Steven
@GBtennis
·
5h
I was very surprised Harriet Dart hadn't made it straight into the Australian Open main draw (being in the top 100 is usually enough and she is ranked 96) but with 11 players using protected rankings, it's less of a surprise. She should get in easily after withdrawals though.
Steven @GBtennis · 5h I was very surprised Harriet Dart hadn't made it straight into the Australian Open main draw (being in the top 100 is usually enough and she is ranked 96) but with 11 players using protected rankings, it's less of a surprise. She should get in easily after withdrawals though.
Some of these 11 have not played for ages. Rodina has played 5 matches since Eastbourne 2019. Kenin has a SR of 4 whereas her current ranking is 240. Maybe she will win Angers this week and quickly rise up the rankings. Halep is not on the entry list but is trying to fast track her appeal with perhaps the hope of playing in Australian Open. Vondrousova who was ranked 97 , one below Harriet also has an SR. There is reckoned to be 3 withdrawals on average. Harriet just needs one.
Molly McElwee of Daily Telegraph writing that Harriet was keen to find a coaching replacement for Nigel Sears who helped her break into the top 100 for the first time last year before the pair parted ways. Harriet said it had not been easy finding coaches -and finding coaches who want to travel as well- but I'm sure we'll get there eventually.
Molly McElwee of Daily Telegraph writing that Harriet was keen to find a coaching replacement for Nigel Sears who helped her break into the top 100 for the first time last year before the pair parted ways. Harriet said it had not been easy finding coaches -and finding coaches who want to travel as well- but I'm sure we'll get there eventually.
Apparently, Harriet has won Player of the Year 2023 (based on 2022 results)
LTA @the_LTA
·
6 Apr
Replying to @the_LTA
Harriet wins the award following a vote by tennis fans (LTA Advantage members), Colour Holders and Coaches based on performances in the 2022 calendar year.
Wow, some time since our Brit second ranked woman attracted any comments...
After watching her several times over the course of the 2024 grass season, and after a disappointing final loss to Wang Xinyu in Wimbledon R3, in which I thought Harriet was in some respects the better player, a couple of problems with Harriet spring to mind...
Her serve is really not all that - and particularly the second serve is both unreliable and a bit feeble at times. But more importantly, she's an utter nutter. (There may be some more politically correct ways to phrase this, but...)
In recent weeks, she had emotional crises in 3 of her matches, twice against Boulter, and against Wang, which arguably cost her two of those matches.
Notably, in the Wimbledon doubles with Maia, they both seems very happy and relaxed - positively giggly at times - Harriet seemed a completely different character.
But in singles, she seems to get really unecessarily and counter-productively wound up.
Given that Harriet is now around the age that JoKo suddenly transformed from the Brit number 3 also-ran (behind Laura and Heather) ranked around 150ish, into Brit number 1, eventually CH4... and herself credited some of this transformation to working with a sports psychologist, I'd suggest that Harriet should follow this route also.
I'm wary of over-pursuing this, as its something of a taboo area; and any professional would warn against online diagnoses of any aspects of mental health; but I do think that Harriet could improve her results, possibly also improve her serve stats, enjoy her tennis more, and possibly even attract more traffic to this cheering thread, if she found help that allowed her to remain a lot calmer on court. This is fixable - and much more easily than, say, radically remodelling a service action.
In other, less contentious news, congrats on a new provisional career high of 81.