Just in case the regulars are wondering, I think I may have had summat to do with the disappearance of the old one: when I logged on at lunchtime, I spotted what looked suspiciously like spam on it & reported it, little realising that, by that very action, I would cause it to vanish almost instantaneously into the ether! :cry2 :eek :err Hope it's restored soon, minus the spam: though I say it myself, there was actually some valuable stuff on it... ;)

Now, back to business: no sign of the outcome of the doubles in Surbiton (surprise, sur-bloody-prise! :rolleyes: ), but a brilliant win for Jim May:

May downs No 1 seed Querrey

Kent’s Jim May produced the match of his life to beat world No 67 Sam Querrey in the first round on Wednesday. The 25-year-old qualifier ignored a whopping ranking gap of 1,455 places to beat the 6' 6" American hot prospect 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Querrey has enjoyed some big wins in 2007, including successes over top 100 players Jose Acasuso, Florent Serra, Ivo Karlovic, Julien Benneteau as well as French Open quarter-finalist Igor Andreev. But the Californian was no match for May on the grass courts of Surrey’s Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club. The Englishman’s reward is a second round date with Canadian qualifier Frederic Niemeyer or Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

May, who won three three-set matches in qualifying to make the first round, is still pinching himself. "I like grass, but I have surprised myself this week, I have to admit," said May, who got through the Wimbledon doubles qualifying event with Hertfordshire's Neil Bamford last year. "Fortunately the match was so quick I had no time to get nervous at the end."

Former national champion Lee Childs made the most of his wildcard into the $25,000 Challenger event by joining May in round two. The Somerset 24-year-old came through a nail-biter against Aussie world No. 171 Nathan Healey 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(10).

* He plays Tsonga in the 2nd round; will have to look up their respective rankings. He & Childs (& Jamie B) have since been joined there by Boggo & Bloomers, but not Delgo, who lost a close match to Tourte, 2-6 7-6(6) 6-7(5)! :( Boggo & Bloomers play one another in the second round ( :cry2 ), while Jamie B takes on Santiago Giraldo & Childs tackles (if that's the right term! :eek ) the 2nd seed, Ivo Karlovic... :(

** Back to comment on today at RG after I've had my supper (gotta be ready for the "big match"! :rolleyes: ) - unless someone beats me to it...

I saw the spam but did nothing about it and then blow me down the whole thread had disappeared. :eek I thought TPTB had probably taken it off as next time I looked the whole damn thing had gone. Little did I think this would be the post on which I became "electric". :rofl If the plug is switched on I shall be "coruscating", a word with my limited vocabulary, I needed to look up when I read it in the article about Andreev. :err

I can enlighten you on the outcome of today's doubles, :xmas5 courtesy of the ATP site as the Surbiton site hadn't updated when I looked. -_- There are some surprises here too, not least the defeat of the No1 seeds Ash & Tripp :rofl by Kuznetsov & Zverev (USA/GER) 6-7 (1) 2-6. Arthurs & Querrey beat Juan Martin ( why ain't he in the singles, perhaps his defeat at RG came too late for him to enter? ) & Karlovic 6-4 7-6 (3). They will now play K&Z. Delgo & Childs :cry2 lost to the 4th seeds Bopanna & Haggard (IND/RSA) 2-6 5-7 and these two will take on Guccoini & Healey (AUS) who saw off Ginepri & Roddick 7-5 6-1. No joy for Rodders on the grass at Surbiton. Goody & Hutch won :clap and will play Aucks & Huss after beating the other Brit pair of Bamfs & May 6-4 7-6 (4). Pity all the Brits are in the bottom half of the draw. :( Let's hope one of them, and I include Booty & Huss, gets through and not Bozo & Kendrick.

* Thanks for updating me on the singles, it saved me having to do the job myself. What a great win that was for May, now let's hope he can build on this and not do the usual Brit thing of failing dismally in the next round. :eek

MM ain't obliging so it looks as though it's gonna have to be me. :hat

I was only able to see the first two sets of Djoko's match. At first I thought it was going to be closer than it turned out to be. They both dropped their opening service game but then it settled down to the familiar clay court tennis. Deep ground strokes and acute angles with the odd drop shot from Djoko, some worked and some didn't. He eventually gained control and played some aggressive tennis and refused to let the famed Andreev forehand dominate him. It never actually lit my fire as a spectacle, there wasn't enough flair for me, just solid shot making. Whether he will be good enough to beat/ make a game of it against Rafa, I'm not sure. Although he certainly raised his game today and made Andreev look what he is at the moment, a player coming back from a long lay off. Having said all that I can see how Andreev reached the ranking he did before his surgery and his rapid rise back to prominence should encourage the likes of Andy if he has to have an extended break. :eek

I only saw the last set of Rafa's match against his mate Moyà and by that time it was all over bar the shouting. Rafa looks in rampant form, :guns it's going to take some player to stop him retaining his title. I doubt anyone's gonna do it.

* A couple of snippets of info, I know you don't like tittle-tattle ;) but I found these quite interesting. Djoko's dad wanted him to be either a skier ( like he'd been) or a footballer, tennis wasn't on the horizon at all ( no courts). One day some builders arrived at the waste ground opposite their pizza place and built two courts. :rolleyes: The rest they say is history!
Secondly, during the war around 1999, and without any courts to play on, he and Jankovic had to play on an disused swimming pool in order to improve their games. Could you see that happening here?

** I know you don't like Henin :o but yesterday she deserved to win. She played by far the better tennis of the two. However, I'll be rooting for the Serbs tomorrow. :clap

I was about to post something along the lines of your comments above, having seen today's results on the Surbiton site ( ;) ), when my dear mama saw fit to ring me! :rolleyes: I, too, was surprised to see that Fisher & Phillips had, as it were, tripped up against K & Z & that Rodders & partner lost out to G & H today (then again, established Aussie partnership, on grass...)!

My first reaction, when I looked at the draw for the second round/QF, was also that it was a great pity that all the British interest left was concentrated in the bottom half of the draw. Goes without saying that I'd welcome wins for A & H (even at the expense of G & H) & B & S in the same way as I would all-Brit combinations. They are, after all, the top two seeded pairs left in the competition & Huss & Booty have somehow acquired honorary Brit status through the trials & tribulations of the early US hard court circuit alongside Aucks & Stretch. I somehow feel that they're a wee bit less likely to crumble under pressure than G&H, too... ;)

Again, you're welcome - & I echo your sentiments about Jim May. That said, he's now had four tough(ish) matches & who knows what his stamina & ability to maintain the level at which he must have played to see off Querrey are like... If he loses, however, maybe he'll actually learn from the experience! ;)

Jo-Wilfried is ranked 148 and Jimmy May - a blinding 1522 :eek That'll be some win if he pulls it off. Go Jimmy go :guns

* I see we're holding our own in the footie match. Joe, I've been to the Ronaldo school of fancy footwork Cole, Crouch and Owen so far. Let's have more.

*sigh* It's gonna be another one o' them weeks, innit, the ones that start off so full of promise & then just go rapidly downhill? First May loses to Tsonga, then Childs to Karlovic (though not without giving him a run for his money, by all accounts! :clap), Boggo to Bloomers ( :eek ) & Baker to Giraldo ( :angry2 ), leaving Bloomers the only Brit in the singles. Next Booty & Stretch lose to Bozoljac & Kendrick in straight sets (or so they're saying on t'other "bored")! :cry2 The only bright spot is the survival of Aucks & Huss (again according to the other "bored"), leaving Aucks the only Brit still in the doubles...! :xmas5 At least that makes it easier to know whom to support tomorrow...

At least they got the right result, if not any more goals! :rolleyes: :clap

Not a good day for the Brits on the green of Surbiton. :( Jimmy couldn't manage to repeat his heroics of yesterday and fell 3-6 5-7 to the higher ranked Tsonga. He's nothing to be ashamed of with that score and as you say the experience should serve him well. :hat Childs lost to Karlovic 5-7 7-6 6-7, another good effort that didn't just come off and a lot closer than I was expecting. Bloomers beat Boggo 6-2 7-5, a little unexpected perhaps but according to them that know he's much better on grass. :clap

Shock horror! BB & Booty lost to Bozo & Kendrick 2-6 6-7 :guns Things ain't looking too good on the GB/US front at the moment. I hope their earlier successes weren't just a flash in the pan. When did they last get past the second round in a tournament? And this ain't a particularly high ranking challenger. :eek Better news on Aucks & Huss, they at least won, albeit against the other Brit pair of Goody & Hutch, 7-5 7-6. G & H at least made a fight of it. :xmas5 I make that one representative in the singles and half a representative in the doubles.

Soz, we've posted at the same time with the same info, yet again! We'll have to stop doing it. :rofl Do you know if we'll get our old thread back? I meant to say earlier in the week that I thought Pat Cash's observations in the ST regarding clay courts were very astute and certain folk with influence would do well to take note.

I watched both matches today and I have to say neither lived up to the billing. :huh: Both were very one-sided. Sharapova served far too many double faults, is her shoulder still causing her problems? Her forehand was weak and she made so many unforced errors that she was never in the running to win the match. Ana must have thought it was her birthday. Again the match lacked any flair, mainly yer typical red dirt play with two players slugging it out. :cry2 Best player won. :clap

I had hopes of the second match between Henin and Jankovic being more of a contest. The first couple of games produced more all-court play but Henin soon took control and Jankovic seemed to lose her match plan. She was always battling to retain her serve and again the better player won the match. Henin will take some beating on Saturday. :guns
* I shall miss most of the men's semi-finals. :cry2 Mr H has to see his consultant in the afternoon but I don't really mind who wins so long as it's Rog and ? :xmas5 ( preferably Rafa if I'm honest :err )

I was amazed at the ease with which Sharapova seemed, on the evidence of the live scoreboard, to capitulate! I'd have expected her to give Ivanovic a sterner test, even she had ultimately lost it, so maybe her shoulder is giving her more trouble than she's letting on!

* Not sure I'm all that interested in watching the final now, which I would have done, had it been Jankovic against anybody else. At any rate, I may keep half an eye on it if I happen to be in, but I won't be making any special effort to be in...

I, too, was expecting great things of Miss Jankovic & disappointed that she didn't at least manage to take Henin to three sets. Perhaps she was a little overawed by the occasion? Or maybe Henin's just too damn' good... :(

Well, so far, so good for Rog: he's a set up (7-5) & on his way against Davydenko! :xmas5 I'm sure everybody but Djoko's loyalest fans (& one of the characters on t'other "bored"! :rolleyes: ) will be wanting to see another showdown between Rafa & Rog on Sunday... ;)

I was so sure Andreev was going to give Djoko a run for his money on Wednesday... Either he had an off day, which is forgiveable in view of his long lay-off through injury (did you manage to read The Times article to which I posted a link on Tuesday night before we lost the old thread? Here it is, if you didn't), or Djoko suddenly moved up a gear & played an absolute blinder! :( 6-3 6-3 6-3 is a pretty comfortable victory... :eek

P.S. Best of luck at the hossie! ;)

And we have our wish! :clap :xmas5 Got home just after the second SF finished, so saw nowt! :( Sounds, however, as though it was a good contest for the first two sets & then Djoko just gave up! Rafa clearly has the Indian sign on him ATM, but I'm sure a fit Andy, given the quality of that match in Melbourne, would go into any encounter with him with some confidence, especially on grass, because he didn't give up Down-Under... ;)

* How did Mr H get on when he saw the consultant?

I missed the Federer/Davydenko match today and according to Yahoo news, at the press conference Federer said he was close to losing at the end of all three sets (and that Davydenko is a really good opponent, apparently), I guess he was just being polite though. Sigh. Not like I will find it out since they're not going to show it again.

Was just watching Nadal and Djokovic when they stopped the broadcast to start airing volleyball... Tsk. Christ. Glad Rafa won though. Can't wait to see the final!

Given that Bloomers lost to Guccione today (6-7(3) 6-4 3-6), we're at the "scraping the bottom of the barrel stage": thank God, then, that Aucks & Huss saw off Bozo & Kendrick in three sets, 6-7(2) 7-6(5) 10-5 in their doubles SF. They obviously took a while to get into their stride... So, an interesting final in prospect, since they'll be up against the [Russian émigré] qualifiers, Alex Kuznetsov (US) & Mischa Zverev (GER), who dumped out the fourth seeds, Bopanna & Haggard, 3-6 6-3 11-9 in their half of the draw. Let's hope we can salvage something from this first week of the grass court season...! :guns

Hate to say/predict how things stand as far as Booty & Stretch are concerned! I hope their successes earlier in the year weren't just a flash in the pan. Only time will tell, though... :huh:

I take that back: I've just seen Ivanovic interviewed - briefly - on News 24 & she does seem to have a bit of personality! :xmas5

I see t'other "bored"'s livened up - if you can call a flurry of posts flagging up the latest scores from the live scoreboard for the Stella Artois qualies livening up... :rolleyes: Yet no obvious interest in Aucks & Huss in the Surbiton doubles final against [the Russian émigré WCs] Kuznetsov (US) & Zverev (GER), whenever it may happen (I'm guessing tomorrow)! :(

I did manage to see the first set of the Rog v Davydenko match. I rather like Davydenko :err and he did what a lot of others had tried to do this past fortnight against Rog: he came out :guns blazing and took the game to the Swiss meister. He was very successful with this tactic, taking the lead in the set ( and I believe in the subsequent sets). Unfortunately, for him it's never quite enough against Rog who can usually find a way to wrest victory from the jaws of defeat if necessary and it was yesterday.
We were back in time for me to catch the second half of the second set and the final set. What a capitulation: Djoko just appeared to give up after he lost the second set. He'd made a reasonable attempt and shown flashes of what he could do, but once the second set was lost he drifted away. Rafa was very good though. :eek I'm looking forward to the encounter tomorrow.

Not too bad, thanks. :xmas5 Gotta go again in a couple of months.

* I did manage to read the Andreev article before the old thread disappeared into oblivion, thanks.
** I was a tad tired last night after the hossie and then my usual game of badminton, so I only read the posts in the evening, in the sure fire knowledge that I could give it my full attention tonight. :hat

I thought you perhaps hadn't seen the young woman in question. :) Sad to say I think the occasion got to her today and she defeated herself which left very little for Henin to have to do to win. Both Ivanovic's serves and ground strokes had been so reliable in previous matches but today neither were effective. :( I think she's one to keep an eye on in future.

And you guessed correctly. :clap The doubles are on, not before 1pm, followed by the singles between Karlovic (2) and Tsonga. Tsonga's done well to reach this final, he's beaten two seeds on the way, Falla and Guccioni and by default the top seed. Not only that he's had to travel to Queen's Club to get through the qualies there, :eek which is more than any Brit has done, according to them 'o'er yonder'. :( It's up to Aucks and Huss to save face this week. :guns

edited in 20. 49: I do the women a disservice: Paterson & South beat Baltacha & Cavaday, 6-1 6-4, in the doubles at Surbiton. :clap A good result because neither pairing were seeded. :hat

Yeah, had noticed the women's doubles result yesterday evening. Felt a bit sorry for Elena, but I guess she's still busy getting herself match-fit after so much time out injured & pleased to get as much time on court as possible...

Have posted o'er yonder, drawing attention to the doubles final tomorrow, but they seem to be totally obsessed with events at Queen's now! :rolleyes: Interesting that Booty & Stretch are going to be playing an exhibition match with Goody & Hutch first thing tomorrow morning - & that they're in the main draw for the doubles at Queen's, along with Tin Pan & Oz Brat ( :eek ), Aucks & Robby Ginepri (what the hell's going on there? :o ), Boggo & Marat Safin & Delgo & Hutch, both of the latter pairings apparently having been awarded WCs...

I had high hopes of a good match when she broke Henin in the opening game, but the poor kid just seemed to run out of "oomph" & self-belief after that! :( Definitely one to watch, given her engaging personality. :)

* Had you seen that her compatriot, Miss Jankovic, was on parade in Birmingham this week, seeded second behind Sharapova, who got ont of the four wild cards, the others going to Anne K, Naomi Cavaday & Bally. They're in illustrious company! :hat

Lots of tennis-related articles in the ST today, including what looks like (haven't read it yet) a fairly forthright "big interview" with Henners... :clap

And they couldn't quite manage it, losing 6-2 3-6 6-10, yet Tsonga succesfully overcame Karlovic to take the singles title...! :( There's stamina for you! :hat

* Not a very satisfactory conclusion to the French Open. Rog looked quite out of sorts... :cry2

** I'm not a motor racing fan - fail to see the point of 24 (or however many it is) grown men chasing one another round a track for hour after hour in noisy, smelly machines! :rolleyes: - but I really hope hope young Lewis Hamilton wins his first GP in Montreal today & not just because he's a Brit: there's someone who oozes personality from ever pore! ;)

Yes, I'd seen that earlier. It will be interesting to keep an eye on how things work out there. There'll be nowt on TV ,except perhaps some late results. :angry: Do I take it there's a web site for the tournament? A chance for the Brits to do themselves some good here ( yup m' fingers are well and truly crossed. :rolleyes: )

Oh 'eck, I really though they'd come good in this one. Tsonga will be racing up the rankings at this rate. Did you notice in the ST where Minto will be up to 9 tomorrow. :rofl Not bad when you haven't played for a week or two.:xmas5

That performance was very similar to how he has been playing all tournament. Against less gifted players he has usually come good, but Rafa is a whole different competitor to most. It looks a though there's summat wrong with him, he's not a demonstrative player but he looked positively morose for most of the match today. I wonder if he's missing Roche more than he thought he would? I know grass is a whole different ball game but he's gonna have to get to grips with whatever's causing him to play so inconsistently. :eek

You have your wish. :clap Mr H has just informed me that he has won, even though the safety car was out about four :eek times, once after a particularly nasty accident. I'm not a fan either, nor of motorcycle racing, but he does have charisma. :hat

I've read 'em all ;)

I've lost patience w' them on t' other 'bored' :wacko: I'm not sure I can be arsed to post again. It takes me long enough to search out any relevant facts or scores from the reams of drivel they post most of the time. If it wasn't for the fact that they do come up with early results, once you can get to the end of all the scoring, I don't think I'd bother.

Some unusual combos in the doubles at Queen's from your post. :eek I only hope we get to see some of the matches. Coverage ends at 5.15 on Beeb 2 but I wonder if they will carry on broadcasting on interactive. I know they're starting around 12.30 BBCi so you never know. It would be great to see some of the doubles for a change. It was a pity they didn't show any from RG when the games they were covering ended early, probably something to do with broadcasting rights I expect. I have a couple of hours free tomorrow so I shall away and see what the OoP for Monday holds. ;)

edited in 21.13: Boggo, BB & Booty, Bloomers, Jamie B and Delgo & Hutch all on tomorrow. Get the live scoreboard working. ;) There are some good teams in this competition. :eek

There is, here, for what it's worth (it's an LTA site, so there's no live scoreboard! :( Thank God that's not the case for Queen's...).

Smartarse! :o

That's me! :xmas5 :hat :rofl

You can say that again! Goes without saying that I'll have the live scoreboard running at work, but I shall rush home in the hope that there's still something still to be seen on BBCi. I'd love to watch a bit of the doubles... Not sure the Beeb fully appreciates its entertainment value! :rolleyes:

I did - & raised an eyebrow...! :rolleyes:

I was wrong about the absence of a live scoreboard for Birmingham: in case you haven't already worked it out, you can select it from the "Select another event" button on the Queen's scoreboard! ;)

Well, the qualies may have been a dead loss from a Brit perspective, but Boggo & Jamie B did us proud this afternoon, especially young Jamie, who came back from a set & a break down! :clap :hat :xmas5 But why, oh why, was the draw fixed so that they'd have to play one another in the second round for the honour of taking on Radek Stepanek or, more likely, I'd have thought, Rodders in the third? :angry2 I suppose it at least means we're guaranteed one player in the third round... :rolleyes:

Good start in the doubles, too, with Booty & Stretch sailing past Gulbis & Lubo 6-1 7-6(1). Just bloody annoying that there's no coverage on BBCi, as I see Delgo & Hutch have just taken the first set 7-5 against Delic & Fish! :clap Keep it up, lads... :guns

Just caught the end of the Booty and Stretch match. Good result, looking forward to more doubles. they seem a well balanced pair. How long have they been playing together Stircrazy? What was Andy Murray wearing????

I hadn't realised :ph43r: but I haven't been on t' internet today. I've had the tele to watch, when I could. Thanks for the info but viewing will take precedence over the live scoreboard. ;)

They did, too, taking the second set 6-4! :clap :xmas5 Next up: the top seeds, the Bryan brothers... :eek Booty & Stretch have a slightly easier task: the 7th seeds, Ashley Fisher & Tripp ( :rofl ) Phillips...

Outstanding wins from those two today. I arrived home just as Boggo was coming off court, wish I could have seen the match. :cry2 Then to find out that Jamie B had won as well - fantastic. I may even raise a post on t' other "bored" under the circumstances. As you say it's a double-edged sword, one certain player in round three or the possibilty of neither or both.

And they did ,:xmas5 running out winners 7-5 6-4. :clap They have the dubious pleasure of a date with the Bryans in the next round.
I saw the doubles between BB/Booty and the Gulbis/Lubo pairing. :party The boys were unstoppable in the first set, mainly because Lubo's serve had gone AWOL. He got it together in the second which led to the tie-break. Thank goodness it went for a wander again during that. Gulbis is a poor volleyer which also led to the G/L downfall and our boys played well, very comfortable with each others game and from the interview afterwards in each others company. I like 'em. :xmas5

We must stop meeting like this, people will talk. :rofl Timmy's up tomorrow, twice. :eek His singles is second match on centre court so I should manage that. :clap Then a bit later he's got his doubles match with the Aussie scrapper against Kerr & Peya, are they trying to kill him? Aucks & Ginepri and Boggo & Safin also on court tomorrow. :guns at 'em guys. Lots of other interesting matches to keep an eye on, including the first appearance of the three-times winner of the French Open. :hat

BTW, I see Rog has withdrawn from Halle. I'm even more convinced now that all is not well with the sublime Swiss. :eek