|
Post by Brinyi on Jun 9, 2010 15:15:14 GMT -5
Nishikori, Baker, Gabashvili, Kuznetsov and Kiefer. Boggo is spared any further ridicule by being forced to lose in qualies instead of the 1R of the main draw. Robson, Watson, O'Brien and South are ladies' wild cards. Still three wild cards to hand out on the men's side, and four to the women.
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 9, 2010 17:55:23 GMT -5
Only one male Brit WC. They must really be hopeless.
Robson will get WCs for the next 15 years.
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jun 9, 2010 18:58:58 GMT -5
Boggo is spared any further ridicule Not so fast. Rejected and dejected, Bogdanovic fumes at Wimbledon snub Jun 8, 3:30 pm EDT By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - After eight fleeting appearances at Wimbledon, British number two Alex Bogdanovic has paid the price for failure and has been left off the guest list for this year’s event by the All England Club.
Wimbledon’s wildcard committee finally ran out of patience on Tuesday with Bogdanovic, who at 166th in the world is ranked way behind British number one and world number four Andy Murray.
“I’ve had a lot of wildcards in the past, and I was always appreciated. Even though I did meet the criteria (of being inside the top 250) … they felt like I didn’t make use of the wildcards,” Bogdanovic, 26, told reporters at Queen’s Club after losing in the first round.
“I found out they obviously didn’t believe in me anymore.” Having won only three of 27 sets contested at the grasscourt major from 2002-2009, Wimbledon officials felt he was no longer a sound investment and have instead handed the wildcard to Jamie Baker, who is ranked almost 100 places behind Bogdanovic.
To add insult to injury, Bogdanovic has also seen his funding slashed by almost 80 percent—from at least 19,000 pounds ($29,390) in 2009 to just 4000 pounds so far this year — and hence feels he is being singled out by the governing body of British tennis (LTA) for failing to follow in Murray’s footsteps.
“My money was cut. (LTA player director) Steven Martens basically said the reasons for that is I wasn’t working hard enough throughout the whole year,” said Bogdanovic.
“I thought that was just so disrespectful because that’s very untrue. He said my intensity wasn’t good enough and that hurt me a lot because I’m out there trying to give it my best shot to break the top 100 for maybe the last eight years.
“If it was as easy as that, everyone would be top 100, as good as Andy Murray is. But it’s not. He (Martens) just said ‘You’re 25 and you should have been in the top 100, and now you’re not. The chances are less and less’.
To try and deal with the rejection, Bogdanovic turned to a ‘mental coach’ and hopes he can now prove Wimbledon and LTA officials wrong by getting his ticket to the grasscourt major through qualifying.
“Whenever they (officials) lose hope, they don’t believe in you anymore, and you’re kind of all alone so basically I’ve got to play quallies and earn my way into the main draw,” he added.
(Editing by Justin Palmer
To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 9, 2010 19:32:43 GMT -5
Lol. What a silly bitch.
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jun 9, 2010 19:33:21 GMT -5
Bogdanovic = the destitute man's Wussquet. The same story played out 100 levels down. I'm glad he's being snubbed, I hope he whines even more.
Isn't Lertcheewakarn meant to get a WC as last year's junior champ? That would be funny.
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 9, 2010 19:36:38 GMT -5
Not really. Boggo tries. He just isn't any good.
Bitching about a WC you don't even deserve. Oh, man. The smell of Unwarranted Self-Importance is strong with this one.
|
|
|
Post by R. Black on Jun 9, 2010 19:38:00 GMT -5
If they would give all the WCs to Brits, it would make sense to deny him a WC if they feel he's hopeless at this point, but they're throwing away WCs to non-Brits NOC about, so their decision makes no sense. The guy is still in the top 200. They're obviously sending him a message.
|
|
|
Post by Edna Krabappel on Jun 9, 2010 19:41:28 GMT -5
He should return to his motherland! I bet he could get a WC for the prestigious Novak Djokovic Invitational Serbian Open.
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 9, 2010 20:23:12 GMT -5
It makes sense because it's embarrassing wasting a WC on a hopeless player year after year. 3 of those 4 non-Brits are good and/or exciting (what's the deal with Kuznetsov?)
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jun 9, 2010 20:24:51 GMT -5
Kuznetsov won the juniors last year...I think?
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 9, 2010 20:26:39 GMT -5
People care about that? *shrug*
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jun 9, 2010 20:29:53 GMT -5
Wimbledon has been actively giving the junior winners MDWCs for the last few years. Kinda weird...kinda cool.
|
|
|
Post by R. Black on Jun 9, 2010 21:08:40 GMT -5
There's no way the second best player of a country should be denied a WC in a Slam over a bunch of players NOC. Kiefer needs matches right now so he should have been forced to qualify.
His problem is that he's not friends with the right people. Just by the alleged quote from Steven Martens we can see he was denied a WC because "they" have a personal issue with him.
So, yeah, although no one is entitled to a WC, I can understand his bitching. Who wouldn't bitch after being snubbed.
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jun 10, 2010 2:43:30 GMT -5
All Slams should give MD WCs to the previous year's junior champs. Slam entry is a much bigger deal than for run-of-the-mill tournaments, a privilege with a big paycheque, and I don't like seeing the majority go to useless home players or, worse, those awful reciprocal arrangements between the Slam nations. None of the Slams need local players for fan interest. And those Challenger scrubs certainly shouldn't rely on it as a payday when they do fuck all for most of the year.
Bogdanovic getting yet another WC when he's had so many chances already would play badly with the public and the press, especially when his bad attitude and laziness have been well documented over the years. Wimbledon should go the whole hog and give all the male WCs to foreign juniors or once-proud veterans.
|
|
|
Post by leelee on Jun 10, 2010 11:44:07 GMT -5
That's my main point here. Boggo is in no position of power. Be grateful if you get a jingoistic WC that only exists because they had to add a ton of local folk 40 years ago to fill the field, if not, shut up.
I guess the Junior champ WC makes sense. At least there's some merit there. I'd rather see some WCs go to feed ups like the winner of Surbiton and stuff.
|
|
|
Post by GoDom on Jun 10, 2010 17:52:38 GMT -5
I applaud the decision to not waste another WC on Boggo. The guy is useless, and the fact that his fellow countrymen are even more useless doesn't make him any less useless.
I do not, however, applaud the decision to give Kiefer a WC.
|
|
|
Post by janie on Jun 10, 2010 18:06:36 GMT -5
I applaud the decision to not waste another WC on Boggo. The guy is useless, and the fact that his fellow countrymen are even more useless doesn't make him any less useless. I do not, however, applaud the decision to give Kiefer a WC. Ditto. and Ditto. By the way, if Boggo thinks a mental coach will help him, why has he waited till now to hire one? Sounds to me like the failure to score a WC is giving him the push he needed. So it worked. Tough love from the LTA! Though I think they should give them only 2-3 years before giving them the boot. Stop giving them money, too.
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jun 12, 2010 6:10:43 GMT -5
@ AELTC: Event 1: Gentlemen's Singles Rank of 10/05/2010 1. GABASHVILI, Teimuraz (RUS) ................................................... (115) 2. KIEFER, Nicolas (GER) .............................................................. (154) 3. BAKER, Jamie (GBR) ................................................................. (268) 4. KUZNETSOV, Andrey (RUS) ...................................................... (277) 5. NISHIKORI, Kei (JPN) ................................................................ (345) 6. Next direct acceptance 7. Next direct acceptance 8. Next direct acceptance Event 3: Ladies' Singles Rank of 10/05/2010 1. O'BRIEN, Katie (GBR) ................................................................ (124) 2. SCHEEPERS, Chanelle (RSA) ................................................... (133) 3. RISKE, Alison (USA) .................................................................. (212) 4. SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) .............................................................. (215) 5. ROBSON, Laura (GBR) .............................................................. (257) 6. WATSON, Heather (GBR) .......................................................... (337) 7. LERTCHEEWAKARN, Noppawan (THA) ................................... (340) 8. Next direct acceptance They've just not bothered to fill all the WC slots That is so lazy. I approve of it as a slap in the face to the GBR scrubs, though. If anything, South shouldn't have got one either (if it wasn't for their stupid 250 rule, Broady would have been a better GBR choice). Riske is a good choice - it makes sense to give a WC to the best-performing player in the warm-ups without direct acceptance, a name who fans will be starting to watch out for and who's in good form, but who might be tired and prone to being upset in qualies. They should do this at all the Slams.
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jun 12, 2010 6:12:34 GMT -5
And you can tell Lurch was a reluctant MD WC as she's been so useless in the seniors, otherwise they would have announced it in the first wave. Obviously hoping to get away with giving her a Q WC, but there was literally no one else.
|
|
|
Post by Maeby Fünke on Jun 12, 2010 7:10:02 GMT -5
I think they should have gone further. They don't have to give them all out.
|
|
|
Post by Edna Krabappel on Jun 12, 2010 7:27:26 GMT -5
I think the rule regarding the junior winner should be: if she's ranked high enough to be in QD, give her a MD WC. If not, a QD WC. So, there would be no Lurch, just like it shouldn't be.
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jun 12, 2010 8:30:53 GMT -5
WOW, I thought Riske would have had a chance if she had beaten Sharapova, but...cool. As for Lurch, whatever, give the kid a shot; after all, they have been doing this for the last four years or so, and it would have been gauche had they stopped now, even though it's clear they wanted to.
Watch Lurch draw Duque Marino 1R and then get Dementieva to ret. in the 2R.
|
|
|
Post by DBBN on Jun 12, 2010 8:35:27 GMT -5
Also they did this "next direct acceptance" thing on the men's side in 2008 too...and something weird happened. [looks it up] Oh, Spadea was a beneficiary of that, heh. But that was also the year Zheng got the final WC on the women's side, which was a WTF moment, until she beat Ivanovic en route to the SF.
Also, yes, Scheepers looked good did well at RG, but it is also apt to have a South African in the draw, so...yeah.
|
|
|
Post by lexpretend on Jun 12, 2010 9:20:12 GMT -5
Zheng was a former doubles champ, right? Wimbledon looks after its champions.
I definitely think junior champs should get MD WCs regardless, it's just funny with how bad Lurch has been. I mean, for Slams there really should be a few rules over who gets these...not necessarily inflexible ones, but I like how the USO uses national/college championships to award WCs. And the Asian WC for the AO - it's be good if the other Slams followed suit and set WCs aside for other nationalities in their geographic zones, though this will never happen. Reciprocal WCs are the WORST, adding privilege to privilege - why should AUS/FRA/GBR/USA players get so many chances?
And yeah, feed-ups as Leena says would be a good idea.
|
|