2011 Hopman cup

LordBrownof · Futures level

RE: 2011 Hopman cup

philwrig · Hall of fame

Maybe it's a case of watch this space.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Wickmayer seems to be doing okay being coached by their academy staff, and given they only have 3 other elite players on the books, I presume she'll get a reasonable amount of attention from Patrick Mouratoglou himself. According to his bio, he has coached 3 players - Baghdatis (to WR8), Pavlyuchenkova (to WR27, now 21) and currently Aravane Rezaï (WR19).

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

In other news Laura unlikely to make the cut for AO qualies. Cut off last year was 218
There have been 4 retirements, so assuming that 6 of the MDWC go to the 4 Australians + 1 French + 1 American currently in qualifying spots and the other 2 to Australian's outside the qualifying range, it currently stands at 210 with two potential protected ranking entries from Voskoboeva & Kutuzova perhaps pushing it back to 208.

I wonder if the merited increase rules allow her to enter as an alternate?

indiana · Tennis legend

The Aussie Open entry list will apparently be based on next Monday's ( 29th November ) rankings. The points being added on Monday will be from last week's 10Ks and 25Ks and this week's 75K + H in Japan.

So Laura's "entry list" ranking will be basically effected by what players around her add from these tournaments and lose from any points being defended from last year.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I believe the qualifying positions are based upon a later cutoff that being the 19/12. Laura I guess will finish up around the 220/221 mark.
I wonder whether if Laura was say 2 spots away from making the cut, the Aussies might only hand out 6 QWCs allowing two further alternates into the draw.
I suppose if an alternate gets in with withdrawals etc., it still counts as a merited increase.
Serena has now officially withdrawn from the AO as well.

indiana · Tennis legend

Cheers, Phil. the site I was looking at just said that the entry cut off was based on the November 29th rankings ( actually a week earlier than I expected because I thought it was generally 6 weeks before ).

I didn't realise that the qualifying list was based on the rankings 3 weeks later.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Back at the Hopman Cup, Bethanie Mattek-Sands (WR59 singles, 17 doubles) replaces Serena.

GB are now #2 seeds with Italy #4, and there are no chances to the schedule/groups.

philwrig · Hall of fame

It would appear, if this article can be relied upon, that PM himself is going to play a major role in Laura's coaching setup next year. He has been Rezai's sole coach this year. So whether this situation is going to change next year and Rezai will be looking for somebody new who knows. Rezai had a great first six months of the year but has really struggled since. PM was able to take Pavlyuchenkova from exceptional junior to a top 30 player very quickly before parting ways. Certainly PM's coaching style likes his pupils to play aggressively and not wait for opponents mistakes. A style you would think that would suit Laura. Also his coaching seems to work exceptionally well in the short term but not long term.

http://worldoftennisblog.dailymail.co.uk/

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks Phil for the link. Very interesting re Patrice Mouratoglou evidently going to be Laura's main coach and I agree with you being coached to play aggresively should suit Laura, given her weapons and the fact that she will never likely be a great mover.

By the way, I think that's a really good article as a whole in its end of year review of the World and British tennis scene.

philwrig · Hall of fame

They're dropping like flies, Monfils is the latest to withdraw, being replaced by none other than Mahut, setting up a Isner Mahut rematch. On the downside I suspect Muzza would have preferred a match against Monfils in the lead up to the Aussie open. In the other group the Belgian guy has been replaced by a much lower ranked player.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Laura's ranking for the Australian open looks likely to be 217, which given average luck should be high enough to gain entry into the qualies. There have been quite a high number of withdrawals already but we won't get a clear picture until next week when the full list comes out.
In other news Laura has not entered the juniors this year which to me makes it increasingly likely that she will be selected for the Fed Cup team this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 'awesome foursome' picked with Sarah being the unlucky one. We should find out next week.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, possibly a bit of a pity about Monfils, though maybe Monfils wasn't actually the best person to play coming out of the close season seeking to get rythym and consistency into your game.

Anyway, as long as Andy gets some decent matches, wipes off the cobwebs and feels ready to go all should be good.

Nice as it would be to do well again ( or indeed go the final step ) after last year the Hopman Cup in itself doesn't hugely enthuse me since I look on it a bit as a gloirified exhibition.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Bad news for Laura's AO chances - Lauren Davis, ranked 444, won the US main draw wildcard tournament, so no American will be promoted from the qualifying field to free up a spot.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I'm still pretty confident, Coco last year got the WC spot when she was outside of qualifying.