British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

JonH wrote:

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Ive not really had chance to look through the mens draw in depth or ahead in terms of who they might face.

A quick glance has me thinking we may get 4-5 first round wins out of 13 and I think we will end with 1 or possible 2 qualifiers, but more likely 1.

I hope I am overly pessimistic there - we have done well in the mens on grass this season and no reason why that shouldn't continue but it feels to me like we have some tough draws, albeit not against too many grass court players. Nonetheless, grass could be harder than normal and that may not help

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 6 wins was good, better than I expected and good to see. Hope that will translate into 1 or 2 getting through. Think we will get 3 this next round 

Coup Droit wrote:

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My thoughts ..... weather was actually quite good - warm, sunny but quite breezy and not stonking hot

Dan and Henry will be having a cold one tonight, I'm pretty sure

Dan won his match with grittiness and experience.

And then turned up at Henry's court to coach - by the way, Dan, wear a cap !!!! He's sitting there, in full sun, no cap, and you're not well endowed on the hair front, Dan

Henry played an excellent match - in fact, both did, and it was a very entertaining match

Henry ultra fluid, so much acceleration, with quirky leftiness to help

In the second set, when it was getting tense, the chinese supporters clapped very loudly when Henry hit a DF to concede a BP

Error.....

Henry turned to them, and muttered really crossly: cheering a DF ?????

And looked a bit riled - fired an ace - and turned to the chinese guys and really 'growled' at them

And then was ultra focused for the next couple of games - adrenalin pumping - and played a scorcher of a game to break Zhang

Well-deserved win - and Evo's encouragement and coaching was good to hear


JoMo was outplayed and, similar to Anton, if your game is basically just a big serve, the one thing you cannot do is lose it at the key moment

The DFs, at absolutely key moments, were the undoing of both


Jay's match was a real one that got away - clutching defeat out of the jaws of victory

Liam was ultra close, and the crowd loved him. And with 3 BPs at the end of the third, you thought he'd got it. But one too cautious return, one too ambitious return, and one great serve from H, and the chance slipped....

And Oliver Bonding's was, to me, really disappointing - he was the better player for most of the first set, was winning by hitting weighty balls, placing them well. And had chances. But then played a dreadful tiebreak.
And then panicked - his brain went to mush - like porridge - his takeaway was that he needed to go to Plan B, and he started trying different things, which didn't work (his volleys are OK but nothing more) which didnt work at all, he lost easily, having got himself into a tailspin, when his takeaway should have been I'll carry on as before, as I was winning, and just tighten up the key poings. (Coria, ranked 750 or so, fell to the floor, and was running round his team as though he'd won the Wimbledon final.....)


Oli Tarvet is a joy to watch - SO in your face - pure physical presence - and such great use of his legs, he anchors himself so well. If anybody could tell me, what's the significance of 'Gareth'? His team, and him, kept saying it when he played well .....

Billy made it look very easy - but his opponent wasn't that great

Didn't watch any of Oli C. Or Mark.

Didn't get to see that much of Max, as Henry needed me :) But he was very tenacious and the crowd got behind him. And after watching him as a kid, when he was still training in Spain, I think, and marking him out, it's amazing how things come on - what a super win

And, go, Paul. He's a slender lad but has lovely timing and it was another high quality match. Loved it.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 22nd of June 2026 08:39:46 PM

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Great report, thank you. 

GBJ wrote:

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So annoying that they've not put Henry Searle on the televised court again. How can I watch it another way other than iPlayer?

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https://en14.sportplus.live/tennis/

SuperT wrote:

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I think it's appalling that Wimbledon is the only slam where the broadcaster doesn't provide live coverage of every court in both the main event and qualifying. Surely The AELTC should demand better of the BBC and if not find a new provider.

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It's not just here Eastbourne, Queen's, Nottingham as well. It's only in the grass season we can't watch everything!

Coup Droit wrote:

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Splitting out players up (and hoping I've got it right):

 

Into qualis as of right

Billy - WON

EVO - WON 

Jay - LOST

Oliver C - LOST

Liam - LOST


Into qualis with a wildcard given at the start

Oliver T - WON 

Henry - WON 

Jomo - LOST

 

Into qualis with a wildcard from junior nationals

Mark - LOST 


Into qualis with a wildcard won via the playoffs

Paul - WON

Max - WON 

 

Oliver B - LOST 

Anton - LOST 

Seems to me it makes no difference  

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 Hope all 6 do well today - plus the two women - but particularly good to see Paul and Max come through the wildcard play offs and get a win here as well. With Esther also, thats 3 of the 8 who got in from the play offs who won. 

Coup Droit wrote:

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SuperT wrote:

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I think it's appalling that Wimbledon is the only slam where the broadcaster doesn't provide live coverage of every court in both the main event and qualifying. Surely The AELTC should demand better of the BBC and if not find a new provider.

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 100% agree

I've written it every time in my wimbly qualies feedback sheet 

Someone said HBO Max has qualis? 

I haven't even checked as I'm going in person but it's not the same - it's utterly ridiculous that the other courts aren't on i-player 

They've bumped qualis up - it used to be free, and a sort of left-field nonenity of an event

It's now a full swinging and dancing event, with mega prize money, and stands, and with ticket prices to match

And yet they can't broadcast it ? even though the cameras are there? 

 

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 I've just checked HBO Max (we get free access with our BT broadband) but there's no tennis there. That was how I watched RG qualifying and it was excellent.