Steve J wrote:

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Unsurprisingly, Italy beat Slovakia. Paolini defeating Sramkova 2&1 in 65 minutes.

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 Yes, I mean who was out there giving Sramkova and Slovakia much chance?   

Yes Katie let her nerves hold her back on both these occassions. Now that she has made massive inroads in her movement the mental side is now her biggest weakness. Hopefully she can work on that but i fear not everyone is able to do so

Coup Droit wrote:

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PaulM wrote:

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Claire Curran was there. She's basically the Louis Cayer on the women's side, no?

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 Thanks, PaulM

Or maybe not the same calibre? 

Needless to say, I blame the team as much as Katie for any mental weakness in that match, markymc (nothing like being a broken record ) - I've played a lot of team tennis, umpired it, been on the bench and seen a lot close to as spectator, and in France, the interclubs are really important, lots of spectators even at quite low levels -

and it's really interesting how people play differently when they've got a team coach on the bench - both for better and for worse - it's not a 'Katie-on-her-own' match

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 So when will the Brits reach a Davis cup semi again? Not seeing a lot of success, especially since Andy retired. With Jack you would have thought they would be making an impact, surely in the next couple of years. Until then at least we have the women to fly the flag. 

-- Edited by Var on Thursday 21st of November 2024 10:02:15 AM

-- Edited by Var on Thursday 21st of November 2024 10:02:50 AM

What further than the team ( along with the support staff ) cheering for each other and no sign of friction among them ( the very reasonable minimum expectations ) is indicative of Anne instilling a supportive environment?

I admit to be being pretty unconvinced by Anne but that's really just on what I see on TV - on the bench and when being interviewed. So interested in additional details?

markymc1983 wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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PaulM wrote:

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Claire Curran was there. She's basically the Louis Cayer on the women's side, no?

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 Thanks, PaulM

Or maybe not the same calibre? 

Needless to say, I blame the team as much as Katie for any mental weakness in that match, markymc (nothing like being a broken record ) - I've played a lot of team tennis, umpired it, been on the bench and seen a lot close to as spectator, and in France, the interclubs are really important, lots of spectators even at quite low levels -

and it's really interesting how people play differently when they've got a team coach on the bench - both for better and for worse - it's not a 'Katie-on-her-own' match

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 Oops forgot I'd already commented regarding this! I'm not blaming Katie, she has done remarkable things to upgrade her game and has brought a lot of pride to British tennis, I'm a huge fan. Just pointing out an area of improvement needed, just like people do when commentating on a poor service technique etc. And I don't think you can blame Annie K for the Wimbledon match against Dart. I think Anne has done a great job with the team, instilling a supportive environment, so I wholeheartedly disagree with you (despite all of your fancy experiences lol)

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 I wasn't blaming Anne for the Wimbeldon match, mark - I was referring to the Malaga match

And of course you can disagree - but as someone says, there's a big difference between being a flag-bearer, and creating a nice atmosphere, and actually coaching well during a match, and in training sessions - that's really important - managing to get your players to beat players that are higher ranked by pulling off extra good performances

And I'm not sure this is Anne's strength 

JonH comes home wrote:

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Finals moving to China for next 3 years

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/c24798l5ed6o

Possibility date could change to Sept or Oct as well, not sure when that will be looked into and announced

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 So guessing China basically gets free entry for the next 3 years. Ridiculous if so. If it takes place in November I wonder how many top players will want to drag themselves back to China for this when they could be on the beach. Hope the locals turn up for all the matches and not just China as it is a very expensive place for a lot of fans to get to.