Just wondered who you guys thought would get the WC's for the Nottingham Challenger.
Only Boggo, Martin Lee and Bloomers have qualified by right, with Josh Goodall needing 6 drop outs to make it, which is possible but unlikely.
Assuming that every Brit outside the top 200 would want them, given recent form the 3 guys who deserve it most in my eyes are : Mackin, Marray & Auckland.
That then leaves 1 between :
Josh - had a great summer and been struggling on the tough American circuit, and is nearest to qualifying so is first by right on rankings.
Arv- Next in line, and a lot of pedigree, but I'd hate to think he'd get one, a very backward step in my book.
Jamie- One of our leading upcoming talents and recently won the Nottm 15K beating Jonny in the final but still struggles at Challenger level, could maybe do with the boost of a WC at Challenger level as he has failed to qualify 2 weeks running.
Morgan Phillips- A long shot- recently reached a Futures Final and has made a lot of progress the hard way, extremely unlikely given his lack of interest in playing on fast courts.
Would be torn between Josh and Jamie, but would have to plump for Josh given that he is the higher ranked of the two.
Guess the LTA will be hoping that it's made a bit easier by Josh getting a DA, if not then James may make it easier by not entering as he has steered clear of Challengers recently, but its nice to have a lot of people making a strong case, hope that current form is taken into account, my final choices are :
Marray
Goodall
Auckland
Mackin
-- Edited by UltimateBoggoFan at 13:34, 2006-10-22
it a tough one, alan, jonny and james A do deserve them, but james A may choose one of the 3 atps that week, feeling he would have a good chance to qualfiy??
it will help if josh can scrap in, how far is he out at the moment?
it will be a tough call between the to two j's otherwise, jamie B has been a good lta boy and went to the dc etc, whereas josh didnt so that may come into it. i wonder if nottingham tournie dircetor or lta decide the cards.
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Jamie B is attempting to qualify for challengers in the States just now. He is down to play Louisville the week after Nottingham so he is probably not available to get a wild card. Then again he only needs to get on a plane and given his record in qualifiers a wild card may be gratefully recieved.
Aukland and Marray must be certainties, Mackin and Goodall have a good case also, I wouldn't have a problem with those four being selected.
Jamie B is attempting to qualify for challengers in the States just now. He is down to play Louisville the week after Nottingham so he is probably not available to get a wild card. Then again he only needs to get on a plane and given his record in qualifiers a wild card may be gratefully recieved.
Auckland and Marray must be certainties, Mackin and Goodall have a good case also, I wouldn't have a problem with those four being selected.
If Jamie hasnt booked in at any events I would imagine he's hoping/ expecting a Nottingham WC, I'd be suprised if he was 'unavailable' , given his ranking I dont think he's in a position to turn down Challenger level Main Draw entries.
Wonder how many players are rueing not entering Quebec Challenger the week after, LAst direct acceptance is 406- so likes of Marray, Mackin, Baker, Auckland, all of whom have been trying to negotiate qualifiers could have got direct entry.
Funnily enough, I spoke to Jonny Marray at Nottingham and said there was a challenger in canada that had a really low DA level last year and that he should enter it, and obviously he failed to heed my advice, honestly what can you do ?
it will help if josh can scrap in, how far is he out at the moment? ^6 places
it will be a tough call between the to two j's otherwise, jamie B has been a good lta boy and went to the dc etc, I'd hate that to be right, but I wouldnt be at all suprised
whereas josh didnt so that may come into it.
i wonder if nottingham tournie dircetor or lta decide the cards Tournie director's all work for the lta anyway but they are administrators rather than tennis people, I'm sure that decision wouldbe made by DC/ Performance people
i think goodall should definitely get in, but if he gets to semi finals this week, will he get a SE, or does it depends on the fact that hes playing a future?
Shhh wrote: A SE is only availible to an event of the same standing.....ie another futures event in this case, not a challenger.
ATP Rules d) A Qualified Event for Special Exempt to a Challenger Series Tournament is the singles event of an ATP or Challenger Series Tournament within the same geographic region, unless there are no Challengers in the same region the following week. If there are no Challengers in the same region the following week, then a qualified event would include all Challenger Series Events scheduled in the following week, regardless of region. (Definition of Regions can be found in Exhibit X).
Goodall seems to be out of form at the moment but that's probably due to the fact that going from playing in the USA for 3 months to super-fast indoor courts in Europe is a little tricky Balls, courts, conditions and the styles of opponents are all completely different. Apparently the court in Glasgow is one of the fastest on the circuit. However, given his achievements this year, Josh should definately get one.
Morgan Phillips won't be getting one as he's chasing points and dosh in Portugal F6. Incidentally he did make a rare trip to Britain earlier this year to play the satellite in February. Unfortunately he didn't do particularly well, got hammered 1 and 2 by Martin Lee and then had to retire at 4-1 down v Bamford in rd1 of week 2 and headed straight back to the clay in Spain
I believe that Parmar is injured at the moment so that makes it 3 to go between Baker, Mackin, Auckland and Marray.
Marray surely has to get one, along with Boggo, he's been our best player in the indoor tournaments so far this autumn. Qualified and reached a 75K challenger semi, reached a 15K final and qualified for an ATP.
I have a feeling that Auckland may be the one who has to qualify. He had that superb run in Mumbai but has yet to play singles indoors this autumn. Mackin has been in really good form on the indoor circuit for the past month and has had some great wins over top 250 players, it would be very, very harsh if he didn't get one. I'm pretty certain that Jamie Baker will get one, he's based at the Nottingham tennis centre for one thing and also he's one of the most improved GB players this year, three 15K finals and one 10K title aswell as a 25K quarter-final and he took Gonzo to a final set breaker, lost 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 to the world no 10 in June [Jamie actually served for the match at 5-4].
Jamie's heading back to the States after Nottingham, the challengers he's going to play over there are indoors ! I'm not sure if he'll return for Shrewsbury or continue going for the USA challengers right till the end of November.
goodall only 2 places away from the MD, so likely to get in automatically (as is big arvs if fit!) so makes WC handouts less problematic! or maybe more so if jamie b is staying in the states!
I'm not too far from Nottingham, might pop along. Although it won't be until the weekend. Will probably wait and see if any brits are in for the Saturday and go along if they are.
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john wrote: I'm not too far from Nottingham, might pop along. Although it won't be until the weekend. Will probably wait and see if any brits are in for the Saturday and go along if they are.
Do you think you might go for the qualies which start this Sunday I believe ?
Brits in action are likely to be one of Baker/Marray/Mackin/Auckland , Delgado, Childs. Slabinsky, Hutchins, Rushby, Brewer and maybe Graeme Dyce.