Agree; Sam had real momentum which the decision patently undermined
Agree too. It's a real chicken and egg thing. Do Sam's relatively poor results now justify the decision then? Or are Sam's relatively poor results now a result (at least partially) of the decision then?
Sam deserved the Wimbly QWC then and only didn't get it because of her age and not being part of the LTA favoured few (very few), to be pushed through.
However, there's no point crying over split milk and Sam has to get herself together and try and work out what's not quite working at the moment and get it fixed.
There's a difference between 'deserving' a wildcard and 'having the right' to a wildcard.
Sam deserved it. Above some others. On practically all unbiased criteria. But no one had or has a right to it.
And, yes, as said, it's all history now and irrelevant for Sam going forward. Even proving the selectors wrong is irrelevant and basically impossible - after all, the selectors were not the LTA but the AELTC - they were only selecting for Wimbledon 2016 itself, not for potential going forward. So we'll never know if the Wimbly 2016 results would have been better or not, if Sam had been selected. (Although, of course, the LTA is instrumental in 'advising' which is done on a more big picture and in-crowd basis).