alexbogdanovic.myfreeforum.org

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Alex in action in Aussie Open qualies, after qualifying for the US Open in 2004, Alex was confident of repeating the feat down under. He started with a confident 6-3, 6-3 win over Ladislav Svarc but unfortunately he ran out of steam in the deciding set of his match against giant Croat Roko Karanusic and lost 6-7[6], 6-3, 1-6.

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admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Alex in action at the Wroclaw challenger on indoor carpet in Poland. Alex gained revenge for his Wrexham defeat against George Bastl, beating him 6-3, 4-1 ret in rd1, he then won a mammoth encounter against Lukas Dlouhy in rd2, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 before losing to eventual winner Robin Vik in the quarters 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

In February Alex returned to Belgrade in Serbia and Montenegro, the city of his birth. This inspired him to a superb run of form in the challenger there and he reached the semis; beating Francesco Aldi 6-1, 7-6, Jan Vacek 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, Alex Waske 6-3, 7-6 before losing to Jeroem Masson 4-6, 6-7.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Following his superb run of form in Belgrade, Alex was given a SE [special exemption] place in the Besancon 100K challenger, a level up from the 50ks and 75ks which he normally plays. Unfortunately, Alex got the worst possible draw, facing top seed Fabrice Santoro in rd1. Alex pushed Santoro extremely hard in the first set, losing it 9-7 in the tiebreak before Santoro's extra experience showed in set 2 which he won 6-2.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

In recognition of his excellent form in the past 8 months Alex was selected for the Davis Cup squad to face Israel in Tel Aviv.

Alex during and after training:

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Unfortunately Alex lost the 2nd rubber of the Davis Cup tie to Noam Okun 7-6, 6-2, 6-2. Alex led 5-2 in the first set but nerves struck him when serving for the set and Okun broke back.
Afterwards Bogdanovic admitted: "I didn't really take my chances today and he managed to turn the match around. I think if I had won the first set it would have been a different story. "I definitely think I can improve a lot on this one. I've got to go back and learn what I didn't do well. "It was my second Davis Cup match and it was tough at times but it was a great lesson out there. You can only get better from here and you are going to learn from stuff like this."
Team captain Bates defended Bogdanovic afterwards, pointing out that he lost to a higher-ranked player in Okun. "I have phenomenal belief in Alex and I believe he could have won that match but it's a five-set match, and over three hours matches do go up and down."

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

After 3 months away competing in tournaments, Alex returned to Britain for the Nottingham challenger in April. However, unfortunately it wasn't a happy homecoming for Alex who lost 7-5, 6-2 to Jamie Delgado in rd1.

Alex at the players dinner during the San Remo clay-court challenger. He lost in rd1 in 3 sets to 2nd seeded Frenchman Olivier Mutis.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Alex in action in rd1 of the Surbiton challenger, the opening tournament of the grass-court season

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 220 Location: London

Alex in action during his rd1 qualifying match against France's Jean Pequery at ATP Queens. Alex won in 3 sets but lost in rd2 against the massive serving South African Wesley Moodie [who went on to win the Wimbledon doubles title that year]

Alex came his closest yet to a rd1 win at Wimbledon, taking the 1st set on a tiebreak against American Kevin Kim. However, the American's astonishing retrieving abilities eventually frustrated Bogdanovic and Kim took the next 3 sets to win 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2