Girls: Wimbledon Juniors 2009

wolf · Tennis legend

RE: Girls: Wimbledon Juniors 2009

wolf · Tennis legend

Laura breaks back after some nervy play from Lemoine and then a brilliant lob to finish.

5-5 in the 3rd.

wolf · Tennis legend

Laura's serve really firing now and she holds for 6-5*.

wolf · Tennis legend

Some inspired play from Lemoine see her break and she serve for the match for the second tiome at *7-6.

wolf · Tennis legend

Lemoine d. Robson 6-2, 4-6, 8-6.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Laura's back problem apparently first surfaced 10 days ago and has got progressively worse - rather worrying that she should be afflicted by so many injury problems at such a young age. At least it means she should be spared the media attack which was likely if she had lost to anyone in the draw whilst uninjured.

As a result of the points lost Laura will drop out of the top 20

-- Edited by DavidC on Wednesday 1st of July 2009 10:47:58 PM

DavidC · Tennis legend

jb288 wrote:

Anyone know much about Alex Walker? Sounds like she's had a tough time, but pushing the world no. 10 hard is pretty impressive...

Not a lot apart from the article on page 5 of this thread - I've never seen her play - but here is another story from a Newcastle paper about the match and her future plans. She will be joined in Australia by her Cumbrian doubles partner Daneika Borthwick

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ALEX Walker came close to pulling off one of the shocks of this years Junior Wimbledon yesterday in her second round singles clash against the girls number 10 seed Camila Silva of Chile.

Despite being up against a player 268 places above her in the world rankings, the 16-year-old from Ryton battled all the way before finally succumbing 6-4 7-6 (8/6) in stifling conditions at the All England Club.

Walkers never-say-die attitude won her new fans around Court 14, who cheered the Northumbrian Tennis Academy graduate on throughout a tense second set tie-break.

At one stage she held a set-point to level the scores which would have taken the match into a deciding third. The rally that followed ended with a Walker volley clipping the net chord before falling agonisingly back onto her side of the court.

Im disappointed because although it was close I didnt really feel that I played my best tennis, said Walker.

On that set point I hit a really good serve, came in and missed a volley which clipped the net. I thought it had gone over as well. But I am pleased with the way I hung in there having gone 3-1 down in the second set.

Walkers next objective is to pick up as many ranking points as possible over the coming months in order to achieve a place in the top 100, with a tournament in the Australian city of Darwin next on her agenda.

When you get into the higher rankings you start getting automatic entry into the top tournaments like Wimbledon rather than having to rely on wildcards, she said.

Ive got to get myself up there because Ive proved over the past couple of weeks that I can live with the better players. Its not just a dream any more.

tenniscynic · Social player

I am amazed at your comment about being concerned about Laura's injuries at such a young age. I think that the amount of training and competing that she has had to do is just unreal - granted, she has has huge success but we knew her at a younger age and she was a notch above all the other U10s , when she was still 9, and was putting her body under incredible pressure. I don't agree with the tennis regime - great to win Wimbledon Juniors at 14 but at what cost to the poor girls body? I know that other sports are more sensible about preserving the body - football for one.

philwrig · Hall of fame

When was the last time we had no GB representative in either singles or doubles in the QFs on either the boys or girls side?

philwrig · Hall of fame

Laura's injuries tend to be minor niggles and not major and may be due to the fact she is still growing and can't do the intensive training which is needed in order to strengthen the body which would help protect her body against further injuries.

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

To be fair we're stuck between the 1990 generation asnd the 1993/4 generation in the boys' side, im sure it will improve a lot next year

DavidC · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:

When was the last time we had no GB representative in either singles or doubles in the QFs on either the boys or girls side?

A very long time ago - I have checked the records since 1993 on the ITF site, and cannot find a year without a quarter-finalist. There are plenty of years where there is no-one in the singles (eg 2002, 2003, 2005) but we nearly always have a pair through to the QF of either Boys or Girls doubles. Rather embarrassing for the LTA, who are trying to point to the junior game as evidence for progress.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Thanks DavidC the girls especially should be disappointed as the boys weren't expected to progress very far.

helki · Futures qualifying

jb288 wrote:

Anyone know much about Alex Walker? Sounds like she's had a tough time, but pushing the world no. 10 hard is pretty impressive...

Don't know anything about the girl, apart from what has appeared on here.

I watched this match and was very impressed with the standard of play from both girls. It was refreshing to see two youngsters not tied to the baseline, who were prepared to move up into the court, volley and smash. I, for one, shall keep an eye on Alex and hope she can develop her game enough to rise up through the rankings and become a successful Brit woman.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Nice to know that Alex has a more varied game than most juniors. I'm surprised that Camila Silva was also prepared to move up the court - in the brief highlights I saw of her in the Italian Open, albeit on clay, she was behind the baseline moonballing much of the time.

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn has just gone one better than last year, absorbing Kristina Mladenovic's considerable power to win the title in 3 sets. As a result the end of year world number one spot is still open (the French girl would have effectively sewn it up with a second Grand Slam title), though Laura would have to win the US Open and do well in at least one other tournament to be competitive.