"Hey my name is Vince really but I just like the sound of Vonce. I'm from Scotland from a place called Larbert which is on the outskirts of Falkirk. At this moment in time I'm not actually feeling quite well as I have a virus.
I'm into most sports really.. The most prominent ones being Football, Tennis of course, Ice Hockey, Formula 1 and Basketball.. I also went to the Davis Cup tie in the Braehead Arena in April.. Was my 1st experience of live tennis and I must say it was quite enjoyable apart from the final result of course.
Favourite teams in each of my sports are..
Football : Celtic Ice Hockey : Toronto Maple Leafs Basketball : LA Lakers
I do take interest in all levels of tennis as I try to keep up on most tournaments from Futures right up to Grand Slams. As I like to know who will be the next up and coming players in the future. I also take interest in all group levels in the Davis Cup.
I've been viewing the forum as a guest for a while and decided to register as of today..
Hi Vonce, welcome to the site. Enjoy reading and posting here !
I like the avatar, which player is that ?
I hope you recover soon from the virus. Do you play tennis ?
Quite a few Formula 1 and football fans here aswell, check out the "Other Sporting events" section.
Are you planning on going to the Aberdeen Cup, this November ? Drew from this site, went last time and enjoyed the experience.
One of the big up and coming players on the challenger scene is Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro. He's only 17 but is ranked well inside the top 200 and has won several futures and has done extremely well in challengers this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he qualifies for the FO.
On the British tennis scene, as you probably know, quite a few of us have our fav up and coming players. Boggo finally looks to be in the right direction to fulfilling his talent, Jamie Baker and Richard Bloomfield are moving upwards towards challenger level, Martin Lee has made big ranking jumps in the past year back into the top 250. Lower down ones to watch out for are Colin Fleming, Alex Slabinsky, Andy Kennaugh, Chris Eaton, Morgan Phillips and in the juniors Daniel Cox and Daniel Evans and Graeme Dyce.
Infact by a strange coincidence my avatar is Del Potro.
Yeah he's certainly a very good prospect as at the start of 05 he was in the 1000's. So he's made quite a rise over the year with those notable performances you've mentioned about. Yeah it's also to see some of the Brits doing well of late like Boggo, Baker and in doubles Jamie Murray and Fleming. Another few up and comers I feel are Cilic, Haase and Sweeting who a few weeks ago won a futures event in the US going all the way through qualifying and through the main draw to win and some others of course.
I've played tennis a few times but not anytime recently as I'm not that good really. I've been thinking of late to take it up again during the summer..
About the Aberdeen Cup I'll have to see really how things are around November time as Aberdeen is quite a bit away from where I live (134.5 miles) so I'd doubt I'd be able to travel back and forth from where I live so I'd have to save up some money for accommodation in Aberdeen.:
That is a coincidence regarding your avatar, I must be psychic !
He is a really good prospect. I wonder why Argentina churn out so many fantastic clay-court specialists, more than other South American countries like Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuala and Chile ?
I agree Cilic is also one to watch for, typical Croatian player - very tall with a massive serve, good forehand and great volleys. Lacks a bit of consistency at the moment in his groundstrokes but once he develops that he'll rapidly move on to the next level. His other big love is athletics, he's very good at the high jump and triple jump.
Jamie Baker reckons that the reason why all the Croatian players have massive serves is down to their national tennis centre in Zagreb. He says that playing on the courts there is like playing on glass, it's very slippy and difficult to move on. Having a good 1st serve is essential so that you don't have to play too many rallies.
Jeremy Chardy is another to watch out for, he was world junior champion last year and won wimby juniors. Very, very powerful player - his 1st serve is vicious - he can reach 140mph with it and he's only 18.
Chardy has a wc into Roland Garros and plays Bjorkman in rd1 which should be interesting.
Hope you are able to get to the Aberdeen Cup, Drew went last year and had a great experience. He interviewed Mark Petchey for this site, go to the member's articles section to read that interview.
My latest avatar is a pic of him again but from this year's Roland Garros qualies. Glad to see he qualified for the main draw.
Yeah I'm wondering that myself as Argentina seem to be the most predominant nation in South America on producing quality tennis players.. I'm only making a guess but I guess they get the most funding and better academies but that's just a guess..
Yeah Cilic does need to work on his game a bit but as you say it will just take time and training and then he'll be up to the next level and rising into the top 150. Ah right athletics so that means he'll have no problems running about the court.
Oh right I see I didn't know that, so that's maybe why they all have good massive serves. Yeah I'd imagine that playing on surface that's like glass would be pretty difficult, sliding all over the place.
Yeah Chardy looks good as he had a decent run in Estoril considering where he's at in his game atm. But I'm not too sure he'll be able to sustain a run in Roland Garros this year, I'm sure if he wins his 1st round match this year he'll be more than happy with himself.
Yeah I'll see what I can do on the front of the Aberdeen Cup. It's a pity you can't buy a weekend ticket and have to buy both days tickets seperately as I got the 3 day ticket for the Davis Cup tie. I'm hoping they might consider it for future Aberdeen Cups to offer weekend tickets rather than buying both seperately for £35 each.
Welcome Vince ! I was at the DC as well and really enjoyed it ! The Aberdeen cup was my 1st live tennis & got my tickets for both days already. I found a place not far from the AECC for £30 B&B. Im in Crieff so takes me under a hrs...hope u get to go!
Ah right cool. I'll see what I can do really, I just don't want to really travel up there on my own as I'd have to see if anyone wants to go with me. I'm sure if I can't go this year hopefully it will be on in 07.
I think that the reason Argentina produce so many quality players is due to the emphasis on tennis over there, it's 2nd only to football while in Britain tennis is behind football, rugby, cricket, horse racing [] and in terms of TV coverage it's behind snooker.
Also, all their players grow up on clay which means that they all have superb techniques and are excellent at constructing points. This enables them to be able to compete well in American hard court tournaments and South American/European clay tournaments
