Girls: French Open - Grade A (Week 23)

korriban · Challenger level

RE: Girls: French Open - Grade A (Week 23)

Bob the Ball Boy · Junior player

agree- if she pulls this off it's looking like an awesome win! i know most of the british girls around that age pretty well- and have to say she has always looked to me as having the most potential... solid all round game, good fighting attitude, good athlete (although I think she can improve here and make it a real weapon).. the only thing I thought she lacked was perhaps mental in that she tended to be quite passive despite her ability to play aggressive tennis, but it seems to be that as she has gained more experience in the senior game this has naturally improved!! Win or lose, I'd take this as a positive sign for her development the rest of this year.

As I write this she is now set point down at 5-4... come on Katy!!!

Miriambee · Futures level

and now 5 all and deuce on her serve.

Spectator · All-time great

Lost second set 7-5. Into 3rd.

korriban · Challenger level

Spectator wrote:
Lost second set 7-5. Into 3rd.

Shame. 5-5 *40-15 at one point.

Now a break down final set, but if she can keep it close......the other girl is probably expecting Katy to capitulate, so if she can continue to apply pressure perhaps the Spaniard might crack instead.

wolf · Tennis legend

Well Katy is certainly is keeping it close, she has just pegged Tormo back from 40-15 to deuce with Tormo serving 4-3 ahead.

wolf · Tennis legend

I think Katy had a break point at 4-3 down, but Tormo eventually won 5-7 7-5 6-3.

Bob the Ball Boy · Junior player

shame- but great effort!

PaulM · Tennis legend

Really was. I have to admit I was sceptical about Katy staying in juniors so long, but she seems to be playing some really nice tennis in her (late) start to the seniors.

Hoping she can have a good summer.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

I suspect she may be off to the college circuit - if the intention was to reach the WTA ranking to keep Aegon funding next year, surely she would have placed more Women's ITFs by now?

Bob the Ball Boy · Junior player

the debate over the transition between juniors and seniors is an interesting one... clearly its the senior ranking that ultimately counts and the level/game style of girls in seniors is very different, but i'd guess that doing so well in juniors and getting to play high quality matches against the best juniors in the world has given katy a lot of confidence in her ability to challenge these girls & is a positive contributing factor to her results in the 10ks she has and will play!

getting thrown into the deep end and losing a string of 1st/2nd round matches in 10ks is no good for confidence... the womens game has changed and you no longer have to make the big time by age 20 so why not...

plus, if she never achieves much in her senior career (although I doubt this is the case! and certainly hope it isn't) she can say she has played at every grand slam as a junior AND WON MATCHES!! that's a pretty cool achievement for anyone and not many of girls can say they've done that! add this to the potential college route she may want to follow- she will be top pick for the best universities in the states!

DavidC · Tennis legend

Yes very encouraging performance by Katy which should be a confidence booster. Unfortunately she lost another close one in the doubles:

Doubles R1

Shymanovich/Silich (RUS) d. (5) Boulter/Dunne (GBR) 6-2 2-6 [10-6]

Referring to Korriban's question about seeding, as Spectator rightly says there is a big difference in the comparable WTA/ATP rankings used. Essentially the ITF have to balance encouragement for juniors to play their events, rewarding those who do well with seedings, while including some of the best juniors who are only/mainly playing pro circuit events. One problem they have, less relevant to the boys event, is the number of highly ranked (WTA) players who could enter. I think there are currently 7 eligible in the top 250, who would all be seeded above Katy - but none opted to enter this time. Hence I can understand why they don't extend the seedings down quite as far as Sara Sorribes Tormo, even though she appears to be one of the best in the draw - not every junior ranked in the 300s has as impressive a CV as her. Last year Annika Beck won, seeded 2 because of being ranked well inside 200 WTA. On the boys side there are far fewer who in theory could be eligible for a seeding even with an effective cut of 550. One aspect which puzzles me is that a boy inside 500 is seeded behind JWR 6 whilst those 501-550 follow JWR 15, which is a very steep rise .

indiana · Tennis legend

More illustration of Katy having really progressed these last few months.

She maybe didn't feel last year that she had really progressed enough to enter more senior ITFs ( I had the impression that she maybe plateaued for a period ) but she really does seem to have significantly stepped up her game this year. I would hope that now some decent senior progress in the second half of this year will see her receive decent support for next year even if not in the AEGON group.

indiana · Tennis legend

Further to this, I think it is rather as Bob tbe Ball Boy indicated.

I think Katy's tournament distribution re juniors vs seniors has been appropriate to her progress. Being regularly well beaten in seniors before she was ready could have sapped her confifence. She has now though further developed her game and looks much more ready. There is no one size fits all as to how one should move from juniors to seniors.

Spectator · All-time great

On the subject of college routes, having decided to do a quick check, I noticed that Jack Findel Hawkins (University of North Florida - which seems to recruit heavily overseas) and Thomas Colautti (Princeton - must be bright!) are mentioned in the top 25 recruiting classes for men. Didn't see any GB young women mentioned in the top 25 recruiting classes for women - do we know if any are heading stateside?