Week 23 - WTA International ($227K) Nottingham, UK Grass

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 23 - WTA International ($227K) Nottingham, UK Grass

philwrig · Hall of fame

A stellar British contingent here, my best guess is Jo/Katy in MD singles, Joss/Anna in doubles plus Jo and partner. So with Sarah here that's a grand total of 5 GB representatives, which must be an all time low for an event of this level in this country. I can only assume the word got out that yours truly was likely to make an appearance, must keep my projected itinerary under wraps for a bit longer ;)

indiana · Tennis legend

One issue must be so many injuries for players outside the GB top 10 that might have been prepared to give qualifying here a go.

Still overall disappointing for Nottingham and for you, Phil.

paulisi · Tennis legend

No Heather, no Laura - Katie Swan may have the last wildcard

Very disappointed more girls have not shown the ambition to give it a go. Beth will get a ranking point and $530, just for turning up. Naomi B would have made qualifying draw if she wanted.

Lets hope for a good draw for Joss/Anna

Phil - you can always nip down to Surbiton for a couple of days....

indiana · Tennis legend

Ambition and getting a ranking point just for turning up ??

I'm not sure if there was meant to be such apparent linkage there ?

I can otherwise well understand the vast majority of the fit and reasonably able seeing Surbiton as a better tennis option and starting with for many a ranking point anyway for actually winning a tennis match.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I don't really see any lack of ambition.

Surely it's just poor planning?

With a country with as few pro female players as ours, why, oh why, would you put two events on in the same week ?

If the Surbiton event was a 10K there might be some sense. (Although I think not.....)

But a 25k is really pushing it for most of our players. So why would they choose a WTA instead ? Or, even if they had chosen it instead, that'd only mean less in Surbiton. Net, net there's absolutely no way we have enough players to go round two tournaments.

philwrig · Hall of fame

paulisi wrote:
No Heather, no Laura - Katie Swan may have the last wildcard

Very disappointed more girls have not shown the ambition to give it a go. Beth will get a ranking point and $530, just for turning up. Naomi B would have made qualifying draw if she wanted.

Lets hope for a good draw for Joss/Anna

Phil - you can always nip down to Surbiton for a couple of days....

My best guess would be that Katie will a few days practice on the grass then play Birmingham qualies, before Wimby qualies the week after.

Staggering really that a couple more lower ranked Brits didn't take the plunge for qualies.

I spoke to Naomi yesterday, and the general reasoning why players are choosing Surbiton over Notts appears to be that they're potentially guaranteed more matches. Naomi I think is edging towards Birmingham next week over Ilkley, and it becomes more definite if she can get a few matches this week.

And yes Paul, seriously considering a trip to Surbiton if I'm bored senseless after a couple of days here !

Deano13 · Social player

Is there another wildcard? I thought that there was only 3 and Aga got the other one?

paulisi · Tennis legend

You get 10pts if you win and Beth has a reasonable draw and decent prize money.

Very much a question of matches versus money by the sounds of it and most have gone for matches.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, Beth has a decent chance.

And the money/matches dilemma makes sense.

Just don't see why the players were forced to choose . . . daft . . .

PaulM · Tennis legend

Yeah also if you lose early in Surbiton you will get matches in doubles, and on grass every competitive outing is a big help. Plus the Brits are battling for wcs so for Tara say its a no brainer as het and Nik wouldn't get to play in Notts but they might get a few wins in Surbiton amd give themselves more chance of a nod into the big one.

Im not surprised by the split of the higher ranked Brits (other than maybe Harriet) but thought some ofthe lower Brits, from Fran down would take a qualy wc into Notts like Beth.

Poor Phil!

If Surbiton had been a 25k I wonder if that would have made a difference.

Its greatto have Surbiton back on the calendar though.

-- Edited by PaulM on Saturday 6th of June 2015 10:41:52 AM

PockyTastic · Futures level

It really highlights how many women players we are missing due to injury. If you could add Robbo, Lisa, Sam, Jade, Freya, Katie B, Eden and who ever else I have forgotten, suddenly hosting both events seems viable.

wimdledont · Challenger level

I wonder if is not a question of "poor planning", but a deliberate implementation of the "tough love" policy.

wimdledont · Challenger level

Does anybody know how to access live scores for this one? Doesn't seem to be a link on either the WTA or the LTA sites?

I believe that qualies start today, no?

EDIT: To answer my own question, you can find it via the ATP site. Sarah Beth plays fourth.

-- Edited by wimdledont on Saturday 6th of June 2015 11:04:53 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

PockyTastic wrote:
It really highlights how many women players we are missing due to injury. If you could add Robbo, Lisa, Sam, Jade, Freya, Katie B, Eden and who ever else I have forgotten, suddenly hosting both events seems viable.

Yes, but the first four of those were known to be injured when they decided on the schedule.

There will always be injuries, that has to be part of the calculation.

There's no women's events in July in Britain - an event in the second week (for the non-Wimbly lot) would have been a far better idea. Or the third week.

The LTA know how thin on the ground the tennis is, how did they think it could stretch? Or did they not care?