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Post by Shireblogger on Jun 14, 2015 14:52:36 GMT 1
Tom, thanks for your comments. Centre court at Nottingham has the same mix of permanent and temporary grandstands as previous years. But I thought the attendance on Friday was really disappointing compared to what I've seen for the men's tournaments in previous years. Wasn't too expensive for a ticket (£20 in advance), and it is a really accessible event. Yes, I'll be going to the men's as well, but for the first round. Fingers crossed that the weather will be kind to us. Pleased to hear that Rae/Smith will be at Wimbledon.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jun 14, 2015 17:12:07 GMT 1
Tom, thanks for your comments. Centre court at Nottingham has the same mix of permanent and temporary grandstands as previous years. But I thought the attendance on Friday was really disappointing compared to what I've seen for the men's tournaments in previous years. Wasn't too expensive for a ticket (£20 in advance), and it is a really accessible event. Yes, I'll be going to the men's as well, but for the first round. Fingers crossed that the weather will be kind to us. Pleased to hear that Rae/Smith will be at Wimbledon. Interesting. A report I read said that the ticket prices were probably too high but they wanted to keep the prices at the same level as they are for the mens. Also £10 to park in the official car park, that is steep. The crowds were expected to pick up for the semis and final but I guess the weather probably put paid to that! I wonder if the weather, which hasn't been particularly good, and the lack of Brits put people off. Jocelyn Rae should have had local interest as she was born in Nottingham, but there were only 2 Brits in the singles, which through Konta's match being put back to Tuesday were actually scheduled for roughly the same time. As it happens there wasn't much overlap but it was still daft scheduling. Heather's withdrawal may have been a bigger loss than maybe was expected.
Kyle Edmund, Aljaz Bedene and James Ward I think are all expected to play in the men's event. Kyle has pulled out of Queen's with the stomach injury that forced him to pull out of his second round match at the French Open so hopefully he will be fit. James Ward has also been struggling with a foot injury so hopefully he will be fit too, though if he plays Queens and out of nowhere goes on a run I think he should save himself for Wimbledon. He's so desperate to crack the Top 100 that he's playing through it, especially when this is his big chance, he's got loads of points to defend after Wimbledon, but it's a difficult one as he could do with being 100% when Wimbledon comes around.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jun 14, 2015 17:20:12 GMT 1
I suspect many people decided to pick either a day at Nottingham or a day at Birmingham next week - I certainly did. Birmingham has a stronger field, so perhaps Nottingham suffered as a result.
I picked Nottingham because I've got tickets for the One Day International next week (Birmingham week) at Trent Bridge, and could only really justify one day off work each week.
Car park tickets were only £5 if bought in advance. There's a tram stop right outside the ground for anyone who thinks that is still too much to pay.
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Post by Tom on Jun 15, 2015 15:45:53 GMT 1
I suspect many people decided to pick either a day at Nottingham or a day at Birmingham next week - I certainly did. Birmingham has a stronger field, so perhaps Nottingham suffered as a result. I picked Nottingham because I've got tickets for the One Day International next week (Birmingham week) at Trent Bridge, and could only really justify one day off work each week. Car park tickets were only £5 if bought in advance. There's a tram stop right outside the ground for anyone who thinks that is still too much to pay. I hadn’t realised yesterday what Rae/Smith’s scoreline was in that QF, 6-1 6-3 against Niculescu/Parra Santonja. Even taking into account Niculescu had played singles earlier that was a stunning result. They had a great day yesterday winning their semi final against the second seeds Chan/Zheng 6-3 4-6 (from a break up it seems) 10-8 match tie break and then losing very narrowly to the top seeds Kops-Jones and Spears 3-6 6-3 11-9 MTB (having been 7-4 up). I’ve thought this before but definitely feel it now. Laura Robson is the missing piece in the Fed Cup jigsaw. If she was 100% I could definitely see us getting out of the round robin stage and winning a promotion tie later in the year. There aren’t many countries who can put two doubles specialists in the doubles rubbers. During the Niculescu-Konta match I was starting to wonder if Konta won whether she could go all the way and win the title, or at the very least reach the final. But then I saw that Radwanska was still in the tournament which put paid to that idea! It was interesting to notice that Niculescu beat Radwanska yesterday to go into the final where she played 17 year old Ana Konjuh. That final was surprisingly put back until today, and Konjuh came back from a set down to win 1-6 6-4 6-2! I thought Konjuh would be given a special exempt into Birmingham having missed qualifying through still playing at Nottingham, but the WTA don’t use special exempts, unlike the ATP, which I hadn’t realised. I’m sure she won’t care too much having won her first WTA title and it gives her a few extra days to prepare for Eastbourne qualifying (which I assume she’ll be in), but it doesn’t seem right to me.
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Post by Tom on Jun 15, 2015 15:51:48 GMT 1
Onto this week's events, I’ve thought for a couple of years that Queens should be upgraded. You had to win at least a couple of matches to start getting decent ranking points. So, its now an ATP 500, and Ward has got 3rd seed Milos Raonic in round 1. Ouch! That wouldn’t have happened in previous years! Also means that Murray will be in R1 and playing before Wednesday (tomorrow), which is going to be a bit strange. Nottingham being televised on British Eurosport 2 came as a nice surprise, but its an even bigger surprise that Birmingham is on there too. I had assumed that it would be on BT Sport like last year. Means I won’t have to miss anything, though I’m yet to watch any of today’s play. Eurosport 1 has Queens like it has done in recent years, along with the BBC of course.
There's also an event in Ilkley but probably won't be following that really, unless all the Brits go out of the above events.
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Post by Tom on Jun 17, 2015 20:48:21 GMT 1
First lot of Wimbledon wildcards announced today.
In the men, Liam Broady, Kyle Edmund, James Ward, Lleyton Hewitt and Nicolas Mahut. No surprises with any of those, this will be Hewitt's last Wimbledon before he retires at the Australian Open next year. 3 more TBA.
In the women, Naomi Broady, Johanna Konta (no surprises at all with these), Kontaveit and Ostapenko. It appears Kontaveit got one because she won the Eastbourne ITF event at the start of the month. Ostapenko is the current junior Wimbledon champion. 4 more TBA.
Qualifying wildcards to Katie Swan, (who lost 6-2 6-2 to Pironkova on Monday in Birmingham) Amanda Carreras, Harriet Dart, Katy Dunne and Gabriella Taylor (who starred last year coming through the pre-qualifying playoffs to win a match in the qualifying itself, and then won matches in the juniors). In the men, Ed Corrie, Dan Cox and Josh Milton. Again no surprises with those either, 4 more in the men are TBA, 1 in the women's.
Laura Robson could get one but it depends on whether she plays Eastbourne or not. She's got until Friday to decide, and if she does play it will be in the qualifying.
Speaking of main draw wildcards, I was expecting Brydan Klein to get one, won a match in Queens qualifying against Steve Darcis (2013 conqueror of Nadal at Wimbledon), wouldn't need a wildcard to get into the qualifying, and he's the guy in form (also got to the Surbiton semis last week), so it could get interesting if he doesn't...and i'm starting to think he probably won't...
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Post by Tom on Jun 18, 2015 8:18:20 GMT 1
Updated the previous post with some additional wildcards, plus corrections to the number of wildcards given out, or still to be announced - makes more sense now!
Couple of things to clear up. Konjuh had to play twice on Sunday in Nottingham so understandable they would put the final back to Monday to avoid her playing 3 times in one day. BT Sport have the European Games so that's why they can't show Birmingham this year.
Doubles wildcards
Bambridge/Broady Corrie/Edmund - Kyle getting one is a bit odd but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt because he's young and won the French Open boys doubles title a couple of years back. Marray/Nielsen - Yes! Back playing together 3 years after all their success. Nielsen lost to Klein at Surbiton, having come through qualifying, and I was only thinking his reasoning for giving up the partnership to focus on singles always seemed fishy given that he'd played Grand Slam doubles with others.. Skupski/Skupski Ward/Ebden - Just lol at Ward getting one!
2 more TBA.
Women Broady/Webley-Smith Konta/Sanchez - Odd as JoKo rarely plays doubles - but not sure there were many options Rae/Smith - Didn't do quite enough to get in without one.
4 more TBA.
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Post by Tom on Jun 18, 2015 13:05:15 GMT 1
rubcale may be interested to know that Laura is playing Eastbourne qualifying
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Post by rubcale on Jun 18, 2015 18:02:03 GMT 1
Not expecting anything from her. It will take her this Season at least to get back into the swing.
Looking at how AndyM has played in the past year although the back was still a bit of an issue there was definitely a background story to his defeat against Dmitorv at Wimby last year.
Federer will be #2 seed for Wmbledon ahead of Murray but Djokovich and Murray are he two best players in the world at the moment so I'm just hoping justice prevails and Andy gets drawn in Federer's half.
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Post by rubcale on Jun 18, 2015 18:03:02 GMT 1
I never tske too much notice of what happens at Queen's - I believe it is mostly irrelevant in Wimbledon terms.
Heather Watson - no comment!
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Post by Tom on Jun 18, 2015 19:13:51 GMT 1
Not expecting anything from her. It will take her this Season at least to get back into the swing. Looking at how AndyM has played in the past year although the back was still a bit of an issue there was definitely a background story to his defeat against Dmitorv at Wimby last year. Federer will be #2 seed for Wmbledon ahead of Murray but Djokovich and Murray are he two best players in the world at the moment so I'm just hoping justice prevails and Andy gets drawn in Federer's half. Not expecting anything either, it's just good that she's finally back. Having low expectations is a good thing imo anyway. I do actually want to see her at Eastbourne, but it ain't happening and I can just imagine it being manic, which I guess it wouldn't be usually for the qualies.
I've always thought there was an issue behind the scenes with that Dimitrov match- remember that "5 minutes before the match" rant? Maybe that was the reason he got rid of Dani Velverdu...? Maybe he'll write another book and reveal all.
As for Heather, haven't got round to watching that match yet, and i'm not entirely sure I want to, but I want to see just how bad it was. Haven't read much about it but what little I have reminds me of Birmingham last year when she lost having had match points to a player she should have been beating, and to say I was unimpressed then was an understatement. Anyway with JoKo's and Naomi's performances this week (have only seen the latter's first match so far tho) there's plenty to be positive about.
Planning at some point in the next couple of days to do a proper review of the week (not seen any of Andy, and really two straight sets wins closer than I expected aren't anything worth mentioning anyway).
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Post by Tom on Jun 20, 2015 15:28:55 GMT 1
3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win for Murray in the QFs against Gilles Muller (WR 48 – career high 34 in February) yesterday. Only saw the last few games, but from that, the BBC updates, and the number of aces that Murray served (13), a great performance.
Nice easy start for Laura on her return today, the top seed Daria Gavrilova, ranked 41 (also at a career high)! I thought any games would be a bonus so the 6-0 6-1 scoreline was no surprise at all. But still really disappointing, she served 7 double faults and no aces and there were some games which she lost to love.
2 of the remaining main draw wildcards for Wimbledon have gone to Brydan Klein and Matthew Ebden (who won Surbiton), the right decision on both counts. I remember Ebden won Nottingham in 2013, watched his match against Dan Evans in the quarters that year and he looked a proper grass court player so not surprised at the grass titles he’s won since that day. A doubles wildcard has been given to Hewitt and Kokkinakis.
Coming through pre-qualifying to take part in Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton next week Tara Moore and Naomi Cavaday. Mixed feelings about the former, she beat Emily Webley-Smith to make it who probably deserved a wildcard into the qualifying originally. Good to see her continuing to do it for the 30-somethings. Thankfully it didn’t matter as she was given the last remaining qualifying wildcard. Interesting that despite playing at Roehampton Cav and Emily were also playing Eastbourne qualifying as well today, though in the latter’s case I think she entered before she got that wildcard. In the men, it’s Dan Evans and Richard Gabb. Interested to see how Evans does after 12 months of not playing much because of knee issues (there was also a no-show for one tournament when he just failed to turn up for his match). Apparently suffers from tendinitis so it’s probably going to affect him for the rest of his career.
Also problems for the French ahead of the Davis Cup quarter-final next month. Tsonga has pulled out of Nottingham with a stomach injury which means he goes into Wimbledon having not played on grass at all this year. Their top doubles player Julien Benneateau is also out of Wimbledon having had surgery on a groin injury.
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Post by rubcale on Jun 20, 2015 17:28:44 GMT 1
Not really much you can say about Laura Robson - disappointing but pretty much as expected.
Short of practice and not match fit.
Generally expected that she will get a Wimby wild card.
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Post by Tom on Jun 21, 2015 9:25:30 GMT 1
She should get one, don't think Vera Zvonareva had done much more to get one last year. If this was any other grand slam i'd be saying she shouldn't play, the qualifying is a more suitable level for her, but then 2013 when she last played she didn't do much in the build up and ended up reaching the 4th round. That alone is a good enough reason for her to get one. I'd absolutely love it if she drew Bouchard (and I don't appear to be alone) after everything Bouchard said about their friendship before the US Open last year. Sometimes it really is wise to keep your opinions to yourself. But I hope when everything dies down she plays challengers and futures for the rest of the year, she could also do with winning titles again, it's been far too long. So why do I get the feeling she will use her protected ranking (while she can) and wildcards to play bigger events?
As soon as I saw Murray was on second yesterday I thought there was a feeling he wouldn't finish, and when the start of play was delayed for an hour and a half and the first match went to 3 sets it seemed inevitable. Saw various forecasts and it was definitely going to rain after 5pm and once it started it wasn't likely to stop. Hopefully he wins today, and wins in two, otherwise I think it may favour Anderson. Given that Hewitt served for the match against Anderson in R1 I wonder what he makes of it all?
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Post by rubcale on Jun 21, 2015 12:00:29 GMT 1
Andy very often seems to get late matches which in circumstances like these is a disadvantage.
Not so important at Wimbledon now but the BBC has had a lot to answer for in the past by interfering in the scheduling of some Brit's matches - Tim Henman the most prominent.
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Post by Tom on Jun 21, 2015 17:26:34 GMT 1
6-3 7-6 (7-4) win against Troicki - job done Then a 6-3 6-4 win in the final against Anderson making it a record equalling 4th title for Murray. Always was hopeful a year ago that he'd win it this year, he only ever seems to win it in odd years! Stunning performance in the final, thought it was his best final of the four. Don't think any of the others reached the heights of today. I know how he's done at Queen's hasn't always meant anything once Wimbledon has come around, but last year at Queens I didn't think he was mentally strong enough, and he showed it in his defeat to Dimitrov at Wimbledon. This time round everything seems to be there. I don't think he should fear anyone. It's also worth mentioning that Djokovic has played him twice at Wimbledon, once at the Olympics and the other in the 2013 final, and hasn't taken a set off him yet.
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Post by rubcale on Jun 21, 2015 17:42:07 GMT 1
In a strange way playing the semi this morning probably helped Andy as it was a relatively straightforward victory in an hour and his eye was in right from the start this afternoon.
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Post by Tom on Jun 22, 2015 8:06:42 GMT 1
It was the first day of the Eastbourne main draw yesterday and Konta beat Diyas (ranked 34, career high 31 - Jan 2015) 6-3 6-2
In 2010 James Ward reached the quarter-finals here and so was unable to play Wimbledon qualifying. At the time much was made of the decision not to give him a main draw wildcard into Wimbledon. 5 years on and Harriet Dart is in a similar position, the difference being that she hasn't really done enough to get a main draw wildcard. If she doesn't make Wimbledon qualifying I hope it's not because of the weather not enabling her to complete her match at Eastbourne in time for her to sign in (rather than her causing an upset), the forecast in Eastbourne is for rain until mid afternoon, possibly later.
One result at Eastbourne of interest for Shireblogger Joss Rae and Anna Smith won their doubles yesterday 11-9 in a match tiebreak from 9-6 down. Hope you enjoy Nottingham, assuming you haven't already been as the first round seems like it started yesterday, though the forecast doesn't look good at all.
Laura Robson, as expected, has been given a main draw wildcard into Wimbledon. No more women's singles or doubles wildcards were given out. In the men's, Denis Kudla was given the final main draw wildcard after winning Ilkley on Sat, beating Ebden in the final. He also lost to Ebden in the Surbiton final so there was a case for him getting one even if he'd lost. In the qualifying, Corrie didn't need his wildcard as he got in directly. Of the 5 remaining then, Alex Ward and Richard Bloomfield got them with the others remaining unused. I only thought of Bloomfield recently, wasn't sure he was still playing! Alex Ward is someone who if he wasn't injured so much probably would have reached the Top 250 by now so i'm pleased to see him get one. Qualifying doubles sees Sean Thornley and Darren Walsh plus Brydan Klein and David Rice get wildcards, the other main draw doubles wildcard not used. Not aware of any in the women's qualifying doubles.
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Post by Tom on Jun 24, 2015 15:38:15 GMT 1
Haven't finished catching up with Eastbourne or Nottingham (hope Shireblogger will post his thoughts on the latter at some point) so for now I'll concentrate on Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton. The first day's play didn't start until 2pm, 2.30pm on some courts after rain. Harriet Dart's Eastbourne match btw was first on court but play didn't start until just before 4pm, late enough for her to miss the sign-in for the qualies. A shame for her though I think she'll have another chance next year and they did at least give her wildcard to another Brit, Lucy Brown who yesterday on the first day of the women won a set in defeat. I think they got most of the matches on the opening day done, there didn't seem to be many that hadn't at least started. Here's a brief round-up on the Brit winners.
Dan Evans won in two tiebreaks having served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, and Josh Milton came from a set down to win his match. But the standout result was Ed Corrie beating the 7th seeded Spaniard Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 6-3 6-1! His opponent was a 33 year old who hadn't played on grass for two years but he set a new career high last week so I still thought it looked a really tough match. Bit staggered with the outcome.
Day 2 featured the start of the women's matches, and also the men's doubles which had been cancelled the day before. It also had a major talking point which I don't really understand, but i'll come to that shortly. When I saw that Katie Swan had drawn the 9th seed Kristina Kucova I thought, "shame, she might have won a match had she drawn an unseeded player". Then I saw she won 6-3 6-4, a wow result if ever I saw one! British Tennis called it an incredible performance. Now onto the talking point..Katy Dunne in the second set of her match hit a linesperson, then burst into tears as for a few minutes it looked like she might get defaulted as they called for the supervisor. They clearly thought it was a complete accident as she was allowed to play on, but according to the Wimbledon website report she said she had hit a double fault at 2-1 in the 2nd set and was then practising her third ball. Not sure what she meant by that, and also not sure how she managed to hit the linesjudge. It was obviously thought serious enough to take further and not just ignore. Anyway she lost that second set, having won the first easily on a tie-break. She didn't let it affect her for long though as she went on to win the final set 6-2. There was an all Brit match between Tara Moore and Gabi Taylor, a shame as I thought they were both capable of winning a match here. I hoped for a close three-setter but Tara won 6-2 6-1. I do wonder how far she can go this week. Then finally there was an epic win in the doubles at gone 9pm for Sean Thornley and Darren Walsh against the second seeds Johan Brunstrom and Frank Moser, coming from a set down to win 13-11 in the third set! And yes that was a proper set rather than a match tie-break, it would be easy to think otherwise as Wimbledon qualies is I think the only place that has a normal third set with no tiebreaks in the doubles.
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Post by o on Jun 24, 2015 16:06:30 GMT 1
Shame that Elmer is still not around, he liked the tennis chat didn't he?
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