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Chris Eaton Qualifies for Wimbledon!!

British Tennis
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When i heard last week that there were going to be no british men wildcards at Wimbledon i thought that just shows the quality of British Tennis on an internatinal scale. It may be better to qualify anyway though. I think if you qualify for a competition like this, than it shows that you may be good enough. Last week there were many young future hopefuls on display at the Artois Championships at Queens club but to be honest there wasn't much hope there. Dan Evans, our top junior had a shocking game against Malisse, Alex Bogdanovic had a poor game aswell, which surprised me because he had a decent run at the Artois championships last year. I think Joshua Goodall had a decent game against Leyton Hewitt and Bloomfeild didnt play badly, however these lads arent getting any younger, so how long do we have to wait before we can stop calling them 'future hopefuls'.

So, after the last weeks Artois championships i cant say i am too surprised that no wild cards were given out to british players. The only good point about last weeks championships for britain is that James Ward had a good game against Marat Safin, taking him to three sets, but Ward lost in the first round of this weeks Slazenger open in straight sets against Alex Bogdanivic.

Therefore i think the best way for Brits to Qualify for these grandslams is to qualify on their own merit, and unfortunately only one Brit was able to do that. Chris Eaton is twenty years old and ranked 659th in the world and is outside Britains top ten. Eaton managed to win in three straight sets against Olivier Patience (albeit two of them were won on tie breaks)but this shows that we do have players apart from Andy Murray that are good enough to play at Wimbledon. I don't think that it is fair to say that Eaton will be succesful at the moment because he is 659th in the world, but hes only two years older than when Murray first played at Wimbledon, so why shouldn't Eaton be successful in the future. I think that us Brits need a bit of hope for mens tennis at the moment and Eatons qualification shows that we do have young talent good enough to qualify for wimbledon.

Despite that it takes nothing from the fact that only two British men will be competeting in the Wimbledon singles this year. Good luck to Murray and Eaton in Wimbledon, good luck to Jamie Murray and all the British double players at Wimbledon this year and good luck to all of the British women who are taking part in the womens singles at wimbledon this year.

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comment by djlovesyou (U3952528)

posted Jun 19, 2008

Baker and Bogdanovic have been given WCs into the main draw. erm

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comment by Magpie (U10992222)

posted Jun 19, 2008

Yeah, that's true DJ, and two more Brits might be given wildcards because of withdrawals and things.

But good article, Red! Let's hope Eaton has a good Wimby and plays well in the future.
We live in hope - potentially he's a top 100 player. Didn't see him in action, but they'll show him at Wimby. Hopefully he'll play a seed, so he'll be on a showcourt.

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comment by england_tilli_die (U8941162)

posted Jun 19, 2008

looks like a big serve as eaton smashed 31 aces!! i think ward and bloomfield deseved wild cards to be fair! dan cox looks promising! the futures bright the futures dan cox and evans!

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comment by dagger13 (U6587246)

posted Jun 19, 2008

Was about to say they must of handed Bogo a wild card, they've given him Gilbert to work with and he still can't improve. I think he just has a natural level and can't improve beyond that.

Well done to Eaton for getting through qualifying a super effort hopefully he'll get a seed and a show court now.

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comment by MewHorn (U2441100)

posted Jun 19, 2008

An absolutly fantastic effort from Eaton, hope he goods a decent draw on Friday. Federer on centre Chris? smiley

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comment by federalexpress (U8888155)

posted Jun 19, 2008

Well done to Eaton, there on merit.
Baker's WC I can just about live with, he's been injured, but a WC for Boggo? Why do we keep rewarding abject failure and what message does that send out? It's not like he's an up and coming teenager, might have more point. He's as good as he's ever going to be, which in world terms is, frankly, cr@p.

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comment by mesmerizingsimondean (U3608153)

posted Jun 20, 2008

31 aces is a fantastic effort by anyone's standards - I'm sure most top 100 players wouldn't mind reaching that figure in any given match (with the exception of Karlovic of course).

I agree with the consensus about Bogdanovic on here. He's a very frustrating player and one that may never really fulfill his true talent. Baker's wildcard is fully deserved, particularly for a person who is so hard working and also someone who stared death in the face after getting that blood disorder in Miami.

I think the younger players coming through should perhaps set bold targets, such as if they're not in the top 100-200 by the age of 21 then maybe they should reconsider their tennis career and where it is going.

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comment by Richard9273 (U12453814)

posted Jun 23, 2008

We have some players staying with us for Wimbledon; they say that if you have not reached the top 100 by 21 then consider an alternative carreer; but they are Serbian!
How do we know whether to get excited about Eaton until someone assesses his first round Serbian opponent?

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