Tennis 2013

[Spudulika]

Okay, I know this is a bit out of left field, but bear with me. I had to track down an online version of this story which has a lot more to run, lots more! About 50% of the truth has actually come out and I've never heard anything like this in my life. My apologies for the rotten translation, but you'll get the gist.

Russian tennis player has earned a suspension, brutally beaten partner teamRussian player Vladimir Osminkin disqualified for a year for beating a team partner Matthew Minin. The father of the young tennis player, also beat Minin, a lifetime ban to attend the tennis competitions.
Osminkina expelled from the national team and banned from taking part in competitions throughout the year, the press service of the Russian Tennis Federation (http://tennis-russia.ru/) .
Also for the year were disqualified Osminkina sister Angelina and junior tennis team Nikita Grunichev who were present at the beating Minin.
Incident of which tennis players were disqualified, occurred on 25 January this year at the Universiade in Kazan.Then between the two national team players had a conflict. Osminkin and his father went to the hotel room and beat Minin tennis.
Add that Osminkin is the leading Russian rating among juniors.

[TheBoss]

Not much of a racket there ;)

[Crosby87]

This chick that somehow beat Serena today is quite the specimen.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThn4DVsRMlkwPFjCMio9QzZzXSgamzn O6K7F3WprVjORviUbivFA

[DannyInvincible]

Some fantastic play from Del Potro today as he continues to hang in there against Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-final. Great match of tennis so far.

[DannyInvincible]

Gary Lineker's really enjoying things...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/942114_10151809329026042_1252644356_n.jpg

[ArdeeBhoy]

Yeah, because he has a freebie there, undoubtedly.

Should stick to the crisps...

[tricky_colour]

Gary Lineker's really enjoying things...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/942114_10151809329026042_1252644356_n.jpg

Well it's won't do at his age :D

[Acornvilla]

Missed this topic until now, Delighted Jerzy got that far, I've been tracking his progress for a few years, and Kenny De Schepper is finally showing what he's capable of!

[Acornvilla]

James McGee our Ireland #1 had a big win this week, he beat world #136 Alex Kuznetsov in a challenger in Lexington. Playing a young american kid in the mid 200's later today in the 2nd round of the comp.

[Acornvilla]

James McGee our Ireland #1 had a big win this week, he beat world #136 Alex Kuznetsov in a challenger in Lexington. Playing a young american kid in the mid 200's later today in the 2nd round of the comp.

Had 3 match points last week in that second round match and threw them away.
Has won through two qualifying rounds in the Vancouver Open this week and is now playing the winner of last weeks competition and British #2 James Ward in round 1.

Irish James has just won the 1st set 6-4, it's a big ask for him to win this but going well so far.

Edit: lost 6-4, 3-6, 5-7

He had a break point at 5-5 in the 3rd set. Must be really frustrating for him, to be honest he's definitely good enough to get around #150 in the world but he's just not either getting the breaks or mentally tough enough to take his chances.

[Spudulika]

Agreed on James (about the mix of breaks and mental toughness), he gets a bit too het up at times and loses the run of himself, though he has the ability alright to get close to 100. James Cluskey won last week and is developing into a really fine doubles specialist. While Sam Barry had a good run in Dublin and recently in Turkey, but the big gap remains for all our players (including women) in funding. Without money to travel you're limited, but without money for a coach, you're really limited. Any player worth their salt will have a tour coach, will bring in hitting partners, can take the time to practice, rest and plan for the year. Any other way and it's a nightmare. A couple of years back we had 2 really promising players and the only thing standing between them and breaking the top-100 was a well planned schedule and tour coach. The Irish players are lucky in one way in that they have one of the best coaches in Europe (I can't say the World) and support set ups to come home to, but most don't take advantage, they can't. They have to keep on the move winning money and points.

If Sam and Amy get decent backing they'll both be top-100 in 2 years.

[Acornvilla]

Yeah I know an English chap who played Futures for a while and hovered around the top 1,000, it seems an absolutely impossible existence for anyone outside the top 200, unless you're lucky enough to have a governing body like France, Spain, USA etc. who are willing to help people break through.

Sam Barry looks a prospect alright, losing to Olivetti last week is no embarrassment either, I've been watching the big Frenchman a lot the last few weeks, he's one of the biggest servers in world tennis, being 6' 8'' sure helps, and is beginning to improve the rest of his game finally. (still only 21) He'll be a top 150 player eventually no doubt if he starts playing more tournaments.

With James I really believe it could be as simple as him making a breakthrough and winning one challenger event to push him near 120 or so, that's when he'll suddenly get easier draws and be able to afford a proper schedule to give himself the best possible chance, I'm glad hes playing usta at the minute, the money and points are very good considering the standard of competition is so so, he's been very unlucky in the draws (due to his ranking) and in how both tournaments ended so far, he really is good enough to win one before the us open starts.

I'm not sure what the cut off point is for the us open as regards getting a spot in the qualifiers, but all James needs to do is keep doing what he's doing and he should just about make the cut.

[Spudulika]

You're dead right, it's impossible at times. None of the top players has gotten there without very well off parents and/or helpful federation, and/or sponsor. The LTA are often criticised for backing British players (in some cases it's warranted) though you can't survive without it. And draws are vital, a player we have (who is just after hitting a career high) won last week in Wrexham ($25k) and now in playing in Germany and in her first match - drew the 2nd seed and clay court specialist! But there's nothing else she can do as the budget we have only allows her to play tournaments in Europe and now it's all clay - and she hates clay!

One of those players I mentioned before we got a fighting fund together and sent her to Thailand for 2 tournaments, she won one of them ($25k) and suddenly her career was on the up. Players have to travel to god awful places to pick up points and it takes money to do it.

I think, for the qualies, in the US Open James will miss out. Normally it's 200 and you're safe, but it can be down to 220/30. He's outside 250 (I think) and the cut off is soon - but if he gets a push on and some funding, he'll be okay for Australia.

[Acornvilla]

Yeah It was the top 241 for Wimbledon, James was #241 at the time :D

He took a 3 week break after that so his ranking dropped back to 290 or so. He is now at 263 following last weeks competition, the points he gets for the loss today should probably push him up to 250 or so by the weekend. Winning one of the usta events or even making a semi would literally push him right on 200 or so thou, so he's not as far away as it may look. Ward who McGee played last night for instance jumped a massive 60 places (to #179) after his challenger win last week.

Theres actually a very good article written by James on his blog (and was later published on thescore.ie (i think) all about the trouble hes going through just to survive. I'll try and dig it up.



In other news, the worlds fastest server might finally have gotten his own break this week, Sam Groth lost in the second round of the Citi Open an ATP 500 event to Raonic 5-7, 4-6 which is a pretty damned good performance for a man ranked 300 or so places lower, he'll get a relatively big windfall points and money wise from that given that he played through all of the qualifying and won the 1st round. His record is 160 mph or so, only broke 147 last night :P
He has less than 50 points to defend until Christmas so he could well push himself up into the top 100 now. It's funny watching him, his serve is immense but he can be so bad at everything else, it'd be interesting to see how far he could come on with proper coaching etc.

Janowicz and De Schepper have made huge improvements in a relatively short space of time (Jerzy more so obviously), so it'd be interesting to see if Groth was able to emulate them in any way. For those guys all it took was a few big wins here and there to get the ball rolling, I remember watching both of them in challengers all throughout 2012 thinking they had potential but something was missing, now all of a sudden Jerzy is a top 20 player and Kennys in the 70's after spending his entire career around 200.

[Acornvilla]

http://www.thescore.ie/james-mcgee-finance-sponsorship-tennis-987173-Jul2013/

Here we go!


As I mentioned Jerzy in my last post. I heard recently that the Polish federation have a budget of only 1m per year, considering they have Kubot and Janowicz in the top 20/100 as well przys just outside the top 100 within the mens game and the Radwanska sisters at #4 and #30 or so in the wta, they're doing quite well with relatively low funds, I know 1 million is astronomical in comparison with what Ireland have to work with, but it'd also be nothing compared to a lot of nations. Really puts into perspective how tough it is for any Irish players..

[Acornvilla]

Forgot James was playing tonight, his draws this month have been horrific, now playing Ryan Harrison the #104 in the world, he made the semi final of the 250 event in Atlanta a few weeks ago and beat Leyton Hewitt in the Washington 500 event last week..

Game postponed at 1 set each 6-3, 3-6 will be resumed latter today..

James was totally dominating and was 0-40 up on Harrisons serve in the 1st game of the second set. Harrison went on to hold and James struggled thereafter getting broken immediately and failing to take another break point in the next game.. He has the beating of Harrsion, but again mentally hes letting himself down.

[Acornvilla]

James ****ing McGee!! was 5-1 down in the 3rd set, won 5-7!!

[Grey Boy]

Unfortunately lost the next round 2 sets to love against Farruk Dustov. Well beaten in truth, I think the exertions of the Harrison match took their toll. Wasn't Harrison the player that knocked Niland out of US open qualies a few years ago incidentally?

[Acornvilla]

I don't think it is, just had a quick look and I can't see any matches between them in the us open from 2012-2007, Harrisons way to young to have played before that so I didn't check :P

The Harrison win is a pretty big deal thou and he had to win a few q rounds again this week to make it into the main draw.

In other news what in the name of god drugs has Pospisil taken, he won one of the bigger challenger comps of the season last week and is now a semi finalist in the masters. He's jumped from #93 to easily in the top 40/50 with this result. Beating Isner and Berdych is no mean feat as well. Stepanek I actually fancied Vasek to win, Step is crap most of the time in singles now..

[Spudulika]

The other James, Cluskey, is over this way (should be in Kazan now). Will try to catch one of his matches as I've a couple of free days this week, though will probably only see him in Moscow. We've some great results coming through from the kids to seniors, so all it takes is one to break.

[Acornvilla]

James missed the US open cut by 5 places, top 250 got in.

[Acornvilla]

James missed the US open cut by 5 places, top 250 got in.
In other news he won an ITF competition last week so should hit a career high when points are updated.
He was on newstalk on the right hook there last Tuesday (3rd), worth a listen :)

[Acornvilla]

McGee up to #226

James Cluskey is up to #145 in the doubles rankings, hes been in his best run of form ever over the last 2 months winning two ITF and two Challenger level competitions. In a final of another challenger in Istanbul tomorrow, had a tremendous win over a 2 time grand slam doubless champ Philip Petzschner and M Fisher today in the semi. He should be pushing to just outside the top 100 with this result hopefully.

[Acornvilla]

Louk Sorensen is back playing tennis, he's currently ranked outside the top 1,000 but is in the final of a challenger in Istanbul tomorrow, incredible effort really

[Acornvilla]

I'm cautiously optimistic that James McGee has a shot at finally going deep into a challenger event this week and push his ranking up into the top 200 before next years Australian Open. He had a fantastic 6-2 7-5 win over world #98 Blaz Kavcic, who has been as high as #68. The win means he's gotten himself a decent draw for the second round v a Russian player just inside the top 300, if he wins that he will probably face the lowest seeded player in the competition in the quarters. The chance is there for him if he has the balls to take it :P

If he gets himselfin or around 200 his draws will be so much easier next year and should be able to consistently go further in comps as a result and keep climbing :)

[Acornvilla]

I'm cautiously optimistic that James McGee has a shot at finally going deep into a challenger event this week and push his ranking up into the top 200 before next years Australian Open. He had a fantastic 6-2 7-5 win over world #98 Blaz Kavcic, who has been as high as #68. The win means he's gotten himself a decent draw for the second round v a Russian player just inside the top 300, if he wins that he will probably face the lowest seeded player in the competition in the quarters. The chance is there for him if he has the balls to take it :P

If he gets himselfin or around 200 his draws will be so much easier next year and should be able to consistently go further in comps as a result and keep climbing :)

McGee bows out in the semi final to Taro Daniel, missed some match points so he did. On the bright side that's his best performance of the season and should see him hit a new career high inside the top 220 and all but secure a place in the Aussie Open for the 1st time!

[Acornvilla]

Not sure if any other Irish players are doing anything yet, Sam Barry and James Clusky are playing Davis cup soon thou I think, but James McGee is playing in the Semi final of a challenger in Noumea tonight. Guaranteed a career high ranking of #214 thanks to this little run, but the semi is very winnable, if he manages to get through he'll be in the top 200 just in time for the Australian open.

He's normally never played many competitions in late December or early January, so no points to defend, this is a very big year for him, and hopefully he can get himself into the top 150 consistently.

[swinfordfc]

Not sure if any other Irish players are doing anything yet, Sam Barry and James Clusky are playing Davis cup soon thou I think, but James McGee is playing in the Semi final of a challenger in Noumea tonight. Guaranteed a career high ranking of #214 thanks to this little run, but the semi is very winnable, if he manages to get through he'll be in the top 200 just in time for the Australian open.

He's normally never played many competitions in late December or early January, so no points to defend, this is a very big year for him, and hopefully he can get himself into the top 150 consistently.

Lost 2-1 sets after winning the first set .... least he is 214 in the rankings on Monday which is pretty good ......

[Acornvilla]

Choked again, he was serving for the match in the 2nd set, he's had a few chances of making a breakthrough of sorts and bottled it. Still going in the right direction at least, but a lot more slowely than he could be.

[swinfordfc]

Up to #213 today - his highest ever!

[Acornvilla]

Ana Ivanovic is so hot..

McGee is over playing USTA in Hawaii next week, should push him into the top 200 if he gets a half decent draw. Sam Barry's out of Irelands Davis cup match.
Also the weather in Aus has been brutal, so many retirements, it ruined the early rounds for me a bit.

[swinfordfc]

James McGee now up to #212 today..... is he in Hawaii this week?

[swinfordfc]

Drop to #223 - in Dallas this week - needs at least to win a match here!

[Real ale Madrid]

I think a special mention should go out to James Cluskey and David O'Hare who had match point in the Davis Cup doubles against none other than Max Mirnyi and Alexander Bury last Saturday. Beaten eventually in 5 sets but thought it was a super effort. Lost the tie 4-1 with the last rubber given as a walk-over. Ireland play Egypt in April with the winners retaining Div II status.

[swinfordfc]

James McGee had a great win in Dallas over night to reach the quarter final - think it will move him to around #206 but hopefully he win the quarter final and then who knows ......

[Acornvilla]

I think a special mention should go out to James Cluskey and David O'Hare who had match point in the Davis Cup doubles against none other than Max Mirnyi and Alexander Bury last Saturday. Beaten eventually in 5 sets but thought it was a super effort. Lost the tie 4-1 with the last rubber given as a walk-over. Ireland play Egypt in April with the winners retaining Div II status.
They did very well indeed, there's a few Irish doing themselves plenty of favors lately. :)
The ladies team won too didn't they.

McGee lost today, was good in parts but ran into a man in the form of his life, and ran out of steam after losing the tb. Still making progress thou and 100 odd places higher now than he was this time last year so hard to knock him if he keeps edging upwards.

I've watched him an awful lot at this stage, His game is improving, but I don't see him ever breaking into the top 120 or so to be honest, (and staying there) but he'll get to 150, at least I hope he does for his own sake and a bit of financial stability. Still far too inconsistent and loses the tight winnable battles more often than not.

36 year old Giquel deserves a mention for beating Giles Simon today in the 250 event in Montpellier, some performance, and big Olivetti, who is basically a human cannon, 6'8'' of forehand, beat de schepper and davydenko this week, the lads only ever been ranked as high as the mid 200's. Big jump in store for him. Although he plays a considerably smaller amount of tournaments per year than most men for some reason.

[Real ale Madrid]

The ladies team won too didn't they.
.

Ladies are in a 3 team Pool in Group III of the Fed cup.
They have beaten Iceland 3-0 and play Malta today ( also beat Icleand 3-0 ). The winners advance to a play-off against either Greece or Moldova for a place in Group II.

[swinfordfc]

Good luck to the ladies against Greece today - hopefully a win and get into World Group 2

[Acornvilla]

McGee has entered a 250 event in Memphis this week, is after winning the 1st qualifying round, and will likely win the 2nd round also, looks like he'll be up against Goffin in the final round thou which will likely be a bridge too far, but Goffin can be flakey at times and hasn't played much this year, so who knows!

Daniel Evans made it all the way to the semis of zagreb, lost to Tommy Hass in 3 sets today, hell of a performance, he was ranked 147 or so at the start of the week. Into the top 100 he goes.

[Acornvilla]

The girls won too!

[swinfordfc]

James McGee up to #209 - best ever but has a tough match today against Goffin (see above)

[Real ale Madrid]

The aforementioned David O'Hare (of Davis Cup doubles near miss fame) and Joe Salsbury (GBR) have recieved a wildcard into the first round proper of the US Nat Indoors in Memphis. They have been drawn against the Bryan Brothers. Neither of the Bryan's have a singles ranking of note - but apparently they make a useful doubles combo! Good luck to him!

Edit - no major shock as O'Hare / Salsbury lost out 6/4 6/3.
They were given the WC as the top ranked University of Memphis Tigers team and are the No.3 ranked team in Collegate Doubles Tennis.

[Acornvilla]

James McGee up to #209 - best ever but has a tough match today against Goffin (see above)
He was serving for the 2nd set, threw in two df's and was broken to love :/

[Acornvilla]

https://www.pledgesports.org/projects/road-to-wimbledon-2014/

I see our #1 doubles player James Cluskey is on the pledge sports bandwagon now. It's a nice initiative, hope he gets what he wants from it!

Sam Barry is almost back from injury, some visa mix up has stopped the aforementioned Cluskey from playing any competitions this week, and from what I can see there's no other Irish lads competing this week.

[Acornvilla]

James Mcgee, 26 yrs old #206
Louk Sorensen 29 yrs old #258
Sam Barry 21 yrs old #403

That's how our top 3 lads stand at the moment, Louk is continuing his extremely impressive comeback, he's easily the most talented of the three, but injury problems effectively ended his career a few years ago. James made the qualifying cut for the French open, while Sam is doing quite well for his age.
Hopefully James and Louk are in the top 200 by the time Wimbledon rolls round.

James Cluskey has been having a terrible season in doubles, dropped to 161 at the moment, but he's played two singles competitions in the last month and managed to win 4 matches between the two, it'll be interesting to see how he does if he enters a few more singles comps..


Amy Bowtell also won a ladies ITF event in the last week or so!

[Acornvilla]

Any mods want to rename this thread by the way? :P

James McGee won 1st round of qualifying in Roland Garros today, his first ever grand slam win. His side of the draw could have been a lot tougher so it'd be amazing for him if he could pick up even one more win. The money even in grand slam qualifying will be much higher than anything he's ever made before. Delighted for him!

[swinfordfc]

Who is he up against in the 2nd Q Round and when it's on?

[Real ale Madrid]

Who is he up against in the 2nd Q Round and when it's on?

Plays Guido Pella from Argentina sometime tomorrow, ranked 120. I guess the order of play will be posted soon enough.

[Acornvilla]

Who is he up against in the 2nd Q Round and when it's on?
Guido Pella, tomorrow, Argentinian lad, #120 in the world. Seasoned clay courter, so it'd be a huge upset if James can get a win but he has a dodgy enough backhand so there's hope.

Edit: Beaten to it while I was typing! :D

In other news, James Cluskey is through to a semi finals of a doubles comp in Uzbekistan. Badly needed some wins this week, and he has two so far!

[Real ale Madrid]

Pella v McGee - just started on Court 12 - Good luck to him.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/index.manual.html