While Britain’s senior players were last week putting in the worst ever Wimbledon display, there were hints elsewhere that better times lie ahead.
James Marsalek, an 18-year-old from Somerset, played a remarkable 11 matches to win the prestigious Junior International at Roehampton, the main warm-up to this week’s boys’ singles at Wimbledon.
First he played three matches in a round-robin event to try and gain a wildcard into the main draw at Roehampton, but missed out by losing twice.
So he then went into normal qualifying, winning both rounds, and proceeded to steam through a high-quality 64-boy draw to take the title.
Marsalek, ranked 146 in the world junior rankings, is not the most fancied of the British youngsters but Martin Weston, the recently appointed manager of junior tennis at the LTA, was delighted with his showing.
‘We are trying to make sure that everything is done on merit, and James showed what can be achieved with that kind of determination,’ he said. ‘I do think there are reasons for optimism about the future.’
Marsalek’s reward for his odyssey was a wildcard into Junior Wimbledon, and today he takes on French Open champion, Argentinian Agustin Velotti, in the first round.
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More immediate dividends will be seen from the women, and while Marsalek won the boys’ at Roehampton 17-year-old Tara Moore made the final of the girls’.
Moore, whose father is from Yorkshire and her mother from Hong Kong, was thrown out of the LTA’s support schemes last year because of her attitude. She does, though, possess exceptional hand skills and is back onside after showing a more professional approach to fitness.
Another one with exciting potential is 14-year-old Eleanor Dean, who hails from a rugby league family and who polished off seventh seed Gabriela Dabrowski in the girls’ singles first round on Saturday.
She will be going some, though, to repeat the feat of Robson from two years ago of winning the title. Robson has opted to play in the juniors this week, largely because she only has four senior tournaments left this year due to age restrictions.
Added to US Open girls champion Heather Watson, Moore, Dean and Robson could one day make this week’s British women’s wipe-out seem like a bad dream.
There was consternation in the locker room at Victor Hanescu’s conduct of Friday night, which saw him heavily fined, as he has the reputation of being a very polite customer. According to one source who knows him, the reason he lost the plot was that the spectator’s jibes, in a foreign tongue, involved calling him a ‘gypsy’ and inviting him to go back to Romania.
Uncharacteristic: Victor Hanescu was heavily fined for his actions during a match with Daniel BrandsThe way women’s players often dislike each other while the men seem mostly to rub along is one of tennis’s more interesting reflections of the human condition.
While unfriendliness in the women’s locker room continues to be an issue, the men’s area remains more like a frat house.
All tournament, for instance, a putting competition has been taking place in the inner sanctuary of the top seeds’ changing area, with America’s Andy Roddick said to be in the lead, just ahead of his coach Larry Stefanki, with world No 1 Rafael Nadal nearby in fourth spot.
Perhaps the solution for the women is that they should employ an oldfashioned games mistress to organise communal activities and improve the esprit de corps.
Not so dearly departed Complaints: Anastasia Rodionova isn't a popular figure on the woman's tour because of perceived gamesmanshipFew tears will have been shed in the locker room for the departure from the third round on Saturday of Russian-Australian Anastasia Rodionova, who would probably top a poll of the least popular players on tour.
When Anne Keothavong drew her in the first round a stream of players made a point of wishing her luck against this particular opponent.
Former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was so disgusted by her antics that she took the highly unusual step of refusing to shake hands after a second-round defeat.
‘Once again I DO NOT REGRET about shaking the hand,’ she tweeted afterwards.
What opponents feel is that Rodionova deliberately stirs trouble on court by arguing about anything, and they go into a match unnerved by the likelihood that there will be trouble of some sort.
Three years ago Rodionova became only the second player in WTA Tour history to get defaulted when she started firing balls into the crowd in Cincinnati.
‘She could start a row in an empty house,’ says one coach.
Her equivalent on the men’s tour, incidentally, is a chap called Daniel Kollerer from Austria, the world No 110. Last month in a club league match in Austria his opponent Stefan Koubek became so enraged that he tried to throttle him at a changeover and got disqualified.
Brit Of The Week (an Andy Murray-free zone)Well done James Marsalek and also a special mention for Dominic Inglot and Chris Eaton for downing the world’s top doubles pair.
