Jo Konta finally becomes British

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Jo Konta finally becomes British

steven · Tennis legend

Jo seems to have celebrated her 'conversion' by ... joining Twitter

jake270392 · Intermediate Club Player

Does anyone else feel that it will be a tad bit insulting to start helping or giving Wildcards to Jo now. Because as we all know she has been waiting for this for a long time and the only thing not British about her was the three national letters by her name. Its kind of embarrassing from our part in my opinion.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

jake270392 wrote:
Does anyone else feel that it will be a tad bit insulting to start helping or giving Wildcards to Jo now. Because as we all know she has been waiting for this for a long time and the only thing not British about her was the three national letters by her name. Its kind of embarrassing from our part in my opinion.

Although I don't want her to deprive anyone else, I don't think it would be fair to disadvantage her if she's now going to lose out on Aussie wildcards.

jake270392 · Intermediate Club Player

Helen40 wrote:
jake270392 wrote:
Does anyone else feel that it will be a tad bit insulting to start helping or giving Wildcards to Jo now. Because as we all know she has been waiting for this for a long time and the only thing not British about her was the three national letters by her name. Its kind of embarrassing from our part in my opinion.
Although I don't want her to deprive anyone else, I don't think it would be fair to disadvantage her if she's now going to lose out on Aussie wildcards.

Thats my point though because she hasnt recieved any Wildcards from australia in the past. Off course now she is going to recieve british wilcards into british events but my point is that this should have happened a long time ago.

adz1983 · Intermediate Club Player

She hasn't received a wildcard for Nottingham next week.

http://www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/Nottingham-Festival-of-Tennis/AEGON-Trophy/

Ratty · County player

More fascinating stuff.

What is "being British", after all? I could never quite buy into Greg, with his Canadian accent.

Of course, for a tennis player, being British is a JOLLY GOOD THING. We are a relatively weak nation, with loads of cash and resources to throw at our best players, and lots of lovely Wildcards (even more cash!)

Me, cynical, no way .....

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
Bit annoying that the BBC article on this makes it look like a sudden overnight nationality switch - probably not intentional, but oh so far from the truth!

At least OEM had the nous to refer to her "three-year wait" in his passing mention of the momentous occasion in today's Times, but he's reported on Jo's case in the past, I seem to recall. wink He goes on to suggest that she "will almost certainly receive a wild card into the AEGON Classic at Edgbaston the week after next and may even by discussed in Wimbledon terms".

steven · Tennis legend

Re. Jake's point - yes, Jo has certainly foregone lots of possible Aussie WCs in the past, I'd have thought, but I can see why the LTA might have found it awkward to give her 'as if she were British' WCs before it her nationality switch was confirmed.

Re. Ratty's "Of course, for a tennis player, being British is a JOLLY GOOD THING. We are a relatively weak nation, with loads of cash and resources to throw at our best players, and lots of lovely Wildcards (even more cash!)" - given that the country she has switched from, Australia, is probably the most similar country to GB in that sense at the moment (and getting support from them would almost certainly have been far more beneficial financially than waiting for years to switch to GB), I don't really see what point you're trying to make.

Unless it's a more general point about the whole wild card system being a bit of a dodgy concept - yes, it probably is.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Johanna wanted to be British for a long time so good luck to her. I remember Greg receiving a few adverse comments when he became British and I also remember Greg turning out for Britain in the Davis Cup when many British born players refused.

Happycynic · Pro player

Jo K has the right to a passport, and has in no way be queue hopping. She has the right to be treated equally by the LTA.

Whether you personally wish to support her is up to you. As a second generation immigrant, I certainly will!

huntley93 · Strong Club Player

anyone moaning about here should remember manu tualangi. the english rugby player who was bought over here by leicester tigers at 13 from samoa so he could represent england despite ALL his older brothers playing rugby for samoa. his full name is actually manusamoa tualangi. also kevin pieterson is south african is he not, tim visser, a dutch rugby player, will be eilgible to play for scotland in a few weeks. my point it happens in all sports. I however agree that someone like naomi shouldnt loose a wildcard, but she isn't exactly best buddies with the lta is she now.

-- Edited by huntley93 on Thursday 31st of May 2012 02:40:39 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Really great to see Jo finally becoming an official Brit. I was somehow always confident that this woud happen, putting the delay down to general possible administration and misundrestanding matters. Anyway she is far removed from so called plastic Brits in some other sports although some of them also get an unfairly hard deal. She even has a nice accent wink

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, an objective approach to WCs for Brits is all most of us would ask, I think. Of course, the words "objective" and "WCs" are virtually a contradiction in terms, but the LTA so seem to have been getting a bit better at doing the right thing in that regard and I certainly can't see any reason why JoKo should now be treated any differently from the other Brits in that (or any similar) respect.

Btw, the British press is already treating her as a fully-fledged British tennis player, which sounds like it should be a good thing until you realise it means the Daily Fail has already dug up a dodgy 'news' (I use the word in its loosest sense) story about her. furious

Mike Dickson really should know better, though I imagine it's the editor who wrote the headline and arranged the paragraphs to make it look like she's at fault when clearly (and hidden away lower down, they even admit this) she's not the one to blame.

I'm not going to link to it (I'm only mentioning it because that sort of gratuitous hunt for a bad new angle deserves to be shot down!) but don't worry if you have't seen it, you're not missing anything - nothing salacious and very boring.

-- Edited by steven on Friday 1st of June 2012 12:20:11 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

Re say Naomi or any others losing out on any British Wcs, so be it as long as the decisions are made in the best interests of current and future British tennis. Jo has served her time, there is no reason to have any other period where she is treated any less well than other Brits. AS above, some may feel that she has already lost out.