Week 45 - ITF ($25K) - Bath, UK Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Week 45 - ITF ($25K) - Bath, UK Hard

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

We still need to have events at this level for our players to progress. For some reason. Players who are capable of playing this choose to play them abroad. No idea why.

If Katy D, EWS, and others played here instead of abroad things would look much better.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Don't blame Katy or Emily. They are playing a series of weeks at challenger level which is where they need to play.

The fact is that the schedule isn't ideal for playing at challenger level and Katy and Emily were forced to travel to Australia and Asia where they had the opportunity to play four or five weeks on the bounce rather than two weeks in the UK and then have to search for more tournaments in Europe which are generally loaded.
Don't blame the players when the ITF need to have a hard look at the way they schedule their events

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Don't blame Katy or Emily. They are playing a series of weeks at challenger level which is where they need to play.

The fact is that the schedule isn't ideal for playing at challenger level and Katy and Emily were forced to travel to Australia and Asia where they had the opportunity to play four or five weeks on the bounce rather than two weeks in the UK and then have to search for more tournaments in Europe which are generally loaded.
Don't blame the players when the ITF need to have a hard look at the way they schedule their events

Completely agree.

The LTA should consult as much as possible with the players, to be the best informed possible, when making their decisions.

I expect Katy's plans for Australia, and EWS's, for instance, were made a long time in advance. It's not rocket science to communicate.

You can't blame the players. They, after all, are getting precious little from the LTA - it's not like Katy or EWS are being sponsored by the LTA and so owe them a duty to free up their schedule. And you're never going to get all your players playing. The federation has to factor that in when they make their decisions.

The planning this year's events for the women was a major mess. And I don't believe that there was any communication.

steven · Tennis legend

The way the LTA schedule women's 25Ks, any Brit who wants to play at that level regularly has no option but to go to Australia, the US or Asia instead, where they tend to schedule them in blocks. As Paul says, the 25Ks in Europe tend to be loaded ... and often on clay, though maybe not so much at this time of year.

I know it's easier with hindsight and we can't be aware of all of the constraints those planning the tournaments may have been working under, but it was entirely foreseeable that this year's schedule of women's ITFs in the UK was nonsensical (badly scheduled for those looking to push on, too few 10Ks to help those who can't afford to travel that much) - indeed, I remember some of us making exactly that point nearly a year ago.

Looking at next year's calendar, it appears that no lessons have been learned (unless they're deliberately trying to make the situation worse and worse - surely not ...) - instead, they seem intent on similarly screwing up the men's schedule which, apart from the glaring lack of Challengers outside the grass court season, seems to have worked a lot better than the women's schedule.

indiana · Tennis legend

Emily in particular generally does her own thing and good luck to her.

She's lately been playing pretty high level events relative to her singles level, but she is clearly generally comfortable in Asia ( OK, let's not mention a certain recent Chinese tournament that she fed back about rather memorably ) and playing qualifying singles and main draw doubles in them makes a fair degree of sense, especially with as mentioned a good run of events.

So how much she is one who would ever have been very likely to change is debatable ( 25Ks limit what she would get from doubles ), but in general communication is a good thing and can't do any harm. There are so many reports from folk inside the game to conclude that the LTA are anything other than lousy in this regard

However, take Emily possibly out the equation, Mandy too ( since the LTA don't do that dirt stuff ) and you are getting down to small numbers for whom 25Ks currently really work.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Emily WS has also made her hatred of indoor tournaments widely and generally known.

Which is not to say that she won't play any, ever, but that she steers well clear of indoor tennis if at all possible.

Peter too · Tennis legend

They used to run an excellent outdoor clay event in Bournemouth quite early in the season but for some reason stopped it. Unlike most events it was within 60 miles of where I live so within driving range. Now Bath is the only one left.

DF · Tennis legend

Jasmine lost the first set 1-6

Mollie is down 3-5

Savannah is up 5-3

and Emma is 3-4 down and serving

DF · Tennis legend

Savannah takes the first set 6-3

DF · Tennis legend

Emma levels the set at 4-4 after a huge struggle

DF · Tennis legend

Mollie lost that first set 4-6

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well done, Emma !!!

Beats the Mexican player, 7-6(5) 6-3

DF · Tennis legend

Congrats to Emma.

Etienne · Club Coach

All the other games mentioned ended in defeat for the Britons, so well done Ms Hurst.