Wimbledon 2013 and 2014 - women's WCs & pre-draw discussion

scottie1 · Futures level

RE: Wimbledon 2013

briteny · Intermediate Club Player

I remember every year there were a few foreign Players got the MD WC! If there is a rule 250, Lisa is at the edge! blankstare

WD40 · Club Coach

While I agree with most of the choices for W/C's, there are two points I would like to make.

1) Katy Dunne: I think Katy should be in line for a (Q) W/C. After her showing in qualifying for two 10k's and gaining ranking points in both. Also she has now managed
to be ranked in the top 10 in the world for juniors. There is also the fact that she achieved a (Q) W/C last year through the pre-qualifiers.

2) Tara Moore: I, like almost everyone else, think she will be offered a MD wildcard, but unlike everyone else I believe it would be in her best interest to turn it down.
(Like Naomi C did a few years back I think?) Obviously it may not be in her best interest financially, and if for this reason she felt she had to accept it I would
agree with that, but ranking points wise if she accepts the W/C and loses in the 1st round (which is the most likely outcome unless she gets a favourable
draw) she will be stuck with a mandatory 5 point for the next year. As her current 16th best is greater than this it would be a loss. If on the other hand she
chose to enter the qualifying on her ranking and reached the main draw she would then have a decent amount of points to count for the year. Even if she did
not qualify for the main draw she may still gain some valuable points and not be stuck with a mandatory score.

scottie1 · Futures level

I would not be confident of Tara qualifying the standard is really high. For me,personally a main draw and a good draw she could win a match. three wins in qualifying is tough . Is Karen Cross not the last British woman to qualify. I am going to the qualifying hope to see Katy Dunne and Naomi who could win a round.

korriban · Challenger level

WD40 wrote:

While I agree with most of the choices for W/C's, there are two points I would like to make.

1) Katy Dunne: I think Katy should be in line for a (Q) W/C. After her showing in qualifying for two 10k's and gaining ranking points in both. Also she has now managed
to be ranked in the top 10 in the world for juniors. There is also the fact that she achieved a (Q) W/C last year through the pre-qualifiers.

2) Tara Moore: I, like almost everyone else, think she will be offered a MD wildcard, but unlike everyone else I believe it would be in her best interest to turn it down.
(Like Naomi C did a few years back I think?) Obviously it may not be in her best interest financially, and if for this reason she felt she had to accept it I would
agree with that, but ranking points wise if she accepts the W/C and loses in the 1st round (which is the most likely outcome unless she gets a favourable
draw) she will be stuck with a mandatory 5 point for the next year. As her current 16th best is greater than this it would be a loss. If on the other hand she
chose to enter the qualifying on her ranking and reached the main draw she would then have a decent amount of points to count for the year. Even if she did
not qualify for the main draw she may still gain some valuable points and not be stuck with a mandatory score.

A really interesting logic regarding Tara if she wants to play the long game and I quite like it.

If she were offered WCs into Nottingham, Birmingham and Eastbourne, she would be in qualifiers automatically anyway for Wimbledon and just 1 win gives her 40 points minimum. And hopefully the 3 warm-up tournaments give her plenty of practice, plenty of exposure to the British public and plenty of ranking points anyway.

On the other hand, if she does well at the first 2 of the above tournaments, I suspect she would far prefer to take a Wimbledon MDWC than a WC into the third warm-up. She would already have decent ranking points "in the bank" and even if she didn't win her first round match at Wimbledon, the prize money alone and the full glare of exposure is what every young Brit player dreams about. Plus with a good draw and lots of practice behind her, a win is a real possibility. Too tempting!

indiana · Tennis legend

Intetesting re whether it might be beneficial for Tara to play qualifying.

I also tend to think on balance rankingswise, yes. Not really because a likely first round MD loss would leave her with a mandatory 5 points ( not very significant in itself since her 16th score anyway is currently 6 and I think unlikely in the year ahead to get above say 14 ) but much more because of those possible qualifying points with the infamous 40 points for "just" winning QR1.

I recall the aforementioned Naomi Cavaday gaining valuable qualifying points.

Personally, though, I doubt Tara will turn down a MDWC in any circumstances.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Naomi Cavaday had played Wimbledon before though. There is no way I could see Tara even considering turning down a MDWC. Playing qualies for Wimbledon also means one less week of grass court tournaments whereas having a wild card means she can enter Eastbourne qualifying.

scottie1 · Futures level

I just cant see Tara winning 3 matches to qualify sorry! Main Draw is correct she has worked hard to get inside top 200 and is right she takes her place in the draw

WD40 · Club Coach

I agree that if/when Tara is offered a MDWC she will jump at the chance, as Korriban puts it "it is just too tempting!" I just think, in the long run, it would benefit her more to try qualifying? Just my humble opinion of course. wink

PaulM · Tennis legend

Tara has played qualies a few times. Time to step up and test herself against the very best.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Oh, yes, definitely, take the WC and play the main draw.

She can do 'strategy' plays for the rest of the year but this is the moment to be part of the big event, have your match televised, get you name and face out there, maybe impress a sponsor or two, hope that a little bit of magic happens but, even if not, to relish the experience.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Due to its history Wimbledon is the premier venue in the world. Any tennis player, particularly British, would have ambitions to one day play in the main draw of Wimbledon. One unseeded player will end up playing Serena on Centre Court on the opening day, it might be you. Even if the score is 0 and 0 you could dine out on that for the rest of your life.

jake270392 · Intermediate Club Player

Mens Wildcards

1) James Ward (Top 250 and having a decent year)
2) Kyle Edmund (Top Junior and top 500 seniors, also having a good year)
3) Boggo (Needs 16 points in next two weeks to be in Top 250 so eligible for wildcard by right)
4) Dan Evans (Davis Cup heroics!!)

Womens

1) Elena Baltacha (Coming back from injury, veteran)
2) Anne Keothavong (Veteran)
3) Jo Konta (Still young and playing well of late)
4) Tara Moore (Top 200 and playing the best she has done)
5) Sam Murray/ Lisa Whybourn (Top 250ish)

steven · Tennis legend

Just a quick note about the QWC playoffs. I mentioned on another thread (I think it was in response to a question about whether Brydan Klein would get into them but I can't find it again now) that 11 players get into the playoffs on ranking and then there are 5 wild cards. I'm pretty sure that is how it has worked in recent years, but looking at the details on the LTA site today (the details for 2013 were only posted on Friday), it turns out there is a slight change for this year.

The details can be found here: http://bit.ly/13QoBYl

For both the men's and women's QWC playoffs this year, the first 10 places will be based on rankings and there will then be 6 wild cards into each of the playoffs to make up 16-player draws.

4 of those WCs (I should stress once again, WCs into the QWCs playoffs, not WCs into Wimbledon or Wimbledon Q) will be awarded in the normal way but the other 2 will, as set out in http://bit.ly/13QoGLD, go to the winner of the Nottingham Tier I British Tour event last week (if the winner does not require a Wild Card, this will be offered to the runner-up. If the runner-up does not require a wild card then the wild card will be released) and the British Tour leader after the 20-25 May event in Cardiff.

For the men, it looks like Harry Skinner was top of the BT leaderboard, while Richard Gabb won Nottingham BT, with both likely to need wild cards to get into the play-offs, though I imagine Richard would have got one of the discretionary ones anyway.

For the women, Anna Fitzpatrick was top of the BT leaderboard and won Nottingham BT, but both she and Nottingham BT runner-up Lucy Brown should get into the play-offs on ranking.

The first document linked to above also says that:

"Subject to the below, players need to be ranked within the top 250 ATP/WTA on the 10th June 2013 ranking list to be recommended for a Main Draw Wild Card.

In some exceptional circumstances the LTA may nominate a player who is ranked outside of the ATP/WTA 250. These exceptional circumstances may involve a young player who is displaying accelerated development, a player showing an exceptional ranking rise in the months preceding The Championships or a player who has experienced exceptional circumstances or injury resulting in their ranking being outside of the ATP/WTA 250."

I don't remember the "showing an exceptional ranking rise" bit being there in previous years (at least not without "young" linked to it) though I may be wrong, but I'm tempted to call it "the Corrie clause" wink

In section 4, it says that results from the last 3 months, especially those on grass, will carry the most weight.

It doesn't seem very transparent releasing this just days before the decisions are made, but there you go ...

denver23 · Social player

jake270392 wrote:
Mens Wildcards

1) James Ward (Top 250 and having a decent year)
2) Kyle Edmund (Top Junior and top 500 seniors, also having a good year)
3) Boggo (Needs 16 points in next two weeks to be in Top 250 so eligible for wildcard by right)
4) Dan Evans (Davis Cup heroics!!)

Womens

1) Elena Baltacha (Coming back from injury, veteran)
2) Anne Keothavong (Veteran)
3) Jo Konta (Still young and playing well of late)
4) Tara Moore (Top 200 and playing the best she has done)
5) Sam Murray/ Lisa Whybourn (Top 250ish)

I really don't think any WC's should be awarded at grand slam events - 3 max per event - if we really have to have them. Simply increase the number of direct acceptances and make the rest qualify and earn the right to be there including the lot named above. Too much bias and favouratism.

Tara Moore - (Top 200 and playing the best she has done) - You could say the same for An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium who is only 19 and climbed from a ranking of 408 at the end of last year to 192. And guess who she beat a few months back at Bath - yes Tara Moore. The same case could be made for Alja Tomljanovic who has climbed from 453 at the end of 2012 to a career high of 143 (higher than any of the six mentioned above) and beaten a few good players in the top 100. If she was British I bet she would be on the above list to.

J