I was just looking back at the earlier part of the GB Pro Season (ie events played in the GB at Futures, Challenger and Tour/Slam level) to see to what degree any of the British players this year had managed to put some sort of consistent run together. In part thinking ahead to how likely it is in these next two weeks and this week.

The GB domestic pro season can effectively be split into 5 sections or seasons:

1) F1 to F3 - the 3 Futures events played on indoor hardcourt in the early months of the year, Feb-Mar

2) The two Challenger events - Glasgow and Loughborough - played on indoor hardcourts in the spring

3) The summer grass court challengers

4) the Tour level Pro season - Queens, Eastbourne, Wimbledon

5) The current F4-F6 hardcourt events being played.

I was interested to see if any player had made 2 or more quarterfinals in each of those seasons:

Season 1 - F1-F3 - Marcus WIllis, Neil Pauffley, Ed Corrie, Lloyd Glasspool and Evan Hoyt each made one QF over 3 weeks. Jack Findel-Hawkins made a semi. But no Brit made the QF stage in more than one week out of the 3. The only player who made more than one QF in this section of the season was Michael Neuchrist from Germany who had a QF, Semi and then RU in each week. But no Brit showed any consistent form

Season 2 - The two indoor challengers - James Ward made the final in one of these events and the last 16 the week before so was close, but not quite there in terms of two strong weeks. The only player to make two QF appearances was another German, Brands, who made QF in both weeks. If there had been a third week, maybe Wardy would have got another QF, we wont know!

Season 3- Grass challengers - This period showed a bit more consistency with 4 players making two QF rounds over the 3 weeks. Polansky (2 QF rounds), Stakhovsky (a win and a QF as well as last 16 in the other) and De Minaur (a win and a RU) are 3 of them. Dan Evans was the other and showed consistent form over the 3 weeks with a semi and a RU position before going off to play with the big boys at Queens. So Dan was a first consistent man at home of the year.

Season 4 - the ATP/Slam level big time - Cam Norrie and Kyle Edmund made the Eastbourne QF but that was just one week. One player again made it to two QF stages in this period, Novak Djokovic who was RU at Queens before winning Wimbledon.

Season 5 - the F4 -F6 stage. Started well for the Brits but the experience so far this season suggests that it will be a surprise if one of them can do it in more than one week. Harris. Watson, Peniston, Aswat and Draper have all made the first QF. Based on the above we can expect probably one or two players total to make more than one QF stage over the 3 weeks (7 players total have done it over the 4 "seasons", averaging 1.75 players per season, 1 Brit (Evo) has done it so far.

Indeed in the 12 weeks played in the GB to date (incl this week currently playing) only 3 Brits have made more than one QF in total - Lloyd Glasspool made the QF both weeks in Glasgow in F1 and then Glasgow Challenger; Wardy made 2 weeks to QF stage (Loughborough and then Nottingham Challenger); and Evo made 2 also (Surbiton and Nottingham Challenger events). Indeed, only one player has made 3 or more Pro level QF stages and that is the above mentioned Michael Neuchrist who as well as reaching the F1- F3 QF stages or better, also made it to the semis in the Loughborough Challenger.

But with 5 having done it this first week and as CD points out above, weak fields expected in the other two weeks, perhaps this is the chance for one player at least to spring out and maybe have a set of weeks that really springs them up the rankings. It seems almost impossible to imagine from the past season gone that one player (or even one Brit) will make all 3 QF stages, and even two seems like it will look like a strong set of weeks for anyone who can do it

In the meantime hopefully, one of Watson, Draper or Peniston can win this week and at least give themselves a good start to the final season of the year.

flamingowings wrote:

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Kyle vs Djokovic was R3 at Wimbledon Jon, not a QF.

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 Hi - yeah, I think I said Kyle made the QF at Eastbourne (as did Cam) but that was all. Agreed, he didnt make Wimby QF (dont think I said that though although might be badly worded) but obviously Novak did make the QF stage and went onto win that as well as his RU at Queens.  

Lots of swings in this match but Watson has finally taken the second set on a tie-break (to zero) and so they're into a third set....

Unseeded winner it is with all 3 left being outside the seeds. Going to be an interesting few weeks, someone could really gain a decent rise in the rankings over the next few weeks with a good run of events.

Jonathan & Scott are s! 

Can Jack do what the Loff just failed to do and win his first Futures whilst still in his teens? We shall see....

What time does play start?