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2003 photosWith Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski injured for the Davis Cup tie against Australia on clay in January, captain Roger Taylor was forced to give some of the younger British players a chance. He selected clay-court specialist Alan Mackin, Alex Bogdanovic, doubles specialist Miles Maclagan and GB no 4 Arvind Parmar
Alex in training in Australia:
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Alex was nominated as the 2nd singles player and at just 18 handed one of the most daunting tasks in men's tennis, taking on the world no 1 and reigning Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt in front of a partisan home crowd !!! Many pundits expected the match to be a complete walkover for Hewitt but Boggo rose to the task and stormed to a 4-2 first set lead. BBC commentators said that from the first 6 games, one would have thought Boggo was the world no 1 ! However, Hewitt hit back and edged the 1st set 7-5, but being forced to play some of his very best tennis. In sets 2 and 3 the Aussie was just too good producing some trademark brilliant winners on the run when it looked like Boggo had the point won. He won the match 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 but Alex was able to take heart from pushing him so hard for a set.
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With GB 4-0 down and facing a humiliating whitewash; Alex was nominated to play the final singles rubber against one of the legends of tennis - Todd Woodbridge, winner of grand slams titles on all 4 surfaces and a former top 100 singles player. Alex produced arguably the best performance of his career at this point to win 6-2, 7-6
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Alex attacks with a backhand on the way to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Australia's Jaymon Crabb in rd1 of the Surbiton Trophy, the opening tournament of the grass-court season
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Alex defeated Canadian Frederic Niemeyer 7-5, 6-3 in rd2 of Surbiton before beating George Bastl 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the quarters [the photo below shows Alex in action in this match]. Afterwards Alex described this win as the biggest of his career
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Alex reached his first challenger final by defeating the giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic in a dramatic 3 setter with no breaks 6-7[7], 7-6[3], 7-6[7]. In the final he faced South African Wesley Moodie. Moodie won 6-4, 6-7[2], 6-1 but Alex had become the first British player ever to make the Surbiton final. These photos are from the Bogdanovic-Moodie match
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Alex was awarded a wildcard into ATP Queens for the 2nd year running, n rd1 he faced British qualifier Arvind Parmar. Alex won a tight match 6-7[3], 6-4, 7-6[2]
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Alex in action during his 2nd round defeat to France's Anthony Dupuis. Alex took the 1st set 6-3 but missed several match points in the next two sets and lost them 6-7[6], 6-7[9]. Dupuis went on to reach the quarters
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Alex was awarded a wildcard into the ATP Nottingham main draw and he took full advantage, producing the best performance of his career at this moment, to beat former top 20 player and Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Bogdanovic looked on course for a straight sets victory when he led by a set and a break but suffered a concentration lapse and Gambill to full advantage. However, it was the 19 year old Briton who held his nerve in the decider.
Speaking afterwards Bogdanovic said "It's definitely the best win of my career. I was expecting to feel a bit nervous on a centre court but I was playing really well and he really couldn't hurt me. I lost a little bit of concentration in the second set but I hung on very well and stayed aggressive and it gives you a lot of confidence."
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Alex's run in ATP Nottingham ended in rd2 with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to former Wimbledon semi-finalist Vladimir Voltchkov. Speaking after the match Alex admitted that he'd run out of steam after all the matches he'd played recently:
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Alex was given a wildcard into Wimbledon in recognition of his fantastic results in Surbiton, Queens and Nottingham. Unfortunately, his opponent,
Armenia's Sargis Sargisian, was just red-hot on the day and completely outhit Alex, winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
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Alex was selected for the Davis Cup squad to face Morocco, away on red clay in September 2003. GB fell 2-0 down, losing the opening day's singles rubbers but they hit back, taking the doubles and then on day 3 Tim Henman played one of his best ever rubbers to beat Younes El Aynaoui to level things at 2-2. Unfortunately Greg Rusedski slipped to an agonising 4 set defeat to Hicham Arazi in the decisive 5th rubber and GB lost the tie 3-2
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