Grass season preview

Michael D · All-time great

RE: Grass season preview

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Michael D wrote:
wimdledont wrote:
Transcripted from the telly...

'I'm going to be playing Nottingham and Birmingham, and maybe a small little one next week, in Eastbourne.'

Laura Robson
The small little one next week being where everyone else around her current ranking plies their trade (and they've all won more matches to get there than she has), and for which she would only be in qualifying in terms of her ranking itself. There is a little more of a sense of entitlement in Laura's attitude than there was in any of Naomi's, Dan's or Kyle's attitude, in terms of the focus and effort they achieved to get into the top 100. I hope Laura really understands that to get back into the top 100 she is going to have to put in the hard yards. At the moment that isn't clear. Her mobility on the court is shocking, but that's been obvious since Miami. She cannot compete very easily with her current game, fitness levels and mobility. So it will be interesting to see how she does do in that small little one next week. It will be a better test for her current condition than Laura perhaps realises. At the least she needs to win a few matches, and it will be interesting to see if she does.

I think Laura is being harshly criticised for a slight misquote here - she said a 'smaller one' in Eastbourne, which distinguishes it from the main Eastbourne tournament rather than a 'small little one' which sounds a bit condescending. The field for this event is pretty stong for a $50k with the main draw pretty much all top 200 players who like grass courts.

Whether Laura plays or not will depend on if she can get a Wildcard and also (especially if she was playing qualies) whether she is happy to play an event with very limited grass court practice.

wimdledont · Challenger level

Yes, that could well be a misquote. I wrote it from short-term memory, not having a recording available. Apologies.

indiana · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
scottie1 wrote:
Michael D wrote:
Come on LTA, you have to get Mandy over here this grass court season for at least a couple of tournaments pre Wimbledon - starting with Surbiton...
Checked ITF site Mandy Carreras withdrew today from Surbiton perhaps she is not playing the grass court season
Oh dear, that's a pity, and what I'm afraid of - that Mandy won't play grass at all this year. She barely did last year, but the little she played (mainly Surbiton) showed she had some potential, and then she did quite well but lost in R1 qualifying for Wimbledon. But if she doesn't play any grass tournaments, then she's not going to be prepared even for the qualifying. And if she's not part of the main British grass court season this year, then she's likely never to be.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me if Mandy missed the whole grass season. Not sure how beneficial it would be for her game to play a bit more on grass and marginally improve on a surface that plays such a limited part of the year when been doing very well elsewhere, thank you very much.

The only real benefit is probably the big financial one if she had a chance of a Wimbledon MD WC.

So while I would share interest in seeing how she would get on again on grass if she plays at all this year, as I say I think perfectly understandable for her to miss the whole grass series.

Michael D · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Michael D wrote:
scottie1 wrote:
Michael D wrote:
Come on LTA, you have to get Mandy over here this grass court season for at least a couple of tournaments pre Wimbledon - starting with Surbiton...
Checked ITF site Mandy Carreras withdrew today from Surbiton perhaps she is not playing the grass court season
Oh dear, that's a pity, and what I'm afraid of - that Mandy won't play grass at all this year. She barely did last year, but the little she played (mainly Surbiton) showed she had some potential, and then she did quite well but lost in R1 qualifying for Wimbledon. But if she doesn't play any grass tournaments, then she's not going to be prepared even for the qualifying. And if she's not part of the main British grass court season this year, then she's likely never to be.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me if Mandy missed the whole grass season. Not sure how beneficial it would be for her game to play a bit more on grass and marginally improve on a surface that plays such a limited part of the year when been doing very well elsewhere, thank you very much.
The only real benefit is probably the big financial one if she had a chance of a Wimbledon MD WC.
So while I would share interest in seeing how she would get on again on grass if she plays at all this year, as I say I think perfectly understandable for her to miss the whole grass series.

Well yes, but missing the grass means as you say missing the potential financial benefits of playing in Wimbledon AND receiving any recognition at all in the UK for her achievements this year. She is not going to get any WTA main draw WCs anywhere else, but acknowledge the likelihood of her doing so anyway in the UK is still very limited. So yes, understandable that she sticks to clay, but still will be sorry not to see her play at all in the UK this year, if that is indeed the case!