Week 24 - Play off for Wimbledon qualifying wild cards - Aorangi Park (Grass)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

RE: Week 24 - Play off for Wimbledon qualifying wild cards - Aorangi Park (Grass)

Jaffa · Challenger level

Is there live scores for this?

Sofa · Social player

How is this event run, is it low key and players call lines or umpires and linesmen?

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Usually there's a chair umpire and one linesman

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
paulisi wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
Anyone else think 6 WCs in a draw of 16 is a bit too high?
Not really, it allows some of the better players to play. For instance Harry only got one as he got knocked out of Israel early this week.
As it's a sign in on the day event without pre-entry, with fewer WCs there would be more space for the better players (by ranking). I'm thinking particularly of the girls where a lot of the WCs have gone to juniors.

I thought 6 wildcards was quite a lot. But it obviously goes down to national ranking i.e. they must have run out of WTA ranked players.

Naomi Cavaday is not a wildcard and doesn't have a WTA ranking so must have made the direct acceptance on her 1.1 national ranking.

I guess if we're down to national rankings, having that many wildcards is less of a problem i.e. there aren't any WTA ranked players signing in, who don't get to play, because of all the wildcards.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, the women's is certainly not a problem if every WTA ranked player, who wanted to participate can. Then giving WCs to some of the most promising juniors makes a good mix.

indiana · Tennis legend

How many sets do they play ? I seem to recall ( maybe wrongly ) it being best of 5 in the past. Surely, best of 3 this year with the event being over just two days.

Anyway, however many sets, I am not quite sure why they needed to reduce to two days, forcing these who progress to play two matches in a day ( everything, WC announcement etc, could have been one day earlier ).

I guess many qualifying tournaments have players scheduled to play two matches in a day, but I just think that this ( the start of these players' 13 match dream of winning Wimbledon - OK, maybe not ! ) would have been better over 3 days.

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
How many sets do they play ? I seem to recall ( maybe wrongly ) it being best of 5 in the past. Surely, best of 3 this year with the event being over just two days.

Anyway, however many sets, I am not quite sure why they needed to reduce to two days, forcing these who progress to play two matches in a day ( everything, WC announcement etc, could have been one day earlier ).

I guess many qualifying tournaments have players scheduled to play two matches in a day, but I just think that this ( the start of these players' 13 match dream of winning Wimbledon - OK, maybe not ! ) would have been better over 3 days.

I think it has always been 3 sets, at least in recent years - 5 wouldn't really make sense when the matches in Wimbledon qualifying itself are only over 3 sets. You could say that having to play two matches on Friday indirectly tests their ability to play more than 3 sets in a day, though of course, playing more than 3 sets in a day is not an issue for the women at Wimbledon anyway.

I assume the later start to the playoffs this year was designed to give them a bit more info as to who is in form on grass before the wild card decisions, though looking at the singles wild cards awarded, I doubt it made any difference to them this year.

I always assume the reason for starting the playoffs early in the week was to give them some leeway if there was a lot of rain. Scheduling it over two days so close to the start of qualifying itself is riskier (though it looks like they will get away with it this time!) and while they mention on the factsheet that there are some indoor courts available, surely that's not how you'd want your Wimbledon QWC fate to be decided.

Spectator · All-time great

Isn't the final best of 5 though? I also seem to recollect this ...

steven · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Isn't the final best of 5 though? I also seem to recollect this ...

No, not recently anyway - here's last year's drawsheet http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=2ADEA866-86C0-4D62-B305-CD57DA535141&draw=1, 2012's http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=9CE3414D-BCB5-45D9-AC60-77A73735C7A0&draw=1 and 2011's http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=6734CFD1-7ECE-4BD8-8032-D6F2DD2ADFC0&draw=1

Are people who remember 5 sets maybe confusing it with those playoffs at the NTC for a Davis Cup place a few years ago?

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Spectator wrote:
Isn't the final best of 5 though? I also seem to recollect this ...

Yes, I thought the 2 semis were best of 5. I'm sure there was one about 3 or 4 years ago played indoors at the NTC which went to some ridiculous game score.

steven · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
Spectator wrote:
Isn't the final best of 5 though? I also seem to recollect this ...
Yes, I thought the 2 semis were best of 5. I'm sure there was one about 3 or 4 years ago played indoors at the NTC which went to some ridiculous game score.

Ah, now I'm sure you are remembering the playoffs for a Davis Cup place in 2009, when Chris Eaton beat James Ward 21-19 in the 5th in 6 hours 40 minutes - see e.g. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/feb/26/chris-eaton-james-ward-britain-davis-cup-longest-match - the Wimbledon WC playoffs have been held at Aorangi Park for as long as I can remember.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

You're right as usual Steven!!!

-- Edited by The Optimist on Thursday 12th of June 2014 01:42:01 PM

Spectator · All-time great

Indeed! (Steven's semi-omniscience - and kindness about it - is rather awesome)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Seemingly, Neil Pauffley squeezed the victory against Bloomers, 7-6 2-6 7-5

Sad for Richard but sounds like it was a great match.