Metz ATP

Jac · Metz ATP

Alex is in the qualies here, won his 1st match vs Wintermantel 75 64 (note how to beat a player ranked in the 600's).

has a tough final match vs Sebastian De Chaunac, who has beaten Alex on the last few occasions, and is having the best year of his career currently.

Adam OUFC · Re: Metz ATP

Jac

update:

boggo lost 1st set 61 (all games bar 1st went to deuce!) but hit back to take the 2nd 61 and set is up for a decider, which will probably be a TB!

oggy

De Chaunac is over 100 places higher and yet boggo romped that second set.

6-5 atm to De Chaunac - Boggo to serve

oggy

Tie break time - come on boggo

oggy

4-2 up in the tie break - surely

oggy

match point De Chanauc Sad

Jac

a real sad ending. alex did well to get into the TB, saved 3 mp's in a row serving at 5-4. had his mp but couldn't take it, SDC is having the best year if his career and probably had that extra confidence when it really counted.

Killerking

what a sucess.

oggy

Jono

gutted,no points,no lucky loser,no doubles, but 500 euros..such a shame..

paulsawyer

Well it's a tough old sport, that said it sounds like Alex has had one good win and another match from which to take plenty of positives.
That said, he will have to up his level in the coming months and especially over the winter break if he is to make his career and support worthwhile.
He can do it, we all know he's got the ingredients, i just think he needs a coach to push him and encourage him.
500 euros would do me nicely right now Razz

Jac

yeah E500 wouldn't be bad right now either Smile

although in truth i doubt it did much more than cover the transport costs for Alex.

As he's got no points to defend a few good results towards the end of the year could leave the year as a whole looking pretty different, he lined up a fairly intensive schedule i believe starting with Mons qualies the playing almost every week will the year end, maybe mixing in another 1 or 2 shots at ATP Qualies.

paulsawyer

Yeah he might as well just go all out till season-end now as he has nothing to lose! Let me know when and where he's playing so i can keep an eye on it Smile

yeah true it ain't bad for us but it's no good to alex and no consolation either i imagine.. he needs to be playing quallies for ATP events more often in my opinion cos it only takes a good draw and his ranking cud rocket
If you speak to the Bogster, tell him he's a legend Very Happy

Jac

Funnily enough I did speak briefly with Alex on this last night. The option is there to play right into December, although I think he will be hoping to have picked up enough points before then to allow him to stop earlier. (I get the impression that he wants to make sure he ends the year in the top 200 - obviously higher would be nice). The downside of playing so late in the year is that you do not get any decent time off between the season to both rest a bit and do the intense physical training players like to scheduled in for then. Normally players will be heading off to their 1st event around New Years Eve so it's not a long break. And if you don’t get enough rest its easy to start the year feeling jaded and then playing ‘catch up’.

Currently he is defiantly down to play Kolding Challenger in Denmark, and I'd expect to also see him at the Eckental Challenger in Germany and also Jersey Challenger.

I think he may try a couple more ATP Q’s, possibly opting for Stockholm Qualies instead of the Orleans challenger (where he'd probably need to qualify too) and most likely Lyon qualies as well.

For some reason we are seeing the big challengers having very strong draws this year, Mons has 15 top 100 players in the main draw! Alex is not sure yet if he will go for the qualies here, feeling he may be better of to spend the time training.

oggy

Does Boggo ever look at this site?

Whats his overall ambitions?

What rank does he want to be?

Does he want to play Davis Cup again?

Jac

I don't think he looks at the forum Oggy (no bad thing sometimes considering some of the posts i have to delete!) but i think he occasionally checks out the main site and guest book etc.

i can't really answer the middle 2 questions, but as for the 4th, yes he wants to play DC again, although i think he realizes that under the current captaincy his chances are slim, especially if he is ranked around the same as the other contenders.

oggy

I would love to know what his aspirations are though! Weather he wants to be a top player etc!

I wish Boggo the best of luck I really do!

I hope he can realise his potential and get the results we crave!

Maybe its a case of the right coach I dont know. I hope he figures it out fast!!!!!

Adam OUFC

Jac

obviously at the end of the day Alex has to take responsibility for his career, however i don't think various actions by the LTA have assisted him. Alex best spell of his career came when he was separated from the LTA (when he reached 108) and was being coached by Mike Raphael. I'm not saying it was Mike that was the difference, but perhaps for Alex being away from the LTA etc helped him in some way. Since then Alex has also had a succession of coaches inc Lundgern and Gilbert, and maybe Gilbert was too high profile for a guy on the challenger circuit.

Killerking

Jac

i didn't blame the LTA, i just said i don't think they have assisted him in a beneficial way, Alex must bear the responsibility for his career as i stated. But show me a player the LTA have assisted to reach the top?

Metz ATP

Re: Metz ATP