Week 15 - ITF ($100K+H) - Johannesburg, RSA - Hard

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: Week 15 - ITF ($100K+H) - Johannesburg, RSA - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Aww, really sorry for Naomi, that looks a great effort. The 20 ranking points there could well have taken her into the top 250 cry

Very good signs though and I really hope she cracks that 250 quite soon and indeed goes higher.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I thought I would copy a quote from Nino from his latest blog.

As I write this blog there are 58 players on the planet sitting on top of Bally in the WTA world rankings, for me as a coach thats 58 reasons for change.

This to me is further evidence why Nino is such a great coach and why I expect Bally to make further progess. Rather than sit on their laurels they are looking at ways to improve Bally's already high level of play.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Katie loses 64 57 76(5)

Just heartbreaking. Confidence will be totally gone, no hope for direct entry to wimbledon and falling further and further away from the top 100.

Thought she'd make the quarters here. I really did :(

SMC1809 · All-time great

R2: Elena BALTACHA (GBR) (1) WR 59 Vs Kathrin WOERLE (GER) WR 129.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Another heartbraking loss to follow up from Naomi's earlier on.
Unlike Naomi's though this is disappointing although not unexpected given Katie's form this year.
At least her ranking won't plummet like Mel's but it doesn't look like Katie has what it takes to be a consistent top 100 player. Hopefully this will change in the future.

indiana · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:

Katie loses 64 57 76(5)

Just heartbreaking. Confidence will be totally gone, no hope for direct entry to wimbledon and falling further and further away from the top 100.

Thought she'd make the quarters here. I really did :(

Yes, it's really very worrying. She had done so well to make it into the top 100 and then for her performance level to drop like it has, real pity. I do hope she can somehow turn it round.

As for Wimbledon, her current ranking of 108 would maybe just about be OK. But she has 80 points to come off at the start of May from her semi in Johannesburg last year, which would drop her about 20 places if not replaced at all. So unless she does something in about the next month ( before the Wimbledon entry list is decided ) then she won't make it.

philwrig · Hall of fame

She'll get a wildcard anyway won't she ?

indiana · Tennis legend

I'd assume so, Phil. It's just sad that she's quite likely to need it.

Also, the way some of the other girls are moving up, I hope some other GB girl who's made real progress won't now miss out on a WC that she might otherwise have got.

philwrig · Hall of fame

There is no doubt that wildcard choices for Wimby this year will be difficult. To choose
between the older more established players who are out of form and the young up and comers who are making big strides.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Wimbledon main draw will be based on May 10th ranks.

A quarter-final probably would have made it close, but realistically she needs a QF in Fes in 2 weeks, which is just not going to happen.

Anne might make it

philwrig · Hall of fame

I'm pretty sure Eleanor Preston is responsible for the LTA tweets. She is pretty good at what she does and won't worry about using somebody else's links if they are worth posting.

SMC1809 · All-time great

SMC1809 wrote:

R2: Elena BALTACHA (GBR) (1) WR 59 Vs Kathrin WOERLE (GER) WR 129.

Bally on Centre court tomorrow, so live scoring (Bet365) should be available again.

steven · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:

I'm pretty sure Eleanor Preston is responsible for the LTA tweets. She is pretty good at what she does and won't worry about using somebody else's links if they are worth posting.

Ah, she's following me too ... she's often with Bally as her press contact isn't she. That may of course mean she'd been alerted to that article separately and it was just a coincidence we posted it so close to each other, but even if not, then as with OEM lifting stuff people write on here, I'm more than happy for them to pick up on stuff we do and give it a wider audience, especially if it's good stuff like this.

I wish I'd thought of the "Ballymania seizes J'burg" headline btw biggrin

SMC1809 · All-time great

The match before Elena's has just finished, so she should be on soon.