Laura now GB no 1

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Laura now GB no 1

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

She is 1/2 odds-on with the bookies to win a WTA title by the end of next year, and 14/1 to win a grand slam next year. The latter looks a bit optimistic to me.

indiana · Tennis legend

Laura is now the second highest ranked teenager in the world rankings, the four in the top 100 being :

1. Sloane Stephens (USA) ( 20/03/93 ) WR 38

2. Laura Robson (GBR ) ( 21/01/94 ) WR 57

3. Timea Babos (HUN) ( 10/05/93 ) WR 61

4. Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) ( 14/05/93 ) WR 94

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 24th of September 2012 09:54:37 AM

jake270392 · Intermediate Club Player

I have just done a quick calculation of the amount of points for our top 5 players have to defend until the French Open.

Laura - 2011 - 131
2012 - 113
Total = 244

Heather - 2011 - 39
2012 - 206
Total = 245

Anne - 2011 - 340
2012 - 267
Total = 607

Elena - 2011 - 102
2012 - 165
Total = 267

Jo - 2011 - 31
2012 - 164
Total = 195

So its going to be an interesting battle between Hev and Laura for the GB No 1 Ranking as they have the same amount of points to defend until RG but more interestingly is the fact that they don't have that many points to defend so lots to gain and more potential career highs in the coming months.

As for Anne its great that she is going to play one more year, maybe being spurred on to play another a year for Fed Cup reasons, as I think it will be hard for her to stay in the top 100 unless she can play well again.

Same for Elena, would be great for her to play one more year, I think Fed Cup will be her main reason for doing so (more than Anne) but lets see what she does.

And Jo can definitely challenge for the top 100 within the coming few months.

gjr · Club Coach

Been a great few weeks for both girls.

Heather just ahead now but won't plan again this year (she just said on radio 5 live).

Not sure if Laura will play again this year so just have to look forward to a successful 2013.

Onwards and upwards!

indiana · Tennis legend

I really hope Laura doesn't play again this year, but if she is still tempted to play the Barnstaple 75K, she would need to reach the semi finals to get back past Heather.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

The updated rankings are now on the WTA site confirming Heather as WR 50: http://www.wtatennis.com/page/RankingsSingles/0,,12781~0~1~60,00.html

As both Heather and Laura are now (almost certainly) done for the season, I thought it would be interesting to see how the first half vs second half of the season would compare. To do this I divided their tounaments in to (for Heather 13 tournaments to Roland Garros and 13 from Nottingham and for Laura 12 tournaments to Nottingham and 12 from Birmingham). Then I took the highest scoring 8 tournaments (including Mandatories even when not in the top 8 scores) and doubled the ranking points of each half year score to see where they would be on the rankings list:

Heather

First half: 361pts - doubles to 722 = WR 90

Second half: 780pts - doubles to 1560 = WR 27

(n.b. the contrast would have been much greater had RG not sneaked in as her last tournament in H1)

Laura

First half: 173pts - doubles to 346 = WR180

Second half: 930pts - doubles to 1860 = WR21

I was surprised just how high the second half rankings worked out, as these are based on quite an extended period of time. It might be a bit much to ask for quite as many points from H1 2013, but both Heather and laura have a very realistic chance of being ranked high enough to be seeded in time for Wimbledon.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Sunday 14th of October 2012 08:22:54 PM

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Considering once Laura reached no. 1 her tournament points hauls have been 200, 110 & 70 it's been an incredible effort by Heather to get that position back this year.

Year end ranking points will be 1161 for Heather and 1131 for Laura, so we could well be seeing them swap places a few times over the next year.

Based on their matches against Chang this week they are quite evenly matched too - as both won exactly 50% of the points against her. The difference was that Heather won the last point, which is all that really matters.

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks tony, that is really interesting. I think folk generally knew that there was a real opportunity for both Laura and Heather to move up the rankings in the first half of next year, but this has shown it all up very well.

Laura I felt was really handicapped early on this year by her lack of a close season due to injury. I remember her mixture of surprise and delight at doing as well as she did in Aussie Open qualifying, but in reality it took her a long time to catch up on what she missed training wise. She has done so so well later on in the year. WR 180 form against WR 21 form is some change smile

Heather too now has got so much more to play for in the first half of next year with so much in the bank now from the second half of this year, and she too was a bit handicapped with her football foot injury from early on in the year. WR 90 form as against WR 27 form and as you say that is with her RG 160 points slipping into that first half ( and she will be able to count these points to a possible RG seeding next year of course smile )

Keep healthy this time, girls

Either or both being seeded for Wimbledon or even Roland Garros must be a real possibility. No pressure wink ( but great that there are the two of then )

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 14th of October 2012 09:44:48 PM

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

I can't see 'Fed Cup' being a main reason for Bally or Anne playing another year - it would be because they still want to win on the tour.

In February, Bally will probably still be recovering, and even if both were fit and present, I'd expect Laura & Heather to play the singles rubbers, and probably have a hand in live doubles rubbers too.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

An interesting exercise, perhaps showing:-
a) Heather's greater consistency and sheer match toughness , evidenced by the more equal splits

she lost just 4 times to a player ranked lower than her. Will be harder to maintain that with her new higher starting ranking, but were she to keep that up...

b) Laura's possible greater absolute potential to reach streaks of great form, demonstrated by the highest of the 4 ½ year hauls.

I hope your extrapolations, even with all the imponderables that they encompass, prove true, Can hardly wait to find out.

As a quick note, I also notice in the new rankings that.

Kai Chen Chang also broke back into the Top 100. I'm glad about that, she deserved something tangible from her fine week.
Bally rose in the rankings for the second week running without playing

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

I'd say the first target is to be a direct entry for Indian Wells & Miami (WR 44)

indiana · Tennis legend

RBBOT wrote:
I'd say the first target is to be a direct entry for Indian Wells & Miami (WR 44)

Surely higher than that, assuming the main draw fields are again 96 players for both events ?

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

They will be well in the Indian Wells main draw, which has 96 places (minus 20 for Q and WC).

In fact that's another thing in Heather and Laura's favour next year. Because they are ranked higher they will benefit from direct entry into bigger tournaments and seeding in smaller ones. Laura didn't even have to play that well in Osaka to get 70 points as her draw was made much kinder by virtue of being 8th seed. Having to play 2 or 3 qualifiers I think makes it more difficult to then have a sustained run in the main draw.

indiana · Tennis legend

For the moment I can give you a distribution of wins ( and losses ) for 2012, I'll get averages later, although they will maybe be a bit distorted by some high rankings. Plus I'll list the higher ranked wins.

HEATHER :

Top 50 : 5 wins 14 losses

51 - 100 : 12 wins 7 losses ( so 17 wins and 21 losses against top 100 players )

Over 100 : 18 wins 4 losses

TOTAL : 35 wins 25 losses

LAURA :

Top 50 : 9 wins 11 losses

51 - 100 : 2 wins 6 losses ( so 11 wins and 17 losses against top 100 players )

Over 100 : 23 wins 8 losses

TOTAL : 34 wins 25 losses

( If Laura had actually beaten Bally in Eastbourne qualifying instead of had a W/O she too would have 35 wins and 25 losses ! )

So re wins, Laura has more top 50, but also more over players outside the top 100. Heather has a lot more in the range 51 to 100.

The distributions changed markedy during the year as they ( particularly Laura ) improved and played higher ranked opponents, eg . just one of Laura's first 17 wins was against a top 100 player and her bigger losses were during that period too. Heather has played ( and won and lost to ) quite a few more top 100 players. It does suggest though that against the very best Laura does tend to do better, in line with Helen's instinct on that.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 15th of October 2012 02:54:38 PM