Yes, and even if that's easy to say with hindsight, it surely wasn't entirely unforeseeable that with two 100-220K tournaments so close to each other that this might happen.
What's really frustrating is that with Nottingham qualifying sign in a day later than Birmingham qualifying sign-in and the two sites just over 50 miles away, the LTA could have suggested players turn up in Birmingham on the off-chance (I'm pretty sure they can hand out extra last-minute QWCs if there are actually empty spaces in the draw) - it's been pointed out by @gingertwit on twitter that if they have entered for Nottingham then pulled out to play Birmingham, they may get fined and/or lose points but I'm sure there were some players (e.g. those on the Q alt list for Nottingham) who could have played that system and benefited from it.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
(Heather is playing same time in Brum, Centre Court - what a dilemma !!! On this occasion I'm choosing to go see Laura and trust that Heather will make an appearance later in the week )
I'm gingertwit btw Steve so u can call me plain old Paul!
Oops, I knew gingertwit = PaulM but thought you only posted on GBTG. BOTB-induced confusion!
Twitter wasn't really the place for an in-depth discussion about that - my guess is you were making very valid points but there would have been a way for at least some of the GB girls (maybe not the ones best placed to win matches, I agree) to take a chance of getting into Birmingham if there were places available with Nottingham as a fallback if they'd really wanted to plan for it. If they'd booked accommodation in Nottingham, they could even have commuted to Birmingham had they got in, it's close enough!
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Totally agree. Was worth a risk in my view. But I guess they wanted the security of knowing they'd get in to a tourney in the event that both Brum and Notts filled (however unlikely that was).
Abbi Melrose took an unlikely *4-3 lead against 3rd seed Zhang. It is now back on serve *4-5 and deuce, so she is in danger of dropping the 1st set, but it seems like a pretty good performance against a top 250 player.
-- Edited by steven on Monday 6th of June 2011 11:18:18 AM
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!