2013 Aegon Championships

It's my third favourite tournament of the year!!! Headlining the bill is Sir Andrew of Murray who will be hoping to do better than last year which we will not speak of. Second seed is Berdych. The third seed is DelPo who is making a long-awaited appearance at Queen's Club and the number 4 seed is grass court extraordinaire Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Amongst the other seeds are previous champions Sam Querrey and Marin Cilic and Federer-wannabe Grigor Dimitrov. Also, keep an eye on 12th seed Lukas Rosol as he has potential.

ualifying is currently underway with Feliciano "Deliciano" Lopez as the top seed. There are also a plethora of Brits in action including ex-British-number-2 Alex Bogdanovic.

The main draw isn't out yet unfortunately but I'll keep looking.

Draw: http://www.lta.org.uk/3G/Tournaments/AEGONChampionships/Draws/2013/MDS.pdf

A decent looking line-up this year as well. Looking forward to it and hope Andy's injury is behind him now.

The draw's out at about 4pm....................................................

Tsonga in the same half as Murray meaning DelPo and Berdych are in the other half. Murray could face Mahut in the second round again but I reckon there will be no repeat result.

I don't think Dimitrov is in his half though which is a good thing (hopefully Berdych gets him).

I'm not particularly bothered who Murray has got - if he plays well on grass and his three rivals are missing he wins

He's had a lot of practice time too which I feel is very important for him. He could play Rosol though!! (I'll stick the draw in the OP)

Dan Evans v Guido Pella
James Ward v Ivan Dodig (then Cilic if he wins so he can do some Davis Cup scouting)
Kyle Edmund v Gregor Zemlja
Edward Corrie v Sergiy Stakovskhy

I'm guessing Guido Pella is more at home in clay than grass so might be a chance for Evans.

There are 6 (yes, 6!!!) Brits in the draw after Jamie Baker qualified. I hope to see a few of them on the TV, especially Evo.

Tomorrow's OOP on Centre (play starts at 12:30):

Evans v Pella
Ward v Dodig
Hewitt v Russell
Sela v Dimitrov

There's no rain scheduled but then again this is Britain...

Looking forward to seeing Edmund play. He is the great British hope for the next generation from what I hear.

Anyone know how Golding and Broady have been getting on this year? I expected to hear a bit more about them in 2013, particularly Golding who really impressed me at Wimbledon last year.

I watched Daniel Evans play Mathew Ebden in the quarters at Nottingham on Friday. He lost in straight sets. From what I could see both players had similar ability but Evans was so nervous and twitchy it looked like that made the difference.

He was arguing over line calls (No hawkeye), telling the little ball kids off, giving members of the audience dirty looks for disturbing him, getting really down on himself when things didn't go well and fist pumping and getting over excited when they went well. I lost count of of the number of times he threw his raquet and he got a warning for hitting a ball for six. Meanwhile Ebden was the picture of calm. It was difficult to tell what the score was by looking at him.

Maybe Evans always plays like this and I would have thought differently if he won... But I couldn't help feeling he needed someone to tell him to "calm it".

One of the Davis Cup commentators said that Evans seems to play better in that tournament because Leon Smith can keep having a word with him to calm him down and focus him. At the risk of stating the most obvious thing imaginable in this situation, he needs a good coach to set him straight. I shall watch out for any unruly behaviour tomorrow if his match is televised.

I did look round to see if he had a coach present because I thought that might help. Someone to give him a look. But he didn't appear to have anyone. In fairness neither did Ebden. So I agree having someone with him might help.

Danny_1982 wrote:Looking forward to seeing Edmund play. He is the great British hope for the next generation from what I hear.

Anyone know how Golding and Broady have been getting on this year? I expected to hear a bit more about them in 2013, particularly Golding who really impressed me at Wimbledon last year.

Edmund is the great british hope for the next generation - Really? I thought it was Oliver Golding and Liam Broady. Also what about the Aussie born player Brydan Klein who for some reason has decided that he wants to go down the Greg Rusdeski path by representing GB from now on?

I thought Golding had great potential when I saw him play at Wimbledon last year, but he's 20 in September and ranked only just inside the top 600.

Edmund turned 18 a few months ago and ranked at around 440 and rising. I've not seen him play, I'm just going off what a lot of people seem to be saying. Grinning Greg thinks he's the best youngster.

Oh my.... Have I just justified an opinion by saying Greg agrees?!

Danny_1982 wrote:I thought Golding had great potential when I saw him play at Wimbledon last year, but he's 20 in September and ranked only just inside the top 600.

Edmund turned 18 a few months ago and ranked at around 440 and rising. I've not seen him play, I'm just going off what a lot of people seem to be saying. Grinning Greg thinks he's the best youngster.

Oh my.... Have I just justified an opinion by saying Greg agrees?!

Edmund looks like a young Mark Petchey! Hopefully though he turns out to be a better player than what Mark was!

To be fair Petch got up to #80, only Henman, Murray and Rusedski got higher since. Bridging 440 to 80, and junior to senior success is a huge task. I wish him well, hope he can make it.

Was Golding injured, he didn't play from mid-October to mid-March?

He then had what appears to be a pretty terrible return, though last week he made a Futures final and his performance has picked up.

ryan86 wrote:Was Golding injured, he didn't play from mid-October to mid-March?

He then had what appears to be a pretty terrible return, though last week he made a Futures final and his performance has picked up.

He was badly injured for a few months (on crutches and all). I don't know what happened to him to cause it though but he's back and doing ok.

Grass!!! Lovely grass. How I have missed thee. Anyway, a nice hold to love for Evans in his first game. He's got a great chance here.

And there's Evans crocked when he slips on the grass and gets the trainer out. It looks like he's hurt his hip and I really don't see him continuing now.

But he has continued and is now firing winners!! Don't mention "Murray"

As I type this, Pella slips this time. Wet grass is not safe to play on so why are they letting this happen?

Evans has dismantled Pella 6-3 6-1. That's not a bad win against someone ranked 202 places ahead of you in the rankings, although we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves as this was Pella's first ever match on grass.

Why is this a 250?

I'm asking as its a 56 draw, that's quite big. What would it need to do to be a 500? I know it wouldn't be purely down to draw size, but what exactly?

No idea Dave. It really should be a 1000, never mind a 250 or 500.

Wardy's away to dump out Dodig. Not a bad day for the Brits

Oh Wardy, 2 match points blown

Aye, if anything it should be a 1000. Perhaps its size, but there needs to be a Grass 1000. Hopefull with there being a three week gap between RG and Wimby soon there could be a chance.

Wardy, you have absolutely 0 bottle. He's served for 3 sets (twice for the match!!) and failed every time. Far too passive on the big points.

just posted on the Brit watch thread as I hadn't seen this one.

Regardless of Pella's grass court pedigree (and apparently he has absolutely none) to beat someone ranked that high above you 3 and 1 is pretty impressive. I watched a bit and Evans was easily the better player. It's also 10 useful points for him (back where he is in the rankings 10 points is pretty useful and should see him pick up a few more places).

Disappointing for Ward, especially to see he served for it (twice) and wasted MPs. Was it a case of him bottling it, or Dodig playing those points better? Either way, a real chance gone there.

Baker went down 7-5 6-2 to Benoit Paire. No great shame in that, and he did well to come through qualifying.

Next up for Evans is Harrison or Nieminen. He beat Harrison last week at Nottingham, Nieminen would be a really tough match but not impossible...

He didn't play a great service game either time MFC.

Watching Hewitt atm - I was at Queens in 2002 and Hewitt was absolutely awesome, he looked invincible and there was nothing he couldn't get to - his accuracy was amazing - looking far from any of those things at the moment sadly.

He was far too passive on the big points MfC. On his 2nd match point he could have belted a winner twice but was just satisfied to get it back into the middle of the court and wait for the error and probably deserved to lose.

Evans was superb though. Pella didn't play woefully either which makes it better. If he's ranked in the top 100, that should give Evans hope.

Sela had good run in 2010, and he may just take out Dimitrov. He is already up a set.

Dimitrov beginning to play much better - looking very Federesque at times, but without the fleet of foot!

Maria in the audience - I would be very scared if I were him and he came away the loser of this match!

Did he just serve a 145mph serve?

time please wrote:Maria in the audience - I would be very scared if I were him and he came away the loser of this match!

I can imagine a Blonde Dominatrix.

The Special Juan wrote:No idea Dave. It really should be a 1000, never mind a 250 or 500.

Wardy's away to dump out Dodig. Not a bad day for the Brits

From previous delvings into the strange ways of the ITF's machinations, I think its to do with tournament size, ie..seating and amenities. If its large enough, you can put in a tender for a rise in the rankings. But there's a long waiting list as far as my memory goes.

laverfan wrote:

time please wrote:Maria in the audience - I would be very scared if I were him and he came away the loser of this match!

I can imagine a Blonde Dominatrix.

So can I by the expression on her face atm

Bl**dy silly Dimitrov gives the break straight back to Sela. GD plays some gorgeous shots - some of his serving has been beyond awesome, but he looks too slow to the ball sometime (compared with Fed of old, and the super trio atm).

Very dark at Queens now!

And now Sela breaks, and will serve for the match. He has played well but Dimitrov has been too careless at times.

JubbaIsle wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:No idea Dave. It really should be a 1000, never mind a 250 or 500.

Wardy's away to dump out Dodig. Not a bad day for the Brits

From previous delvings into the strange ways of the ITF's machinations, I think its to do with tournament size, ie..seating and amenities. If its large enough, you can put in a tender for a rise in the rankings. But there's a long waiting list as far as my memory goes.

Thanks for that. Can never get my head round it.

Dimitrov breaks back.

Sella lost it from5-4 in the 3rd, now serving to stay in the match against Dimitrov.

handy double fault from Sela, and Dimitrov takes the match on the next point.

Ball girls very excited about Grigor!!!!!

Good boy Dimitrov, take out Berdych for me please

Dave. wrote:

JubbaIsle wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:No idea Dave. It really should be a 1000, never mind a 250 or 500.

Wardy's away to dump out Dodig. Not a bad day for the Brits

From previous delvings into the strange ways of the ITF's machinations, I think its to do with tournament size, ie..seating and amenities. If its large enough, you can put in a tender for a rise in the rankings. But there's a long waiting list as far as my memory goes.

Thanks for that. Can never get my head round it.

I may be a bit behind the times Dave....

Arthur Ashe centre court capacity = 23000, slam 2000 points
Wimbledon cc cap = 15000 - slam 2000 points
Shanghai cc cap = 15000 - masters 1000 points
Cincinnati cc cap = 11400 - masters 1000 points
Hamburg cc cap = 13300 - masters 500 points
Thailand cc cap = 12000 - masters 250 points

Not sure now......"In 2009 the ATP introduced a new tour structure called ATP World Tour consisting of ATP World Tour Masters 1000, ATP World Tour 500, and ATP World Tour 250 tier tournaments. Broadly speaking the Tennis Masters Series tournaments became the new Masters 1000 level and ATP International Series Gold and ATP International Series events became ATP 500 level and 250 level events respectively"

So since then the structure has changed, amongst other shifts, Hamburg was dropped, then reserved but had its status changed to 500 from 1000 in place of the Monte Carlo masters which eventually kept its 1000 status. All a bit confusing, I wish I hadn't stuck my neck out now

I did not see this match but sounds very interesting - Dodig d Ward 6/7(8) 7/6(2) 7/6(2). Wow.

I never knew that Querrey was only 25 (ie younger than Murray and Djokovic!!). He's been around a long time or so it feels.

Bedene looks like a good player in the making. He's not going to be challenging for majors or that in the future but doesn't look out of place against Querrey on grass. His forehand is very nice indeed.

It's a pretty good field, hope it goes better than last year

Not directly related to today's actual play as per the thread, but during the rain break the Beeb managed to fill the down time with some useful stuff (a rare thing ....)

First up they had an interview with two of the ATP travelling umpires. Can't remember either name I'm afraid but one was French and had just umpired the RG Final ; the other was Irish. Some very interesting and thoughtful insights from both into the life of a full-time umpire on the men's tour. John Inverdale as interviewer was surprisingly well-behaved and asked some very sensible questions .... certainly the sort that I and I'm sure many of us here would have wanted to ask ourselves.

Then moved back to the normal studio where even the dippy Sue Barker failed to sabotage a worthwhile discussion with Lloyd and Fleming on changing behaviour in general by the top players over the years but more specifically the time-keeping rule. Fleming was convinced that the simplest way to enforce the rule properly once & for all was to have a visible countdown clock on the court so that everybody could see just what was happening and that the rule was being applied universally and fairly. Lloyd was in agreement and commented that umpires have been willing to go through the first stage of imposing a penalty, but that so far none of them had shown the guts to go to the next. This meant that the players concerned mended their ways initially but then invariably reverted to type later in the match once the initial fuss had died down. Neither of them hesitated as regards naming Rafa as the most serial offender of all.