Observations From $15k Futures Event

[Moz]

been quietly lurking and reading this thread with great interest .fascinating thread . my 16 year old son is an aspiring tennis player and thanks to Moz he's off to play his first futures tournament in France this coming week..like Moz he's been playing the UK open circuit this summer but he has also spent a considerable amount of time playing tournaments in France over the last few years, a group of them and and their coach would decamp to france for a few weeks at a time during the summer and play tournaments ..as described earlier ,the french system has pretty much got to be the best at the moment .
we werent planning to play the futures so soon but Moz got me thinking it was worth a shot .
we're not expecting a great deal from his first futures event but so long as there are byes in the first round of the quali's and he gets at least one match then it should be a big learning experience for him and as the chinese say...every long journey starts with a small step .

That's excellent news - as long as I don't get the blame for the results! Make sure you have an IPIN before you turn up.

I'd be interested in more details as to how good your son is and how much experience he's had. Has he played any British Tour events?

It sounds like he's had a great preparation - hope he goes well. Please post back. To be honest, if your son is not a 2.2 or better he's going to struggle, even in qualifying. The number 1 in the UK for 16 & under hasn't won a main draw match yet. I hope I haven't given the impression that the futures circuit is anything but a dangerous and cutthroat dog fight populated by excellent tennis players!

I suppose the key is to go into it hoping to get a flavour of how tough it is out there. Best not to go into it with any expectations other than that.

Please don't take this the wrong way - forewarned is forearmed!

Good luck to you both...we'll be rooting for you

P.s. Is it the french tournament F18?

Moz, thanks for starting such a great thread. I can't believe I read every post. I thought your observations were great. The insight into the various levels below professional tennis were so interesting. I apprreciated all the great posts from everyone.

Best regards,

Ed
Tennis Geometrics

Thanks Ed, you're welcome.

 

[BrokeDad]

yes it is the F18 ..lets just hope there are some spaces all the french tournaments so far this year seem to have had byes in the first round
Hes the same rating as you are now Moz and dare I say it, just a bit above you in the open rankings
he has been playing in the British tour, not made it into the main draw yet but doing OK in the qualies and has beaten a 3.1 this summer, as you rightly point out thats the minimum required at this level even in the qualifiers so he's really going to have his work cut out .. as I said he's not expecting anything..the main aim of the exercise is to pitch up and get a feel for how the whole thing operates and how the cutthroat dogs fight !

 

[Moz]

yes it is the F18 ..lets just hope there are some spaces all the french tournaments so far this year seem to have had byes in the first round
Hes the same rating as you are now Moz and dare I say it, just a bit above you in the open rankings
he has been playing in the British tour, not made it into the main draw yet but doing OK in the qualies and has beaten a 3.1 this summer, as you rightly point out thats the minimum required at this level even in the qualifiers so he's really going to have his work cut out .. as I said he's not expecting anything..the main aim of the exercise is to pitch up and get a feel for how the whole thing operates and how the cutthroat dogs fight !

Ha ha - I'll have to wait until next year to overtake him then!

That's excellent at his age. I think it's great you've got him playing in plenty of adult events.

There were quite a few byes last week and the F18 is a $15k event again, so you'd expect to get in. Good luck, be sure to post back with full details!

 

[BrokeDad]

him playing adult tournaments is mostly his coaches prompting really ...his coach has never been much interested in junior success except as a stepping stone to the next level .
will certainly post how we got on upon our return .

 

[bertrevert]

In yr related blog entry (v. funny btw)
http://oldmanontour.blogspot.com/2008/09/leave-it-to-pros.html

You note the change of play: players in lesser tournaments aim to belt the ball, everywhere; players in the Futures play consistently with depth, and can ramp it up when needed but usually play wait for the error.

I think whatever level we are we can learn a lesson from this.

Even if it's just an orientation in our play, it will just bring dividends. So do we do it?

Touble is, and I note your blog entry's tone concurs, this style of play is perhaps just a wee bit depressing.

Why is that?

I feel the same as I get real enjoyment out of belting that ball around. But darn it the bean-counters always win!

Since you are climbing a tennis ladder logically you must immediately go out and do this. Depressing?

I watch this Syd tournament each year and what you describe is what happens in the first rounds
http://www.medibankinternational.com.au

 

[Julieta]

been quietly lurking and reading this thread with great interest .fascinating thread . my 16 year old son is an aspiring tennis player and thanks to Moz he's off to play his first futures tournament in France this coming week..like Moz he's been playing the UK open circuit this summer but he has also spent a considerable amount of time playing tournaments in France over the last few years, a group of them and and their coach would decamp to france for a few weeks at a time during the summer and play tournaments ..as described earlier ,the french system has pretty much got to be the best at the moment .
we werent planning to play the futures so soon but Moz got me thinking it was worth a shot .
we're not expecting a great deal from his first futures event but so long as there are byes in the first round of the quali's and he gets at least one match then it should be a big learning experience for him and as the chinese say...every long journey starts with a small step .

That's great, I hope he has a good experience. My advice, try to find a good balance with experience development and planning for the future as far as the costs go and spending your money. It can take longer to break through than most people estimate. Some people rightly give up but others give up too soon. Your kids coach sounds good though. Also watch the injuries - just heard yesterday about a promising kid (won a couple of rounds in junior slams) who is done at 18 because of overtraining. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[BrokeDad]

Back from the tournament and overall a very a positive experience ..
we travelled over through the channel tunnel return for £100 which meant it wasn't overly expensive to get there . arrived on the Friday afternoon about 2 pm ...place was deserted except for one other player and his father ..the boys got chatting and decided to practice together so straight away Fin had got a hitting partner sorted ..Sign in wasn't until 4 pm so I went off to sort out the hotel while the boys hit . came back an hour and a half or so later and they're still hitting ..working hard and my first impression was that Fin could hold his own against the other kid .
at about 4 pm we went upststairs to the office area paid our 30 euros and Fin signed in ,the draw was made around 6:30 and pinned up on the board ...the good news was we had got in ..out of a 64 place draw there were about 34 signed in ...the not so good news is he had drawn the no 1 seed ! .. ranked 996 in the world and 5 years older , surpisingly Fin wasn't too fazed by this and was looking forward to testing himself . next morning we head back to the Tennis club ..met up with the previous days hitting partner for a knock before the match...The match itself started really well ,Fin took his first two service games comfortably and certainly looked to be matching the other guy..his opponent was throwing his racket and arguing with the umpire which is always good to see ! somehow though from 0-30 up in the 4th the momentum slipped away and the guy came back into it and although Fin fought for every point his sheer physical power eventually overwhelmed him,
like Moz said the game was about control, they would rally , not hitting the ball particularly hard until the one shot came to finish it ..then pow ..it was finished, it was actually pretty clinical .
game ended 6-2 6-0 and was a fair reflection ..his opponent then won his next match 6-1 6-4 to go through as a qualifier
into the main draw .
Looking at the other players in the draw I really didnt feel Fin was out of place and he's now looking forward to his next Futures .

 

[Moz]

Back from the tournament and overall a very a positive experience ..
we travelled over through the channel tunnel return for £100 which meant it wasn't overly expensive to get there . arrived on the Friday afternoon about 2 pm ...place was deserted except for one other player and his father ..the boys got chatting and decided to practice together so straight away Fin had got a hitting partner sorted ..Sign in wasn't until 4 pm so I went off to sort out the hotel while the boys hit . came back an hour and a half or so later and they're still hitting ..working hard and my first impression was that Fin could hold his own against the other kid .
at about 4 pm we went upststairs to the office area paid our 30 euros and Fin signed in ,the draw was made around 6:30 and pinned up on the board ...the good news was we had got in ..out of a 64 place draw there were about 34 signed in ...the not so good news is he had drawn the no 1 seed ! .. ranked 996 in the world and 5 years older , surpisingly Fin wasn't too fazed by this and was looking forward to testing himself . next morning we head back to the Tennis club ..met up with the previous days hitting partner for a knock before the match...The match itself started really well ,Fin took his first two service games comfortably and certainly looked to be matching the other guy..his opponent was throwing his racket and arguing with the umpire which is always good to see ! somehow though from 0-30 up in the 4th the momentum slipped away and the guy came back into it and although Fin fought for every point his sheer physical power eventually overwhelmed him,
like Moz said the game was about control, they would rally , not hitting the ball particularly hard until the one shot came to finish it ..then pow ..it was finished, it was actually pretty clinical .
game ended 6-2 6-0 and was a fair reflection ..his opponent then won his next match 6-1 6-4 to go through as a qualifier
into the main draw .
Looking at the other players in the draw I really didnt feel Fin was out of place and he's now looking forward to his next Futures .

Thanks for the update - very interesting. It sounds like a good experience for you both. Did you manage to do any match charting? If not, it may be useful next time and interesting for the rest of us. I'm glad it went well - when's the next one?!!

I saw his opponent play last december. On that occasion his behaviour was completely embarassing. He would whinge and hit his racquet on the floor after every single shot he missed - without exception. It really made you want to go on court and kick his arse. So, what you saw was unsurprising.

I have seen your son play a number of times at UK tournaments and have been very impressed by his fitness, movement, focus and determination. He is a very mature player for his age. I think he's a good "type" for futures in playing style and mentality. The impression I got was that perhaps he lacks a killer shot / one that he can really dictate a point with (in relative terms of course!) - probably because he's still quite young. Once he's got that he's going to have a potent combination of consistency and the ability to finish rallies.

How did his serve hold up against his opponent? Did it get attacked much?

Btw - what the hell are the LTA doing with your son's rating? I hope you appealed it, he's much better than that.

 

[Moz]

What information did Fin have to give at sign in?

Did they ask for UK rating and ranking?

I ask because I'm curious what criteria they might use when the qualies fill up.

 

[Moz]

Touble is, and I note your blog entry's tone concurs, this style of play is perhaps just a wee bit depressing.

Why is that?

I feel the same as I get real enjoyment out of belting that ball around. But darn it the bean-counters always win!

Since you are climbing a tennis ladder logically you must immediately go out and do this. Depressing?

Hi betrevert

Missed this earlier - thanks for the post.

Perhaps my blog was a little misleading. The fact that the atmosphere and lack of spectators was the most depressing. The tennis was fine - surprising more than depressing.

I don't find it depressing to play that way. What can be depressing is that you work for ages to force an opening, take the opening and get passed! It's great to attack but you have to do it within a mentality of "only on the right ball" and you have to be 100% committed when you do so. You also have to be prepared to lose a few points in this manner.

In short, it's more like chess than roulette and for most roulette is more interesting but you don't lose as much in chess!

 

[BrokeDad]

Moz,
all they asked for was the IPIN and the money of course !
national rankings are used to decide in which order players who dont have world rankings are selected into the draw when two or more of the same nationality are competing for the same place,how they decide between nationalities I am afraid I dont know . if you're keen on trying then I would suggest from the looks of it the 64 draw qualifying rounds are the ones to go for .there was definitely at least one ..err how should I put it ...more mature,lets say, competitor there last week and he didnt look like an ex pro !

thanks for the kind words about my son ..he's put a lot of work into his tennis and I appreciate your input ..as you rightly say I think a little more physical maturity will go a long way towards improving his overall game ..in the end his serve did get attacked although as I said it held up pretty well in the first set , once he can add a few more mph to that then I think it will become much more potent.

.not being much of a tennis dad I don't think I'd be much good charting !
as for the LTA don't get me started ! He is appealing but no-one seems able to even reply .
next tournament he can do would be Gran Canaria Spain in November, flights are looking a bit expensive though .

 

[Moz]

Moz,
all they asked for was the IPIN and the money of course !
national rankings are used to decide in which order players who dont have world rankings are selected into the draw when two or more of the same nationality are competing for the same place,how they decide between nationalities I am afraid I dont know . if you're keen on trying then I would suggest from the looks of it the 64 draw qualifying rounds are the ones to go for .there was definitely at least one ..err how should I put it ...more mature,lets say, competitor there last week and he didnt look like an ex pro !

thanks for the kind words about my son ..he's put a lot of work into his tennis and I appreciate your input ..as you rightly say I think a little more physical maturity will go a long way towards improving his overall game ..in the end his serve did get attacked although as I said it held up pretty well in the first set , once he can add a few more mph to that then I think it will become much more potent.

.not being much of a tennis dad I don't think I'd be much good charting !
as for the LTA don't get me started ! He is appealing but no-one seems able to even reply .
next tournament he can do would be Gran Canaria Spain in November, flights are looking a bit expensive though .

Ha ha - a more "mature competitor", I like it. Hopefully your appeal has worked out - have you heard from them yet? They are supposed to reply within 20 days.

Will your son play in Gran Canaria do you think?

 

[Topaz]

Moz, any idea if you'll be able to give us another, possibly even more up close view of a futures event?

 

[Julieta]

Moz,
all they asked for was the IPIN and the money of course !
national rankings are used to decide in which order players who dont have world rankings are selected into the draw when two or more of the same nationality are competing for the same place,how they decide between nationalities I am afraid I dont know . if you're keen on trying then I would suggest from the looks of it the 64 draw qualifying rounds are the ones to go for .there was definitely at least one ..err how should I put it ...more mature,lets say, competitor there last week and he didnt look like an ex pro !

thanks for the kind words about my son ..he's put a lot of work into his tennis and I appreciate your input ..as you rightly say I think a little more physical maturity will go a long way towards improving his overall game ..in the end his serve did get attacked although as I said it held up pretty well in the first set , once he can add a few more mph to that then I think it will become much more potent.

.not being much of a tennis dad I don't think I'd be much good charting !
as for the LTA don't get me started ! He is appealing but no-one seems able to even reply .
next tournament he can do would be Gran Canaria Spain in November, flights are looking a bit expensive though .

Sounds like he had a great experience! Just stay with it, each match he will improve and a big part of it is meeting up with other players and just hitting/training your tail off during the tournament week.

It used to be that flights from the UK to Las Palmas were very cheap. You might even try the package route to get a better deal? If you haven't been, Gran Canaria is very nice. Try this dessert called bienmesabe! Excellent! You can only get it there too, not on the peninsula at all! Not sure where the tournament is but some of the courts there are fast and not in that great of shape (bad bounces galore). Some of the futures/sats events used to be played in locations that were not as resort like as one would assume in terms of court conditions. However, there are also some VERY nice clubs. The people are very nice too. I love canarians.