Week 5 - ITF ($100K) - Midland, USA Hard

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Week 5 - ITF ($100K) - Midland, USA Hard

steven · Tennis legend

vohor wrote:
Chances are LTA will change course again soon so hopefully that may be a temporary problem; we'll see ;)

Just been having a trip down memory lane (albeit my memory isn't what it was so I'm probably wrong!) to 2008 when Mel South cracked the top 100 (albeit only for one week) which was a major moment....apart from brief flourishings from Clare Wood and Sam Smith... it was the first since Jo Durie 15 years previously to make the benchmark; since when we've had Bally, Annie K, Katie O'Brien, Laura, Heather, Jo and now Naomi; sometimes with 3 in the top 100 for brief periods but injury/illness always seeming to thwart the hopes to build beyond or even sustain that level of GBR involvement on the first page of the WTA rankings list.

With a fair wind, we do appear to be ready to see maybe 6 names with GBR attached soon; with Fed Cup promotion thrown in. Hoping for an even more "golden" period (and without "relatively speaking" in brackets) in the near future :)

Yes, this is one situation where a rapid change of plan would be very welcome!

----

This doesn't change the main thrust of what you were saying but it was actually Anne who was the first Brit to make the top 100 this century - on 12 May 2008 after her Jounieh 50K win and overland escape from Lebanon into Syria, in the days when Syria was the safer option!

Mel followed her in after the next Aus Open on 2 February 2009 - oddly at the end of a week when she dropped back 15 points. It was qualifying and making the last 16 in Sydney the week before the Aus Open that had got her close enough to take advantage of those around her dropping even most points than her during the Aus Open.

Nearly 8 months later, on 28 September 2009, Bally and Katie both broke in by reaching the Shrewsbury 75K final.

Next in was Hev, on 6 June 2011, when her points for reaching R2 at Roland Garros as a qualifier were added. Contrary to popular belief (maybe not on here, but in general), she beat Laura to the top 100 - not that surprising given that she's a bit older and, er, generally more reliable.

Laura broke in just over a year later, on 25 June 2012, by qualifying and reaching the last 16 at Eastbourne.

JoKo first made it almost exactly two years later (23 June 2014), also by reaching the last 16 at Eastbourne, though in her case as a wild card.

And now, 8 years after Anne became the first British woman this century to make the top 100, Naomi has become the 8th (on 8 February 2016 - there are a lot of 8s involved wink ) by winning Midland 100K.

So, the final push has been provided 4 times by winning or reaching the final of a 50K or above ITF, 3 times by making R2 of a Premier event held just before a slam and once by qualifying and reaching R2 of a slam.

steven · Tennis legend

Fitzy wrote:
Hi guys! Just wanted to drop in with a short note.
It's fun to be a part of Naomi's progress. Helping her reach her potential, which is not done by a long shot.
Consistency is really starting to come on the mental side as much as anything.
Always looking to improve on her strengths, while being aware of weakness and she is a fantastic person to coach.
Nice little trip in the us and a great start to the year. Cracking the top 100 is a big goal that should be celebrated with her and her family as they have all put in so much to get there, but it's a goal to really kick on from. that's what we will try to do for the rest of the year.

On a personal note just wanted to say it's nice to see some positive comments about her game improving and hope you enjoy the continued success!! 🏆

Thanks, Fitzy, for posting. I know I've already said it on Twitter, but well done to you for everything you've achieved so far with Naomi (I know you'll say most of the credit belongs to her, as I'm sure it does, but you too must have done some very good things, tangible or intangible, for her to be in such a happy place at the moment!) and for making the absolute most of the opportunities that have come your way since you stopped playing.

----

Re. Spectator's comments about the Broadys supporting each other, it's great that they haven't let the frictions re. the LTA feud stop them showing plenty of love for each other.

More widely, there also seems to have been a big change over the last few years in the way the Brits in general support each other and I think that must have had a positive effect on confidence. I realise that this impression may be skewed by the fact that with Twitter, we can actually see them supporting each other nowadays, but I got the distinct impression in the late noughties that quite a few of the Brits resented what little success any of the others had and were more concerned with getting one over each other than supporting each other against the rest of the world. Now the opposite seems to be true - it appears that many of the GB players celebrate each other's success and use it to inspire themselves to believe that they're capable of doing the same and that has been built on and/or aided by the way Leon has handled the DC team and Judy the Fed Cup team.

For example, Liam seems to take more flak than most from his fellow players (probably because he seems remarkably easy to wind up! LOL) but any time I've been the first to tweet about one of his successes, I've noticed a rush of 'likes' on those tweets from other GB players.

It was also great to see the very sporting way Evo reacted to the way Kyle played against him in the Dallas final, especially given the influence that match may have on whether he gets to play the Davis Cup tie in his home town and how much we know he'd love to do that. You could hardly get two players with more different personalities (at least outwardly - I realise I may be wrong with that assumption!) yet there seems to be plenty of mutual respect, even leading to this exchange on Twitter early this morning:

Dan: Yep jet lag goooooood one

Kyle: @Evo151216 tell me about it

Dan: @kyle8edmund wide awake started with a nightmare of your fh going past me again an again

biggrin

Kyle: @Evo151216 hahah no forehands going in at the moment feeling like this. Sleep patterns 3-6pm and 10-4.

Dan: @kyle8edmund the fact I'm on the train to Nottingham in an hour an a half isn't helping either been awake since 3

Kyle: @Evo151216 go and have a tee off breakfast with hilts and you'll feel better lol

GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!

GB top 25s (ranks, whereabouts) & stats - http://www.britishtennis.net/stats.html

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

That's a great resume Steven many thanks; I admit I was uncertain whether Mel had beaten Anne to the benchmark or not and I had a feeling you might know definitively :)

wimdledont · Challenger level

Brilliant job, Fitzy. Naomi's always been a joy to watch - now its an inspiration to watch her, hopefully ongoing, improvement. I think she can now already trouble any other player in the world, bar none. Especially on a surface that suits her.

Clearly the reward of a lot of hard work - she has now played more tournaments than anybody else on the first page of the rankings.

Thanks and huge respect to you both, and all the Broady clan.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

OK, I'm upping the stakes :)

If we say top 50 rather than top 100, my (albeit defective) memory tells me Annie K was the first to break the top 50 (since goodness knows when....help again please Steven!); followed by Bally; followed by Laura (I think she beat Heather to that mark?); followed by Heather; followed by Jo (who now has the best CH of them all). I seem to recall that CH24 might be the next benchmark achieved by Annabel Croft and Anne Hobbs.

Looking forward to Naomi joining that elite band; and hopefully Laura and Heather getting back there. Now, if we could have 4 in the top 50 that really would be something; good luck everyone :)

steven · Tennis legend

vohor wrote:
OK, I'm upping the stakes :)

If we say top 50 rather than top 100, my (albeit defective) memory tells me Annie K was the first to break the top 50 (since goodness knows when....help again please Steven!); followed by Bally; followed by Laura (I think she beat Heather to that mark?); followed by Heather; followed by Jo (who now has the best CH of them all). I seem to recall that CH24 might be the next benchmark achieved by Annabel Croft and Anne Hobbs.

Looking forward to Naomi joining that elite band; and hopefully Laura and Heather getting back there. Now, if we could have 4 in the top 50 that really would be something; good luck everyone :)

Yes, Anne was the first Brit to break into the WTA top 50 this century - that was on 23 February 2009 after making the SFs at Memphis WTA, shortly after Mel joined (then left) her in the top 100.

Then Bally on 13 September 2010 after reaching R2 at the US Open - remember this http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/gbtop25f/ebrnkuso.htm ? - funnily enough, neither Hev nor Laura had been in the top 200 at that point.

It was a close run thing, but Hev did actually beat Laura into the top 50 too - Hev made it on 15 October 2012 after winning her first WTA title in Osaka, flying past her previous career high of 69 as she jumped from 71 to exactly 50.

However, Laura (who had made the QFs at the same event, losing to the player Hev ended up beating in the final) wasn't far off - she rose from 56 to 52 the day Hev made the top 50 and finally made the top 50 herself on 7 January 2013, after reaching R2 at Shenzhen WTA.

There have been a lot of cases of reaching R2 tipping players over the edge in these top 100/top 50 posts, haven't there - that may have much to do with the fact that the WTA used to reward R1 (and QR1) wins even more disproportionately than it does now.

Then of course JoKo broke into the top 50 on 5 October 2015, after making R4 at the US Open - she's still one place off Laura's career high though (28 for JoKo c.f. 27 for Laura), despite reaching the Aus Open SFs, and you're right about her being within touching distance of Annabel Croft's career high of 24 but they've both already bettered Anne Hobbs, who peaked at 33.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Steven you're a legend :)
My memory (and eyesight...I was reading 27 as 29!!) makes trips down that lane fraught with error! :(

PS: Wikipaedia (insofar as it can be relied upon) has Annabel's CH as 21 on 31.12.85

-- Edited by vohor on Tuesday 9th of February 2016 03:16:55 PM

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Sara Gomer was ranked 46 on 26.9.88 according to Wikipaedia; so unless Jo Durie made top 50 during the subsequent period (your lists Steven have her hovering around 60 at year ends 1990-1992) and depending upon how long Sara stayed inside the mark, it looks like Annie K's breakthrough moment was the first British woman in the top 50 for 20 years (bar a few months).

She and Bally really were the trend-setters for the current cohort to follow :)

-- Edited by vohor on Tuesday 9th of February 2016 11:44:58 AM

-- Edited by vohor on Tuesday 9th of February 2016 11:50:02 AM

Jan · Hall of fame

Fitzy wrote:
Hi guys! Just wanted to drop in with a short note.
It's fun to be a part of Naomi's progress. Helping her reach her potential, which is not done by a long shot.
Consistency is really starting to come on the mental side as much as anything.
Always looking to improve on her strengths, while being aware of weakness and she is a fantastic person to coach.
Nice little trip in the us and a great start to the year. Cracking the top 100 is a big goal that should be celebrated with her and her family as they have all put in so much to get there, but it's a goal to really kick on from. that's what we will try to do for the rest of the year.

On a personal note just wanted to say it's nice to see some positive comments about her game improving and hope you enjoy the continued success!! 🏆

Great job Fitzy!

Good to hear from you!

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

vohor wrote:
Sara Gomer was ranked 46 on 26.9.88 according to Wikipaedia; so unless Jo Durie made top 50 during the subsequent period (your lists Steven have her hovering around 60 at year ends 1990-1992) and depending upon how long Sara stayed inside the mark, it looks like Annie K's breakthrough moment was the first British woman in the top 50 for 20 years (bar a few months).

Jo Durie was ranked in the top 50 several times after that.
She was as high as WR 34 at Los Angeles in August 1992.
Her last match played as a Top 50 player seems to have been a loss to Christina Papadaki in Houston, March 22nd 1993, when ranked 49. Incidentally, Monique Javer was WR 100 that week.
She fell out of the top 50 for the last time in the rankings of 29th March 1993, to WR 51.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Thanks ISF, that's great for filling in the gaps...so Annie K's entry into the top 50 was 15 years and a few months after Jo departed the top 50; still a very long fallow period albeit not quite as bad as just under 20 years. I'm glad that's sorted :)

-- Edited by vohor on Tuesday 9th of February 2016 06:43:51 PM

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

Such a good week at $100k level for British tennis. And great that English coaches are responsible.

wolf · Tennis legend

A belated congrats for Naomi. I've been following her closely since watching her at Birmingham in 2009, and along with Bally has been my favourite British player to follow. You just never knew what you were going to get from point to point with her and I found it fascinating to watch.

I don't think it's been mentioned that she was outside the top 200 six months ago, so this has been a meteoric rise. And that was when she started working with Fitzy, so well done that man. I don't think there has been much change to her shots (apart from her serve now being more of a weapon, it's gone from pretty good to extremely good, though day to day consistency is not quite there yet) but she now seems to understand how to use her weapons more effectively. I have seen comments on her backhand being a weakness but I always have viewed it as an asset, the power she can generate is incredible. She probably doesn't miss as much with her forehand but it can be a very loopy shot.

Unfortunately only the first 8 games seem to be available to watch as I missed the final. Anyone know of a place where I can watch (seems a forlorn hope I know) or a place I can contact to get the video up?

Strongbow · All-time great

wolf wrote:
A belated congrats for Naomi. I've been following her closely since watching her at Birmingham in 2009, and along with Bally has been my favourite British player to follow. You just never knew what you were going to get from point to point with her and I found it fascinating to watch.

I don't think it's been mentioned that she was outside the top 200 six months ago, so this has been a meteoric rise. And that was when she started working with Fitzy, so well done that man. I don't think there has been much change to her shots (apart from her serve now being more of a weapon, it's gone from pretty good to extremely good, though day to day consistency is not quite there yet) but she now seems to understand how to use her weapons more effectively. I have seen comments on her backhand being a weakness but I always have viewed it as an asset, the power she can generate is incredible. She probably doesn't miss as much with her forehand but it can be a very loopy shot.

Unfortunately only the first 8 games seem to be available to watch as I missed the final. Anyone know of a place where I can watch (seems a forlorn hope I know) or a place I can contact to get the video up?

ISF wrote

Just to repeat, if anyone missed the final, and wanted to catch up, you can watch the entire match at your leisure, here: livestream.com/livesportsllc/events/4771863
Scroll down until you find the match you want. The final is currently the fourth match down.

Just checked and it's still there at 4 and 5 - but not the full match only some of the first set.