Wimbledon Wild Card Play-offs

helki · Futures qualifying

RE: Wimbledon Wild Card Play-offs

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

helki wrote:

As to the awarding of WCs, does anyone think the fact that the tournament is played on grass might/should feature in the decision. Wardy had an excellent win on the green clay of America, but has hardly set the world alight, so far, on the grass. I'm not "getting" at him, just using it as an example of where some of his points have come from.
I don't know as much as some of you as to how the different surfaces play, but when someone is dismissed as a "clay courter", it makes me wonder how much the surface does affect a player's ability to play on it.

I can't say I'm anything more than an avid tennis spectator but I've found it clear to see the difference between clay and grass, this year in particular. The speed is still very different, the points structure is also different, even for those who play with a similar style on both surfaces, the way points play out changes dramatically.

As for how that should apply to the awarding of wildcards. That's a matter of personal opinion. Ward in his match against Baggy at Queens did look very much like a fish out of water, and a clay courter. But he still deserved that wildcard chance because of his results over the last year, on hard courts as well as clay. Maybe he won't ever set the world alight on grass, but the money and experience gained from this wildcard (which he earnt by his ranking improvement) could be the thing that enables him to push up to the next level over the next year.

In general terms, I'm actually mildly impressed with the lta this year, there's still time for them to disappoint but so far this year they've stuck exactly to the criteria they set forth months ago. Now whether or not I agree with those criteria is beside the point, they've gained a bit more respect from me for actually sticking to it, unlike years previous. Particularly in regards to Boggo, he met the criteria and they chose not to bow down to the huge pressure to refuse him a wildcard regardless.

Silver · County player

Technically speaking, the qualification period for the Wimbledon wildcard begins after Wimbledon and continues up until they announce the wildcards... whihc is essentially the whole year, bar the grass court season. Players can be buoyed by single results here and there but if a player accrues enough points during the whole year then they are legitimately more suited to a wildcard for perhaps more consistent results.

Perhaps an overly realistic way of looking at things but hey, that appears to be the case. I'm saying I agree with it but that's how things work. You could have 300 points from one tournament but then lose in the first round of every tournament afterwards but those points will stand them in the right place at the right time.

If that makes sense.

I do, however, think the idea of a qualification period is probably detrimental to some extents. Should a player get zero ranking points outside that period and then miraculously accrue enough points to be in the top 4, why would they deserve a wildcard over someone who might have earned slightly fewer points during this time but maybe double the amount overall?

The playoff itself is probably one of the better ideas we've had really. If the players really want a wildcard, they will fight for it tooth and nail (but at the same time, they should be doing that for every match...)

ANYWAY: pleased for Marcus and Dan

Will be intriguing to watch their progress now.

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

nice to see the two younger lads winning them, well done dan and marcus.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Good to see Dan and Marcus come through the WC play-offs and get their chance that they've probably deserved with some good results this year.

Be interesting to see how they can get on against some higher level players, but if they can get themselves a nice draw, they might have a chance of claiming a win or two.