Lost. Oh dear Tara. 4 Brits maybe was ambitious

In my view, the LTA spin is ridiculously OTT and inappropriate for such a body. It is certainly one thing that does ( rightly ) attract media criticism. Chicken and egg ?

Recognising the spin on things I do know about i.e. player achievements / performances, I just don't know how to take info from them on things I don't know about.

Anyway, yes, yes, I will try to say no more about the LTA in this thread...but will not desist from any fresh appropriate LTA criticism in a non tournament thread.

Re "slagging off", it's that balance for one of the criticisers not getting personal and others not jumping down folk for mild performace related critical comments on players. Criticism to some extent will not stop ( and I think it is clear I am personally fine with that ), but it would be good if folk can take on board some of the messages and feelings posted in this general discussion.

Tara has bigger fish to fry a 15k points wise wouldn't really improve her ranking that much anyway. Naomi and Mel need this level of victory more.

Another plus note Dani k and Sabrina not proving to be the canon fodder today we expected battling away

so pleased for Naomi maybe her confidence is coming back sad about Tara but her illness perhaps a contributory factor.

SMC1809 wrote:

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One more thing. It would be interesting to know why folk joined this forum. I joined because I enjoy British tennis and following the fortunes, good or bad, of British tennis players. Three years ago, finding results wasn't an easy task. Thankfully, betting sites, phone apps, and more recently the ITF sites have made it much easier, but three years ago, this forum was a great resource because of the many knowledgeable visitors.

Also, Steven's Top 25 table is a masterpiece of up-to-date information.

So why did you join? To follow British players or a favourite player? To learn more about British players? To criticise players based on a result? To find opportunities to watch tennis? Maybe to demostrate your knowledge or love of the game? To help find betting tips? (Phil Wright's comments, particularly on the women's side have been very useful for me). Would be genuinely interested to know.

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I have always been a massive sports fan but never particularly into tennis until about 5 years ago.  Like so many, I was a Wimbledon fan as opposed to a tennis fan.  Then, someone mentioned to me about a Futures tournament being played locally (Elche) and I went along to watch - not knowing what to expect.  It just happened that the first match on court was a young English player - Jack Carpenter - so I watched.  He won that day, so I went back to watch him the following day and was hooked.

I decided to "google" Jack and see what I came up with.  Needless to say that it wasn't long before I stumbled across Steven's Top 25 table (a great resource - thanks as always Steven) and subsequently this forum.  I eventually posted having watched Jack again last year in Murcia and Cartagena, where I also saw Kyle play for the first time.  Someone (Stircrazy) had commented on Jack's match and I felt that having been there, I could add some insight.

With regard to the positivity / negativity debate, I have always seen myself as  "glass half full" type of person.  Having been involved in sports coaching (although not tennis) in my "younger" days, I found that with most (not all) people, the carrot worked better than the stick.  I guess this attitude probably shows through in my posts as I try to always emphasize the positive.  There is a place for criticism and I would never knock those who chose to express it here or anywhere else, provided they don't stray into being disrespectful.  One of the reasons I enjoy this forum so much is that there is definitely a sense of everyone wanting the Brits to do well and whilst the frustration so associated with following British tennis in general is often apparent, on the whole this is expressed in a reasoned and informed manner.

It's snowing outside, Bob, and you are in Spain! No wonder your glass is half full!

Sabrina lost the last 8 games in a row, and went down 4-6 0-6, dropping her serve 7 times out of 8 and giving up all 7 of the BPs she faced. Much better than last week, as this time she was playing a top 300-400 player, rather than a player outside 1000 and got an extra game.