Week 2 - WTA International ($250,000) - Hobart, Australia - Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 2 - WTA International ($250,000) - Hobart, Australia - Hard

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Given the ridiculously strong field for an International level event, that's a pretty good draw. The main aim for Laura will just be to get some match practice ahead of the Australian Open - certainly any more than one win would be a bonus.

marat99 · Newbie

Don't know if it's been said yet, but Naiktha Bains had a great win in the first round of qualifying against Maria Elena Camerin winning 6-1 6-4. Perhaps one day she'll come back to us!

PaulM · Tennis legend

I'd be surprised if Laura would end up with Penetta in round 2 given she's injured and playing Venus.

korriban · Challenger level

marat99 wrote:
Don't know if it's been said yet, but Naiktha Bains had a great win in the first round of qualifying against Maria Elena Camerin winning 6-1 6-4. Perhaps one day she'll come back to us!

Yes, it wasn't the finest hour for the LTA in terms of their judgement over Ms Bains but to be fair the distances involved would have made things almost unworkable in all likelihood.

I'm still very sceptical about the Talent ID process and whether it means we miss the real stars and pick up instead kids who have been coached from almost the day they could pick up a racket, and/or kids whose parents know how to work rthe system. Let's remember the Talent ID process concluded that the son of the LTA CEO was one of the 2 or 3 best prospects in the entire country for his age based on PURE athletic ability, ball skills aptitude and tennis potential (as opposed to the cumulative amount of hours he'd been coached at a high level compared to most other kids). I'm happy to be wrong about this (and wish him well, obviously) but it all sounds a little unlikely.

philwrig · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
marat99 wrote:
Don't know if it's been said yet, but Naiktha Bains had a great win in the first round of qualifying against Maria Elena Camerin winning 6-1 6-4. Perhaps one day she'll come back to us!
Yes, it wasn't the finest hour for the LTA in terms of their judgement over Ms Bains but to be fair the distances involved would have made things almost unworkable in all likelihood.
I'm still very sceptical about the Talent ID process and whether it means we miss the real stars and pick up instead kids who have been coached from almost the day they could pick up a racket, and/or kids whose parents know how to work rthe system. Let's remember the Talent ID process concluded that the son of the LTA CEO was one of the 2 or 3 best prospects in the entire country for his age based on PURE athletic ability, ball skills aptitude and tennis potential (as opposed to the cumulative amount of hours he'd been coached at a high level compared to most other kids). I'm happy to be wrong about this (and wish him well, obviously) but it all sounds a little unlikely.

Naiktha has still to make her mind up 100%.

philwrig · Hall of fame

PaulM wrote:
I'd be surprised if Laura would end up with Penetta in round 2 given she's injured and playing Venus.

I'm amazed Penetta is here, she retired with a wrist problem early on at the Hopman Cup, also Venus is in the final in Auckland and she's a bit fragile, so I'm not sure she's a dead cert either.

philwrig · Hall of fame

A decent draw, I suspect if Laura is 90/95 % she'll win this, but thats a big if.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I'd say 50/50 - Laura hasn't played competitively for a long time and still has a minor injury. Wickmayer is no mug.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Robbo scheduled for 23.00 tonight.

steven · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
Robbo scheduled for 23.00 tonight.

That would be nice, but the official OoP seems to say 4th after 23.00 GMT, which would make it about 4 am our time.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

steven wrote:
Helen40 wrote:
Robbo scheduled for 23.00 tonight.
That would be nice, but the official OoP seems to say 4th after 23.00 GMT, which would make it about 4 am our time.

Hmmm. Got it from my flashscore, I take it that's not the most reliable source then?

steven · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
steven wrote:
Helen40 wrote:
Robbo scheduled for 23.00 tonight.
That would be nice, but the official OoP seems to say 4th after 23.00 GMT, which would make it about 4 am our time.
Hmmm. Got it from my flashscore, I take it that's not the most reliable source then?

From what I can gather, one of the betting sites was showing lots (possibly all) of Monday's matches in Hobart being due to start at 10 am local / 23.00 GMT before the OoP came out, so that's probably what threw flashscores. Presumably before the OoP came out, the betting site concerned was just showing the closing time for bets as being the earliest time the match could possibly start if it ended up being 1st on court.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Weather forecast for Hobart not looking great: 35km/h winds and a good chance of rain: http://www.weathercast.co.uk/world-weather/city-weather/city/1161X9/hobart/today.html

Live streaming of Laura's match is available so I'm pretty sure with it being Laura's first match of the season I will get up and watch it, but I expect it could be quite a scrappy match.

TomTraubert · Futures level

yup raining

laura did an interview piece which dont add much except:

on the wrist

Robson said her wrist was feeling stronger and she was ready to test it out. I havent played a match so I dont know how it is going to end up, but in practice it feels okay, she said.

on the new season

I would love to win my first title this year, but other than that I havent really thought about it yet. Just winning a lot would be good, she said.

full article: http://www.hobartinternational.com.au/2014/01/brit-laura-robson-ready-to-start-new-season-in-hobart