Week 3 - ITF ($25K) - Muzaffarnagar, India - Grass

SMC1809 · All-time great

Week 3 - ITF ($25K) - Muzaffarnagar, India - Grass

Reeltime · Satellite level

Decent chance of some points then.

Does make you wonder about some of these tourneys tho. That entry list is ilmost as weak as Wrexham, which is a 10k!

Ratty · County player

It's an interesting conundrum.

The prize money even if you win a $25K in India will hardly cover the cost of going to it. So effectively you are going there to buy ranking points.

But what's the endgame of this strategy? You buy yourself an inflated ranking, and get beaten by lower ranked players whenever you play in a "proper" tournament. Which seems kind of pointless.

But hey, who am I to criticise ....

SMC1809 · All-time great

I guess the plan is to buy ranking points so that you earn a seeding in weaker tournaments and give yourself a chance to win again.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

I think she just really likes Grass court tennis. She also plays India a lot so maybe she has some sort of base or contacts out there.
Finally, with the extra heat, and the chance of illness (just because of the differences in food and water) some would say these points are harder to gain than having a good week in Wrexham with all your home comforts.

tennisfan84 · Junior player

Can anybody explain to me why Emily chose to gain her ranking points from such weak events such as this.?
Its such a false economy and whenever she plays in an event where there is higher level players, she will be totally outclassed. She's done this for a few years now and I know she has had a lot of injury problems but she gains very little as a professional going over to India beating two unranked players then losing to someone in the 4/500's. I feel Emily should do a Borwell and focus now on her doubles being such a steady grass court player.

SMC1809 · All-time great

EWS will played unranked Yang Pang (CHN) in R1.

philwrig · Hall of fame

tennisfan84 wrote:

Can anybody explain to me why Emily chose to gain her ranking points from such weak events such as this.?
Its such a false economy and whenever she plays in an event where there is higher level players, she will be totally outclassed. She's done this for a few years now and I know she has had a lot of injury problems but she gains very little as a professional going over to India beating two unranked players then losing to someone in the 4/500's. I feel Emily should do a Borwell and focus now on her doubles being such a steady grass court player.

She's done this for as long as I remember and she plays well in India. She stayed over there for Christmas and New Year doing a training block during the break between her last tournament before Christmas and this one. Emily is never going to be a top player but clearly loves her trade and wants to get as high a ranking as possible by the looks of it. This weak field provides the best opportunity to reach that goal.

jb288 · Satellite level

I don't get these kind of criticisms. It's her job, she chose it, she supports herself: who the hell are we to say how she should spend her money?! I'd be a bit peed off if someone with no experience in my job suddenly told me I was doing it wrong despite having never done it themselves!

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

I totally agree with jb.

The points are there for someone to take, why shouldnt it be Emily. Especially when, as it seems, she is simply travelling the short distance from her base to the tourny to put into practise what she has been learning during the off season. It also allows her to build her match fitness up against easier opponents before she no doubt progresses to tougher events.

Furthermore, I think having this ''inflated ranking'' is rubbish. Getting these points means she can guarantee a better chance at entry and seeding later in the year. She is still going to be competing against the same women but has a shot at playing them in a more desirable order by baggin a seeding and thus giving her a better chance to acclimatise and settle into events before being forced to up her game.

Everything about this event screams common sense if you arent too short sighted to see it.

Happycynic · Pro player

Anyhow, EWS is not state funded. If she likes India and enjoys playing there, who the hell are we to criticise? She lives her life for her not for us.

philwrig · Hall of fame

I do think its a fair debate, nothing insulting was said etc., etc.,. Yes ultimately it is Emily's decision and we should support her whatever she decides to do. Salmon raised a similar point on the mens discussion thread about Cox and Milton playing a weak tournament in Asia last week and there was no such reaction.

Happycynic · Pro player

No nothing bad was said at all.

EWS is, though, different from Cox and Milton as not being team Aegon funded, and clearly being of a career stage where she is doing what she does for herself and her love of tennis, not for top 100 glory or high ambition. Thus, things for Emily are really for whatever makes her happy.

SMC1809 · All-time great

A tweet from EWS

"Good little start here, a 1 and 0 win in 50mins. only lost 6 points on serve so happy with that.onwards...."

SMC1809 · All-time great

R2: Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) (4) WR 436 Vs Ankita RAINA (IND) WR 1147