Nottingham 2 Challenger

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

Nottingham 2 Challenger

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

The original list does include a number of recognised 'weak' grass courters which hopefully if any of our boys try to play here they are drawn against them!

Count Zero · Tennis legend

it's a tough call, just when you thought the powers that be couldn't over crowd the the UK grass calendar they decide to make even more of our very limited events coincide.

so we have 2 ATP's a year, 1 Slam, 1 ETC and 4/5 challengers. yet in a bonkers way 1 ATP clashes with a challenger and the other clashes with Slam qualies, and you cant' even do the Oz lose in the 1st round and still make the slam Q thing.

it doesn't make things easy for the players to decide their schedules that's for sure.

Wards got to have a Queens WC surely so you'd take that.

as for the rest i;ve no idea. last year the Queens Q cut was pretty strong wasn't it so i guess more guys will end up in Notts.

Shhh · Challenger level

It is a tough call. If they're in some sort of form then I think they should try to push themselves. It's worth considering that this challenger being stage should make Queens qualies weaker than usual.

seagull · Hall of fame

Ward is not on alt list for Queens either so I imagine he alreadyknows he has wild card

DavidC · Tennis legend

The qualies cut at Queens has varied considerably over the years, and this looks like being one of those where virtually any ranked player will be able to get in if they choose to.

One factor which may sway many of those not on the LTA list for Wimbledon wildcards is that if they 'do an Ian Flanagan' (qualified and reached round 3 in 2004) then they will probably be able to flit between Queens and Wimbledon for the wild-card play-offs should they so wish. Even if they opt not to try to continue in both events simultaneously (as some playing Queens doubles have done) winning a round in a Tour event is more prestigious than doing so in a challenger, as compensation for missing out on the chance to compete for a Wimbledon QWC.

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

As for Queen's one of the 5 WC has been filled by David Nalbandian, I'd imagine they'd give one to an Aussie (Ward got one in Sydney) and also an American (We could get a WC to one of their events, Newport, Atlanta, LA etc) leaving two to the Brits! Ward & ?

Count Zero · Tennis legend

the concern for those guys looking at qualies places is waiting in London for the queens one and possibly missing out if it's strong then not being able to get to Notts in time to sign in there so could miss out all together.

I suspect Boggo will try for Queens though.

DavidC · Tennis legend

The women's list is also out, with Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong in the main draw and lots of Brits as alternates. At the moment the cut is 136 with the qualifying cut at 173, but expect both to go down (the latter a long way) as a lot of players have entered Birmingham, Copenhagen or Marseille additionally and will eventually have to choose. Two British players missing are Heather Watson (accepted for Birmingham main draw) and Tara Moore, who has presumably decided to definitely go to Brum as well.

Laura Robson and Katie O'Brien are on the list here but not in Birmingham, though that may not be significant as they would probably be given Birmingham main draw wildcards if they wanted them.

spud · Challenger qualifying

As ive said in earlier posts, Eaton has always been put off as the inconsistent one and i can agree, he has been, but this year he really has stepped it up a gear and is 2nd on points scoring behind Evo. If he doesnt get a MD WC for one of Queens, Eastbourne or Wimbledon then somethings wrong. He deserves a chance and tbh, i'm kinda getting fed up of the likes of Baker, Evo losing because theyre just not cut out to play there best tennis on this surface and you cant argue that.

Its great to see that this year there isnt an argument against Chris getting one, although im sure you lot will try your best.

indiana · Tennis legend

I think it would be perfectly reasonable for Chris to get a MD WC for say Queens. For whatever reasons he had a poor grasscourt season last year, not winning a ranking point and suffering losses to Willis and Cox. But he has indeed had a good start to this year and we know his potential on grass. It is a surface that suits his game and it would be a good use of a WC to showcase a home grasscourt / attacking player in a bit of form.

I say Queens rather than Eastbourne, mainly because he could then have a clash with Wimbledon qualifiers ( as James Ward "suffered" last year ) and he won't be getting any Wimbledon MD WC.

For Wimbledon, I know that last year the LTA in their recommendations did make an exception for Jamie Baker to the "no exception" ( apart from young players ) if you're not ranked in the top 250. But Jamie was ranked WR 254 and had had his illness issues. There's just frankly no chance of an exception being made for a player ranked outside the top 400. Hopefully Chris can do some damage in qualifying. I am assuming he will get a qualifying WC !

Anyway, all this assumes that he is already / will be over whatever the issue was in Mexico that caused him to retire and also miss the second week.

steven · Tennis legend

spud wrote:
As ive said in earlier posts, Eaton has always been put off as the inconsistent one and i can agree, he has been, but this year he really has stepped it up a gear and is 2nd on points scoring behind Evo. If he doesnt get a MD WC for one of Queens, Eastbourne or Wimbledon then somethings wrong. He deserves a chance and tbh, i'm kinda getting fed up of the likes of Baker, Evo losing because theyre just not cut out to play there best tennis on this surface and you cant argue that.

Its great to see that this year there isnt an argument against Chris getting one, although im sure you lot will try your best.

The obvious counter-argument is that he is still only ranked GB no 11 (up to 10 next Monday), but I agree with spud that he should get something this grass court season, given that he has now started to get decent results consistently in the lower level events in addition to being suited to grass and not being overawed by the big occasion.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

will a player who reaches the SF+ of Notts 1 get a SE into Notts 2 or will he have to still go in the qualies as they are the same venue (i'm assuming the same venue, maybe they aren't, grass will take a bit of a hammering if they are tho).

spud · Challenger qualifying

indiana wrote:
For whatever reasons he had a poor grasscourt season last year, not winning a ranking point and suffering losses to Willis and Cox.

Yeh singles wise it wasnt good for him last year (was a big shame he couldnt win his 1st qualifying round at Wimby, very close!) Dont forget his doubles success though that had him and Inglot make semi's of Notts (which meant Chris couldnt play Queens quals) and then beat the World number 1's in doubles at Wimbledon which Im sure Chris wouldnt trade for qualifying in singles.

If i remember rightly im sure the Cox match was moved indoors but no excuse for losing to Willis on Chris's best surface.