QR2: (q1) Mirabelle Njoze (GBR) WR 829 v Katerina Filip (SWE) UNR, age 17

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 27th of August 2017 02:06:31 PM

I make that 17 losses and only 4 wins at ITF level this year in singles :(

Doubles only slightly better

-- Edited by the addict on Sunday 27th of August 2017 03:39:54 PM

the addict wrote:

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I make that 17 losses and only 4 wins at ITF level this year in singles :(

Doubles only slightly better

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4-18 (18.18%)

It's the worst record of a Brit this year for those that have played 10 or more pro matches.
The remainder of the bottom 5 are:
Anna Popescu 3-8 (27.27%)
Chelsea May Samways 4-10 (28.57%)
Mollie Crouch 4-9 (30.77%)
Tara Moore 10-21 (32.26%)

Unfortunate special mention for Sofie Woon 0-6 (0.00%) the Brit to have played the most matches this year without a win. There are two on 0-4.

For Mirabelle, it's impossible to know what's happened. Some suggestion of changes of methods and techniques, and overplaying, or any number of things, but all mostly speculation.
It's a miserable damned shame though. She was a bright spot in the 'mid' rankings range there for a while.
I hope her time will come again, but examples of Brit players at that level making a recovery are hard to remember; with no money in it, most just have to give up. EWS rise from 400+ to CH in the 200's was about the closest, perhaps.

Yes it's not the win/loss record as such though the figures certainly bear out how bad it's been. It's that record relative to where Mirabelle was more than a year ago when she had got to just inside the top 600. That CH 599 was in June last year, aged 19 years and 4 months. Maybe a little overranked given her tournaments but if so not hugely so and at that age assumed to be on the rise.

It is indeed a real shame and very puzzling. She's still only 20 so certainly time to turn things round and start going upwards again. I really hope that she can and does.

Fair point, Jaggy. I saw her once when she was a teenager and she definitely had some talent. Good aggression. A slightly atypical game. But not a 'pick' for great heights. But that applies to many, as you imply. And I agree that getting to about 650 or so is comparatively easy (I don't take rankings seriously at all until at least 800 and not properly seriously until about 500)
But I don't think she was overranked before - there had been a very steady and 'normal' progression for a good but not amazing 18 year-old player starting out - first not getting through qualis, then making R1 and no points, then a heap of R1 wins but no further, then quite a lot of QFs but no further....There were no flukey big pointers that would distort her ranking, no wildcards, it was a well-earned ranking.
The thing that is amazing now - and has grabbed people's attention even though, as you say, no one has much connection with the girl - is that, suddenly, despite playing week in, week out, she doesn't seem able to buy a win, even if you put your Granny at the other end. It's been very sudden, and hasn't let up, and she's STILL playing every week.

I wonder if the standard of $15Ks is any higher than the old $10Ks. It may have encouraged some players to continue playing for longer rather than giving up early and may have encouraged other good "amateur" players to try the circuit for a while and may even have encouraged a few established players to work a bit harder. That invites the question of whether standards are raised more by increasing prizes at the bottom end or the top end. Do you achieve more by increasing the prize for winning the lowest level tournament from $10K to $15K or the prize for winning Wimbledon from $2.2M to $3.3M?

Mirabelle grew up and started her tennis in the UK until her family moved to France in her early teens.  I believe she has had plenty of coaching there, indeed I bumped into them a few years after they had moved and they said how much they preferred French system and how happy they were with her coaching situation.  I agree with those posters who say it is 'relatively' easy to get to 600-ish WTA.  Play enough tournaments and pick up a full quota of 1s and 2s and bingo!  Mirabelle would be one of many, though, to struggle to maintain that position in their 2nd and subsequent years.  Players on that level of the circuit get to know your game, particularly if you play in only a few venues, so the matches are harder to win.  The enthusiasm and self-belief generated by seeing your ranking rise with every win in the first year gradually dissipates as you are having to work harder and harder just to stand still.  I suspect with the number of losses she has had that Mirabelle believes less and less in her ability to win and that's a difficult situation to overcome.  Indeed as a junior, her outstanding weapon was absolute self-belief so this string of losses must hit her hard.  But I guess like many she's just hoping that one lucky break will turn it all around.

Regarding the suggestion that the LTA needs to offer coaching to those starting out, I'm not sure that's the answer but it does touch on an issue a number of (usually female) players have mentioned to me over the past couple of years;  once you leave the juniors, unless you are an LTA pick there is no supporting structure at all.  Academies usually require a large upfront payment per term or year which is unaffordable for many as they are planning to be travelling and competing for large periods of time (and the academies are really geared to juniors anyway).  Coaches otherwise charge by the hour (usually plus court fee), and that is not what the players really want either - coaches often unavailable and again expensive if you want a good couple of weeks training block.  They really want somewhere not too far from their home base with players of a similar standard, be they good juniors, strong amateur men or other tour players, that they can drill with and play practice sets etc with occasional access to a coach for technical problems.  There are also often similar issues with physical training as well - gyms requiring year-long memberships (although there are some new boys on the block changing the rules in this area) etc etc.  As it stands at the moment, the young women are just playing tournaments with very few facilities available to move their game on.