indiana wrote:

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OK, I guess it's welcome, Emma :)

By the way, Steven knows everything.

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That's a vicious and sadly false rumour LOL

Welcome Emma. ... and don't worry, even those of us who know a bit didn't know nearly as much before we ended up here!

Oh my - this is painful for a Ward fan ... and must be excruciating for Mr Ward himself. 101st in the world and 1st Alternate for the AO. Hope that the final place for the top-100 is gained soon. Can't really wish anyone else ill, so will just wait on the AO ....

Might turn out good for James that Rosol didn't withdraw 9 months ago.

thank you for your welcome :) sorry I went off without putting a link, www.tennisalternative.com/forum/viewthread.php I've always found this fairly reliable but unfortunately nothing official from Cilic himself. I do feel for James Ward, even if he's philosophical about the situation it must be on his mind at times.

-- Edited by emmas on Monday 5th of January 2015 09:53:23 PM

Welcome from me too Emma S (I´m guessing that´s what emmas means), I also did a lot of lurking out of concern I might look stupid asking stupid etc. depsite being considered very much a tennis geek by some friends - there really are some intimidatingly well informed British tennis fans on here! (though most seem very willing to accomodate novises).

Anyway, getting to the point:

What are the rules on who gets the place next time someone withdraws? I assume that the fairest thing to do is to give it to lucky losers of final round qualifying matches once qualifying begins (if so does that count from the start of this week or...??) to avoid a player like James not needing to try to win when playing first and second round Q matches....though actually maybe thats less fair...and certainly it could prove very harsh on James...I dont know...could use some knowledge from those afore-mentioned well informed guys now!

GBJ wrote:

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What are the rules on who gets the place next time someone withdraws? I assume that the fairest thing to do is to give it to lucky losers of final round qualifying matches once qualifying begins (if so does that count from the start of this week or...??) to avoid a player like James not needing to try to win when playing first and second round Q matches....though actually maybe thats less fair...and certainly it could prove very harsh on James...I dont know...could use some knowledge from those afore-mentioned well informed guys now!

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Before qualifying starts, any withdrawals are replaced by the next player in line on the original entry list, which for a main tour event (including slams) is set in stone about 6 weeks before the tournament starts, i.e. any ranking changes between that cut-off date and now (such as James's rise to WR 101 this week) don't affect the original order of priority.

Once qualifying starts (which means once the first ball has been struck in the qualifying competition), this changes - from then on, any further withdrawals create lucky loser places in the main draw. This is why James needs all the players who have said they won't play to officially withdraw before qualifying starts.

Also, for slams (unlike ATPs and Challengers), being the highest-ranked player in qualifying does not necessarily make you first in line for a lucky loser place even if you reach the final qualifying round. In order to limit the risk of players already knowing they are going to get a lucky loser place and not trying to win in the final qualifying round, there is a draw among the four (or more, depending on how many lucky loser places have already become available) highest-ranked losers in the final qualifying round to decide the order of priority for lucky loser places.

If a withdrawal from the main draw occurs between the time the qualifying draw is made and when qualifying actually starts, players can still be moved up to the main draw from the qualifying draw based on their position in the original main draw entry list - such a player would then get replaced by an alternate in the qualifying draw.