Notwithstanding my sunburn from Eastbourne, I decided to make another foray into the world of tennis, this time closer to home, to the Wimbledon qualifying event held at the Bank of England tennis complex at Roehampton.
Given the frayed nerves on display, it may be of some comfort to the players involved that Britain's most famous private hospital for celebrities with alcohol/drug/mental health problems etc (see Kate Moss), the Priory, is situated virtually next door for this event! I wonder if any players or their coaches have booked themselves straight in after a defeat!!!
I had been here a few years ago and it seemed far busier than this time, the grassy bank above court 16 was thronged with people and it was hard to find a place to sit down and it was quite hard to find somewhere on an outside court as well. It is free to enter, but this event is really not designed for spectators, the matches are all scheduled to be over as soon as possible, so you need to get there early and zip around the courts if you want to see your favourite players as all the women's matches were on at the same time. Therefore I just saw bits and pieces of matches including the following:
Karatantcheva v Whybourn
Quite a crowd for this match as it was on court 16 next to the grassy bank. I just basically sat down here to have some food and collect myself. Whybourn had won the first set but it was clear that the match was already starting to slip away from her as I started watching and frustration was setting in....
Glatch v Rezai
Poor Aravane Rezai. Once a top 20 player, now reduced to this. She was already in deep trouble when I went to see what was happening, she was a set and 1-5 down and I could see that she was getting very frustrated, overhitting and generally committing too many UEs. She also got very upset with a line call and shouted to the umpire:'Seriously! What is she doing? I am here, she is here, what is happening?' The wheels had come off the caravan and it was seriously lurching. Glatch is one of those players who has had some good results on occasion so it is a mystery why she has never established herself as a top 100 player. Aravane bravely fought back the sands of doom but was eventually finished off with two Glatch aces. Melinda Czink was watching for a couple of minutes courtside. Meanwhile, in another match which looked like it should be a GS main draw, Mirjana Lucic easily beat Gisela Dulko - one wonders how long it will be before the Argentine gives up singles for good and just concentrates on doubles.
Doi v Keys
This match started brightly for Keys, who led 7-5 3-1, but when I came back to see the end, Doi had somehow gained the ascendancy. The very tanned Keys was also complaining about line calls and looking very frustrated. The fact that fellow Americans Jamie Hampton and presumably Grace Min were there to support her did not seem to help. Doi looked mightily relieved to have won, just as well, with third round points to defend, this loss would have been disastrous for her ranking. Having reached the third round as the second highest seed left, Ms Doi should have a good chance of at least being a lucky loser, which must be some compensation for being passed over for a main draw wild card, despite reaching the third round last year and beating top seed Schiavone en route to qf Birmingham.
Karolina Pliskova v Larcher de Brito
This match was held at a very distant court hidden by large hedges but I wanted to see it as both players are of interest. It was a very even and close fought contest of differing personalities - the tall, tattooed yet calm Ms Pliskova against the more petite yet feisty Michelle, who was constantly cheering herself on in both Portuguese and English as well as grunting loudly. MLDB gave the more intense performance but made more errors. At one point, she fired a forehand which nearly hit me in a very dangerous place but whistled past me; just as well I did not move at that moment! Behind me was standing two French friends of Pliskova, though they spent more time chatting to each other than giving her much support. Pliskova's father was there too giving support he went off to see his other daughter Krystina, who came at one point towards the end of the match, having won her own match earlier. It was perhaps also just that two of the people watching the match also looked like twins (two bearded young men). Sitting on front of me on a chair was Bibiane Schoofs' coach or father, as she was playing on the adjacent court. This close match all really boiled down to the end of the final set when Michelle lost her serve to go down 5-3. This really was the end of it for MLDB who started crying from that point and then proceeded to do so throughout Pliskova's winning final game and when she left court too. I gave Pliskova a little clap for her deserved win, she looked very calm about it all, not showing much emotion at all.
Schoofs v Saisai Zheng
This match was on the court adjacent to the Pliskova-Larcher de Brito match and I watched bits of it. Schoofs had her ankle heavily strapped up. The start of the match was punctuated by a series of service breaks but Schoofs went ahead and never looked back. Another interesting facet of this match was that balls got stuck in the netting at the back twice in a very short space of time.
Camerin v Muguruza Blanco
I had already seen Garbine earlier before her match and this was one I really wanted to see. Unfortunately for Garbine, the form she showed in the spring has clearly deserted her as she made far too many unforced errors to be in contention and she looked a bit depressed. She really caved in in the second set, which was a shame because she looked like she could have beaten Camerin with a bit more consistency in her game. Like many grass court novices, she struggled, but this is more about her long term future and this experience will help her in the long term, as long as she doesn't develop a complex about Wimbledon or grass like some players. She was unlucky to face a fiercely competitive, or just plain fierce opponent in Maria Elena Camerin, a very entertaining player to watch, because she is constantly muttering and gesticulating and expressing emotion. Her Italian was full of swear words, lucky the officials did not understand! She also got very irate at a couple of line calls, at one point calling a ball out herself and going on to upbraid the umpire for making two mistakes in one game and not being good enough. In the end, her victory was well-deserved and she finished the match with an ace. She was clearly delighted and I could hear her telling a couple of supporters in English that she was happy to have won her difficult match and was very pleased with her serve and told them to come back tomorrow for her third round.
Rampre v Zhang
Just glanced over at this match, easily won by the Slovenian. Rampre is certainly an original - her head was entirely covered in a blue bandanna which made one wonder if she had any hair to cover at all, and she also possesses a rare one-handed backhand which one her some good points.
Beck v Meusberger
Adjacent to the Camerin-Muguruza Blanco match was this match, which was a very straightforward win for the German who looked in total command. Meusberger did not even look that bothered to have lost, she clearly did not expect to do that well.
Czink v Koehler
One of the last singles matches, this was an absorbing encounter between two left handers, the far more experienced Czink against the powerful and young but raw Koehler. I came just at the end of the second set which Koehler won. The final set was very close but Koehler got rattled by a few line calls and hit a ball out of the stands in frustration when she went down 5-3, which a poor lady in pink tried to catch and ended up rolling backwards onto the grassy mound! Koehler got told off by the umpire at the next change of ends. She fought bravely to get back to 5-5, aided by a sloppy service game from Czink who hit two unforced errors wide to lose her serve as she served for the match. But Czink always had the advantage of serving first and so it proved in the end, with her experience counting, as she won finally 8-6.
I would definitely recommend anyone going to see this event, especially on the Tuesday or Wednesday. It's free, relaxed and you can see lots of up and coming players or fading old faves too. There is a nice snack bar next to the main scoreboard so you can see all the results and sit at a wooden table and have a cup of tea.
Given the frayed nerves on display, it may be of some comfort to the players involved that Britain's most famous private hospital for celebrities with alcohol/drug/mental health problems etc (see Kate Moss), the Priory, is situated virtually next door for this event! I wonder if any players or their coaches have booked themselves straight in after a defeat!!!
I had been here a few years ago and it seemed far busier than this time, the grassy bank above court 16 was thronged with people and it was hard to find a place to sit down and it was quite hard to find somewhere on an outside court as well. It is free to enter, but this event is really not designed for spectators, the matches are all scheduled to be over as soon as possible, so you need to get there early and zip around the courts if you want to see your favourite players as all the women's matches were on at the same time. Therefore I just saw bits and pieces of matches including the following:
Karatantcheva v Whybourn
Quite a crowd for this match as it was on court 16 next to the grassy bank. I just basically sat down here to have some food and collect myself. Whybourn had won the first set but it was clear that the match was already starting to slip away from her as I started watching and frustration was setting in....
Glatch v Rezai
Poor Aravane Rezai. Once a top 20 player, now reduced to this. She was already in deep trouble when I went to see what was happening, she was a set and 1-5 down and I could see that she was getting very frustrated, overhitting and generally committing too many UEs. She also got very upset with a line call and shouted to the umpire:'Seriously! What is she doing? I am here, she is here, what is happening?' The wheels had come off the caravan and it was seriously lurching. Glatch is one of those players who has had some good results on occasion so it is a mystery why she has never established herself as a top 100 player. Aravane bravely fought back the sands of doom but was eventually finished off with two Glatch aces. Melinda Czink was watching for a couple of minutes courtside. Meanwhile, in another match which looked like it should be a GS main draw, Mirjana Lucic easily beat Gisela Dulko - one wonders how long it will be before the Argentine gives up singles for good and just concentrates on doubles.
Doi v Keys
This match started brightly for Keys, who led 7-5 3-1, but when I came back to see the end, Doi had somehow gained the ascendancy. The very tanned Keys was also complaining about line calls and looking very frustrated. The fact that fellow Americans Jamie Hampton and presumably Grace Min were there to support her did not seem to help. Doi looked mightily relieved to have won, just as well, with third round points to defend, this loss would have been disastrous for her ranking. Having reached the third round as the second highest seed left, Ms Doi should have a good chance of at least being a lucky loser, which must be some compensation for being passed over for a main draw wild card, despite reaching the third round last year and beating top seed Schiavone en route to qf Birmingham.
Karolina Pliskova v Larcher de Brito
This match was held at a very distant court hidden by large hedges but I wanted to see it as both players are of interest. It was a very even and close fought contest of differing personalities - the tall, tattooed yet calm Ms Pliskova against the more petite yet feisty Michelle, who was constantly cheering herself on in both Portuguese and English as well as grunting loudly. MLDB gave the more intense performance but made more errors. At one point, she fired a forehand which nearly hit me in a very dangerous place but whistled past me; just as well I did not move at that moment! Behind me was standing two French friends of Pliskova, though they spent more time chatting to each other than giving her much support. Pliskova's father was there too giving support he went off to see his other daughter Krystina, who came at one point towards the end of the match, having won her own match earlier. It was perhaps also just that two of the people watching the match also looked like twins (two bearded young men). Sitting on front of me on a chair was Bibiane Schoofs' coach or father, as she was playing on the adjacent court. This close match all really boiled down to the end of the final set when Michelle lost her serve to go down 5-3. This really was the end of it for MLDB who started crying from that point and then proceeded to do so throughout Pliskova's winning final game and when she left court too. I gave Pliskova a little clap for her deserved win, she looked very calm about it all, not showing much emotion at all.
Schoofs v Saisai Zheng
This match was on the court adjacent to the Pliskova-Larcher de Brito match and I watched bits of it. Schoofs had her ankle heavily strapped up. The start of the match was punctuated by a series of service breaks but Schoofs went ahead and never looked back. Another interesting facet of this match was that balls got stuck in the netting at the back twice in a very short space of time.
Camerin v Muguruza Blanco
I had already seen Garbine earlier before her match and this was one I really wanted to see. Unfortunately for Garbine, the form she showed in the spring has clearly deserted her as she made far too many unforced errors to be in contention and she looked a bit depressed. She really caved in in the second set, which was a shame because she looked like she could have beaten Camerin with a bit more consistency in her game. Like many grass court novices, she struggled, but this is more about her long term future and this experience will help her in the long term, as long as she doesn't develop a complex about Wimbledon or grass like some players. She was unlucky to face a fiercely competitive, or just plain fierce opponent in Maria Elena Camerin, a very entertaining player to watch, because she is constantly muttering and gesticulating and expressing emotion. Her Italian was full of swear words, lucky the officials did not understand! She also got very irate at a couple of line calls, at one point calling a ball out herself and going on to upbraid the umpire for making two mistakes in one game and not being good enough. In the end, her victory was well-deserved and she finished the match with an ace. She was clearly delighted and I could hear her telling a couple of supporters in English that she was happy to have won her difficult match and was very pleased with her serve and told them to come back tomorrow for her third round.
Rampre v Zhang
Just glanced over at this match, easily won by the Slovenian. Rampre is certainly an original - her head was entirely covered in a blue bandanna which made one wonder if she had any hair to cover at all, and she also possesses a rare one-handed backhand which one her some good points.
Beck v Meusberger
Adjacent to the Camerin-Muguruza Blanco match was this match, which was a very straightforward win for the German who looked in total command. Meusberger did not even look that bothered to have lost, she clearly did not expect to do that well.
Czink v Koehler
One of the last singles matches, this was an absorbing encounter between two left handers, the far more experienced Czink against the powerful and young but raw Koehler. I came just at the end of the second set which Koehler won. The final set was very close but Koehler got rattled by a few line calls and hit a ball out of the stands in frustration when she went down 5-3, which a poor lady in pink tried to catch and ended up rolling backwards onto the grassy mound! Koehler got told off by the umpire at the next change of ends. She fought bravely to get back to 5-5, aided by a sloppy service game from Czink who hit two unforced errors wide to lose her serve as she served for the match. But Czink always had the advantage of serving first and so it proved in the end, with her experience counting, as she won finally 8-6.
I would definitely recommend anyone going to see this event, especially on the Tuesday or Wednesday. It's free, relaxed and you can see lots of up and coming players or fading old faves too. There is a nice snack bar next to the main scoreboard so you can see all the results and sit at a wooden table and have a cup of tea.
