semis: Goodall 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 Guccione:

Apparently Guccione is 6ft 7 and has a massive serve, virtually unreturnable at times. He reached rd3 of Queens in 2005 after qualifying. Josh had a medical timeout in set 2 at 3-2 for a stiff shoulder but he was still able to match Guccione serve for serve. Speaking afterwards, Josh said "It was tough and he serves so big it’s unbelievable. You tend to just have to guess and hope you get a racket on the ball to return it. My shoulder has been stiffening up but it’s no great problem” Goodall explained. “But they will be calling me the ‘3 set king’ very shortly. I’ve now played eight three setters in a row including the four here and I’ve had to come from a set down in six of them.”

It's also been revealed that Josh has been awarded the unofficial title of Britain's most improved singles player.

QF: Goodall 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 Lee

Lee cruised through the opening set 6-1 and then forced Josh to save 5 bps at the start of set 2. Goodall said " “I think that was the turning point as far as I was concerned. After only picking up one game in the first set it gave me renewed will and desire to go on and try and put pressure on him. I am not thinking about two tournament wins in successive weeks but it would be nice.”

Rd2: Lee 3-6, 7-6[6], 6-4 Oger

Martin had a slow start dropping the 1st set 6-3 in 20min. However, he showed why he is on his way back up the rankings as he took the next two 7-6(6), 6-4 to move into the quarter finals. “He played well in the first set and I had one bad game and that was the difference” explained the third seeded Lee. “I have never seen him play before and knew little about him but I stepped up my game in the second and third sets and was happy to come away with the win."

Rd2: Goodall 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 Peric

Goodall also dropped his opening set to Tomislav Perec a Croatian player who has missed 16 months of tournament play thanks to a serious back injury. But there was no sign of back trouble as he raced to a 6-1 first set lead only to fall away as Goodall applied the pressure and took the next two sets 6-3, 6-4.

Rd1: Hutchins 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 Matsui

Hutchins won in unrelenting temperatures measured on court at just over 100°F. Hutchins, British ranked 21, produced some aggressive tennis in the first set to close it out 6-4 but four successive aces at the start of the second set seemed to put him on the back foot as Matsui levelled the match with a comprehensive 6-1 score.And his dominance continued in the third set as the Japanese player built up a 5-1 lead. "At 5 -1 down I became very aggressive again and started to get my first serves in” said a delighted Hutchins.“But it was a lucky lob which in truth I shanked but it fell in right on the line and I thought then that this may be my day. You never count things for sure in this game and it wasn’t until I hit a couple of great passing shots to level at 5 all that I knew for the first time I had him."

Rd1: Parmar 6-7[8], 3-6 Pospisil

Nothing on this match other than Pospisil has impressed everyone this week with his never-say-die attitude. Still, a shocker of a result for Parmar on his favourite surface. I think he was defending quarters points. Anyone know how far his ranking will drop ?

Rd1: Goodall 4-6, 7-6[12], 7-6[3] Tourte

It was a big day at the office for British number 10 Joshua Goodall who, after walking away with the Felixstowe title last week, found himself up against Frenchman Nicolas Tourte, a player ranked 63 places above him, in the opening round of the LTA Manchester Trophy. Maybe it was reaction to last week’s heroics but Goodall dropped the first set to the 8th seed 6-4. However the second set was a thriller for the enthusiastic gathering of spectators as the two men exchanged volley for volley, ace for ace in a 66 minute battle which Goodall eventually edged in a 14-12 tiebreak. And the Hampshire youngster wrapped up the match after a third set breaker which he won 7-3 in 10 mins under the hour.

Qualifying rd3: Quereshi 7-5, 6-3 Kinsella

It took just over an hour and a half for Pakistan number one Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to overcome fierce resistance by Britain’s Jonathan Kinsella in the final round of singles qualifying for the LTA Manchester Trophy. With on-court temperatures around 30°C the unranked Kinsella started positively and broke the Qureshi serve in the 3rd game of the opening set only to lose his own service in the 6th and 12th games and drop the 1st set. One service break in the 2nd set was enough to give the 423rd world ranked Qureshi a 7-5, 6-3 hard earned victory.

Sheddie · administrator

Pic of Josh from this week:

VSandhi20 · Futures qualifying

Does Josh still play with a double forehand?

Sheddie · administrator

Josh doesn't play with a double-handed forehand anymore, he did at Wimbledon 2005 but at Surbiton and Wimbledon this year, pictures of him show him hitting a single-hander. I'm not sure when he made the change [which is quite drastic].

Bladetiger, when you saw Josh play in the GB 1 sat earlier this year, did he have a double-handed forehand ?