Seems to be the normal pattern. Hopefully the ones at the top can inspire the kids at this level to beat their foreign opposition, especially at a home tourney.
I do get the impression that fewer of our girls are now willing to travel to competitions abroad than they used to. However there is clearly a huge demand for ITF events in the UK from 10K to 100K. Perhaps the LTA should recognise that the recession has changed the playing fields (Sorry!) and organise more home events.
There is streaming from this tournament, at Bet 365 from 1pm today. Covering court 1. I haven't checked if it's available elsewhere and the LTA are not mentioning anything, as yet !!
Kristen Flipkens, having won the $220K in Québec City, and having impressively rocketed back up to 69, from 262 at Wimbledon, also withdrew. That combination allowed Johanna to get seeded, and seventh at that. Hopefully she can make good use of the seeding to which her hard work over the summer has entitled her.
Really looking forward to see how all the girls do, and hopefully at least 2 good runs for Brits from somewhere.
Looks like a busy day of action at Shrewsbury tomorrow with all 16 singles and 8 doubles matches on the OOP.
I'm particularly interested to see how Johanna does here after such a good US Open. Hopefully even if there isn't a stream there will be some source for live scores for at least court 1 where Tara and JoKo are in action