Tennis musings for 2015 go here!
Aussie Open qualies overnight.
McGee through to rd 2 beat 12. Gombos of Slovakia 16 63 62
Sorensen out though - beaten by Millot of France 60 61 - ouch!
McGee plays an Aussie next. Dane Propoggia - currently ranked 323. Should be an opportunity for McGee to progress further but will be tough to play against a home player one would imagine.
yes that game is on during the middle of the night - should win it but will the home crowd pull the Ozzie into the 3rd round?
Sorensen was always going to lose that match in fairest! - just a bad draw for him!
James is going to have it all in front of him if he makes the main draw. He's a lovely lad, a bit mental, but a dogged, tough pro. It would be lovely to see him make the main draw, win a round and break the top 100, but his size and build count against him, plus he's a staunch non-doping head. It augurs well for the Davis Cup team, even if Garry is out. And this morning it was interesting to hear Tommy Carr's young lad is going pro. He was a good little player a few years back, but I never reckoned he'd make the jump.
McGee beaten overnight 63 64. Picked up AUS$8,000 for his troubles - about €5,500
Taught he win that game to be honest! McGee plays well one game, then cant get up to the same levels next time out! .... that what holding him back!Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
James is a good lad but he's just a step off the pace. I would guarantee that if he had full management, 100grand a year and getting looked after, he'd break the top-100 and peak at around 80 naturally. But it's the never ending slog of trying to get money to travel, get to the right tournaments, change flights, get visas, plan etc etc, it's a ain in the backside.
Dumb example - I was at the Russian Embassy over on Orwell Road with a former colleague (well known Irish football coach) and we walked in, got his visa registered and were on our way. James and James (Cluskey and McGee) were heading to a challenger in Russia, I think in Saransk, and were knocked back at the window - because the organisers in Russia had sent the wrong invite plus they had filled in the forms incorrect (or didn't play cute with the form). Tennis Ireland have full time admin staff, but they don't help our travelling pros, especially those who are not extra special. So 2 Irish pros, who shouldn't have to queue for a visa, wasted 2 periods of time (plus a 3rd to go collect their passports) and suffer the stress and stupidity of organisers. Not one Polish player (Junior or Senior) goes through this. No Latvian player (junior or pro) goes through this. And I do not believe any self-respecting player would be queueing up for visas without everything being 100%. It's pro sport Ireland style. A bit of TLC and all our "nearly there" tennis pros would do us proud!
Some interesting insight there alright Spud - professional sport is all about the little things.
Will try and track the efforts of all the Irish pro's throughout the year and not just at Slam qualifiers and we can see how they are doing over the year.
If they break into the top 200 and stayed in it - they doing well. i dont think they get any higher!
Thanks Real Ale, it's frustrating to see talent (as we have in Ireland) peter out as it does. One player who had a lot of the tools to make a good move, and still can despite injuries, is Amy Bowtell, Swinford is right about a top-200 placing. If you break the top-200 you should stay there. For women it's easier and if you're a man and top-200, you can start to at least survive.
I noticed some really interesting results on the WTA tour where players I knew were suddenly leaping up the rankings, mainly due to the fact that there were increased tournaments (especially the new-ish WTA bridging events). If a player has a well planned schedule, plays a good mix of events and goes to far flung places (for women - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, and especially Japan) the gap between 1000th and 500th is pretty small, the leap up from 500-300 is doable, and from there on up it means winning a $25k, a couple of $10k's and suddenly you're knocking on the WTA tour door and get to 150 and you're Grand Slam eligible. But, it's all about money!
Louk Sorensen #217 in singles
James McGee #224 in singles
Sam Barry #325 in singles #395 in doubles
James Cluskey #155 in doubles
David O' Hare #294 in doubles
Amy is just inside the top 400 in the WTA rankings for the 1st time. I'm guessing this is the best crop we've ever had?
Cluskey and especially David O' Hare should absolutely fly up the rankings, both have almost no points to defend pre Wimbledon, so there's a good chance they could join James and Louk in the Quali rounds, if everyone stays fit and whatnot.
I read pre Aussie open that McGee now has a full time coach traveling with him for the 1st time and he's been working exceptionally hard on improving his endurance. So it'll be interesting to see if he can push anywhere near 150, now that he has a bit more financial and coaching stability. That kid he lost to is one of the best Juniors in the world, the Aussie youth structure is churning an unbelievable amount of talent at the minute.
Edit: I think we have a lad from Limerick called Bjorn Thompson playing in the AO juniors. I'll keep an eye out and see how he does.
Last edited by Acornvilla; 18/01/2015 at 2:08 PM.
Great stuff Acorn, but I think James (Cluskey) will have a hard time getting back on track in doubles, he is very talented and a loevly lad, but just is lacking the finance.
Amy Bowtell, a big winner with crowd funding, broke 400 last month and now has a chance to break 300. But she lost to a really poor player recently after what should have been a glorious Autumn ( 2 $10k's that were ignored in our meeja). She was very unlucky, I was told, to have lost to a really solid girl from Luxembourg when she had chances to serve out the match. She started the year well, even knocking off the (personal feelings removed) now top-100 Diatchenko, her former training partner in DCU. She's not been too adventurous with her tournament choice and is missing out because of this, but...what Mammy wants Mammy gets.
I can't say I know as much about Amy's situation as I do the lads, but from what you've said, it seems far from ideal, she's obviously very talented thou, and from what I read, she's very ambitions and says all the right things, but needs to get a lot more consistent with her results, last Autumn obviously being a very good stepping stone for that.
Clusk is over in the US at the moment and partnering Freddy Nielsen, former Wimbledon Doubles champion, in the next two USTA challenger competitions, so if he's ever going to get a run of half decent results, now is the time. They lost an ITF final last week in a tiebreaker, after winning the 1st set, then went out in the QF of another this week. The draws were terribly weak and it's a shame they didn't even win one, having been top seeds for both..
I'd agree with you, but sometimes it just takes 1/2 big results to change a career trajectory so here's hoping he can do something. Top 100 really isn't out of the question if he could match his last 6 months results with the upcoming 6. The big issue of course is that 'IF'
David O' Hare seems a very good prospect, he had no ranking this time last year, he'll likely surpass James in the coming months, it does bode well for our Davis cup team that we have a few lads playing at a high level now.
If Cluskey can push on and get some consistency, you're right, it's a great boost for Irish tennis. If our team gets it together with the new DC captain (though I'm a big iffy on whether it's the right person), getting past Belarus takes out the biggest threat in that half of the draw. Turkey have 1 player (Ilhan) and he's a flat track bully. South Africa are club players with 1 top class doubles specialist (Klaasen), Finland are Niemenen (though with Kontinen, if he plays, it's a tough doubles team). Portugal have some good players but they might not all turn out (or be invited). Monaco and Morocco have some French club players but nothing special. How great it'd be to see Ireland in Group 1!!!
Amy is Amy, she's almost childlike, but has the height, balance and strength to do something. If she chooses her tournaments right (next up is Sunderland), if she picks up another $10k or two, then starts making waves in the $25k level (winning one tournament leaves her on the edge of the top-300), if she sets a realistic goal - Aussie Open qualies in 2016, she will do it. She could even, by the end of the Summer, get a foot in the US Open qualies, though this is unlikely.
It's far easier for women to make strides, but far more expensive, and harder to make a living.
Absolute destruction of women's seeds in the Aus Open, some real surprises, though opens the door for Serena Williams and Sharapova to blaze a trail.
Ivanovic lost already? My girl Christina McHale threw up all over the place then felt better and won.
Sloane Stephens sucks. Here's Christina vomiting. http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/christina-mchale-pukes-all-over-australian-open-tennis-1680396212
Last edited by Crosby87; 20/01/2015 at 10:41 PM.
Panova dragging Maria into a 3rd set.
Sloane seems to have bought into her own hype. There is a level of decent US girls who have struggled up the rankings (some via the NCAA route), Madison Brengle - who is supposed to be signing a deal with a certain underwear manufacturer - for example. Sloane is going to have to knuckl down.
Good to see Maria get through, but I wonder will she have the strength to win the whole thing.
Has anybody heard or read this madness about Genie Bouchard? She was asked after the match to "give a twirl", and suddenly the gombeens and talking heads of stupidity went off on one. The girl herself laughed it off and said she'd do it again, I spoke with a former client and still friend who is in shock by the preciousness of it all. Male and female tennis players are asked to do mad things to promote sponsors or events, this was an on-court interview and in Australia (especially) they don't stand on ceremony with anyone. All this heat but no light.
Asking a young girl to do a "twirl" on court after a match ? I thought it was 1955 for a second not 2015. Disgraceful.
Anyhow - big news overnight - Rodger Federer is out. Beaten in 4 by Seppi.
Real Ale, did you see Sloane Stephens as a knife throwing "victim", or worse, I'd to suffer a "karaokethon" with players (sponsor was a music system company) and I didn't venture near karaoke for years! The "twirl" was on top of Serena modelling her new designs and the skit taking going on between the girls. When Novak Djokovic dragged up like Serena only the usual voices shouted, except Serena who took off Novak. What we, as plebs, don't know is that some of these girls and guys enjoy the craic. Bouchard handled it great.
Federer - end of the line I think. Seppi is not a great player, but Federer looked tired.
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