wimbledon---- answer to first post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salmon · Tennis legend

wimbledon---- answer to first post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DavidC · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:

Will Anne get one ? Her form has been disappointing this year, I'd still give her one though as she's won at Wimbledon in the past and is British no 1.

I think it would be in Anne's best interests not to have a wildcard. Some players are inspired by Wimbledon (eg Karen Cross and Jane O'Donoghue) whilst others struggle (eg Anne and Julie Pullin). Anne had 1 good year (d. Pratt and gave Sharapova a match for a while) but her other 5 appearances have been disappointing (crushing defeats by Srebotnik and Sprem, and unable to take advantage of winnable matches against Lee, Razzano and Diaz-Oliva)

I would put Anne into a WC play-off revised along the lines of the format used about 5 years ago: the 3 top-ranked players not to be allocated a direct WC, plus one player chosen by the LTA. This is because I think the LTA needs to protect many of our younger players from the scenario which has blighted Emily's career: ie a player progressing slowly up the rankings being catapulted to a level they are not yet ready for, struggling at the higher level and therefore being more prone to injury etc.This is a particularly important consideration this year, now that someone winning one match at Wimbledon is given 60 points.

So, for example, if direct WCs are awarded to Sarah B, Georgie, Naomi and Elena (my current selection, but this could easily change according to form nearer the time) then Anne, Mel and Katie would be invited to the WC playoff along with one other. Given that I don't think any other teenager would currently benefit from a main draw WC I would invite Amanda to be the 4th player. The 3 losing players would be given qualifying WCs if required (probably not needed this year given current rankings of the above selection) and other Brits would play-off for the remaining qualifying WCs.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I quite like you logic, although i;d make the WC play-off open to at least 8 players.

tennisbrain · Club Coach

this is how i think it shud be who likes my idea??
some of it is how it i snow
top 150 gets wild card if not already in
2 players picked by lta wc main draw
main draw wildcard playoff 8 player draw finalist qualies wild card winner gets main draw one.
qualifying wild card play off 8 draw winner gets in qualies as well as 2 picked by lta
wat u all think???

how do players actually get in wild card play off now for example in 2007?

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

Top 20 get direct entry + 4 WC's (8 seeds get Byes).

tennisbrain · Club Coach

anywhere where we can see acceptance list cos it will be in about 1 month and half????

Sheddie · administrator

Yeah as jamatthews says, the wc playoff isn't limited to just 6 players, it's a full tournament with 5 rounds over 4-5 days....I reckon players like Natasha Khan, Anna Smith and Danielle Brown (if her game is firing..though I doubt she'll have the consistency to do it over 5 rounds) could cause some big upsets. Don't think that Fitzy's game is particularly suited to grass.

I'd give playoff wcs to Jade Windley, Jade Curtis, Naomi Broady and Annabel Bann.

Sheddie · administrator

tennisbrain wrote:

anywhere where we can see acceptance list cos it will be in about 1 month and half????

There's never been any official website or proper coverage of the tourney which is a shame as it's the nearest we have to a national championship now. The only source for info is the LTA site, doubt they'll publish an acceptance list.

Hopefully some people from here might be able to go along and watch for a day

Sheddie · administrator

DavidC wrote:
I think it would be in Anne's best interests not to have a wildcard. Some players are inspired by Wimbledon (eg Karen Cross and Jane O'Donoghue) whilst others struggle (eg Anne and Julie Pullin). Anne had 1 good year (d. Pratt and gave Sharapova a match for a while) but her other 5 appearances have been disappointing (crushing defeats by Srebotnik and Sprem, and unable to take advantage of winnable matches against Lee, Razzano and Diaz-Oliva)

I would put Anne into a WC play-off revised along the lines of the format used about 5 years ago: the 3 top-ranked players not to be allocated a direct WC, plus one player chosen by the LTA. This is because I think the LTA needs to protect many of our younger players from the scenario which has blighted Emily's career: ie a player progressing slowly up the rankings being catapulted to a level they are not yet ready for, struggling at the higher level and therefore being more prone to injury etc.This is a particularly important consideration this year, now that someone winning one match at Wimbledon is given 60 points.

So, for example, if direct WCs are awarded to Sarah B, Georgie, Naomi and Elena (my current selection, but this could easily change according to form nearer the time) then Anne, Mel and Katie would be invited to the WC playoff along with one other. Given that I don't think any other teenager would currently benefit from a main draw WC I would invite Amanda to be the 4th player. The 3 losing players would be given qualifying WCs if required (probably not needed this year given current rankings of the above selection) and other Brits would play-off for the remaining qualifying WCs.

True, she definately hasn't taken advantage of some good draws in the past. However, she's generally the best British player on the grass in the weeks leading up to Wimbledon, always does well at Surbiton and has had some good wins in the WTAs in the past. If she has another good few weeks before Wimbledon, do you think that could make a difference ?

It's been a poor year for her so far, by her standards...she seems to have got stuck in the 140-175 range, too good to sink below that as she's pretty consistent in getting to the latter stages of 25Ks but she's yet to show that she can get the results consistency against top 130 players in the 50Ks, 75Ks . tier III and IVs which are needed to make top 120 and higher.

The LTA rarely announce more than 4 wcs before the playoff...how many do they normally announce before it - 3 or 4 ? They might just give wcs to Naomi, Bally and Georgie and put Sarah in the playoff too and give wcs to the top 2-3 players there..could make things v interesting

With Emily, I think she was good enough to compete at that higher level, I mean she was on the brink of beating Amy Frazier and making rd3 of Wimbledon. Probably just took her time to get used to competing consistently at that level week in, week out...but those injuries were just really bad luck, awful mishaps

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

tennisbrain wrote:

anywhere where we can see acceptance list cos it will be in about 1 month and half????

It's actually almost exactly 2 months, and I believe the rankings used for entry are those the same week as Birmingham.

tennisbrain · Club Coach

so.... for example here are the top 26 people in britian at the mo. 20 in qualies about 6 people will prob get wildcards regardless to this competition.
a.keothavong
m.south
k.obien
a.keen
s.borwell
g.stoop
n.cavaday
r.llwellyn
j.o'donohugh
s.coles
k.patterson
n.khan
a.smith
d.brown
e.baltacha
j.bone
o.scarfi
e.webly smith
a.fitzpatrik
c.peterzan
l.warburton
r.fong
e.thomas
m.berry
k.wooley
y.clarke

plus wildcards chosen by lta

Sheddie · administrator

Assuming that Peterzan won't be competing and Stoop, Cavaday and Bally get wcs then Warburton, Fong and Thomas will get the final few DA spots if rankings stay as they are.

Yasmin's been injured since the start of the year

I doubt she'll get a wc for that reason, surely junior players are going to be the wc choices...Windley, Curtis and Broady will almost certainly get two...maybe Jocelyn Rae/Annabel Bann/Amanda Elliott for the final one ?

tennisbrain · Club Coach

why is patterson and stoop not playing????????????? ye id like to see warburton, fong,thomas hit some form and challenge for some match wins against higher british players not talking about winning just make comp more interesting they all had pretty down patch recently want them to pick it up soon reaching their potentials

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

Er Paterson will play, Sheddie said Peterzan. And Stoop will almost certainly play if she doesn't get a WC, but she almost certainly will get a WC.

Sheddie · administrator

Peterzan's taking a break from tennis, Tom. She's not sure if she wants to continue on the pro tour so currently weighing up her options. On the subject of Karen Paterson, I think she will challenge here and could cause a few upsets - has a very good game for grass...it's going to be a very open comp.

If Warburton improves at finishing off points from the mid-court area (she is very good from the back and often takes control of the pt but lets her opponent back into it or makes an error), she could go higher. However, I'd be surprised if she won a round this year. Same goes for Fong whose game doesn't suit grass much from the sound of things.

Never seen Liz Thomas play before, what's she like ?