When I saw Harriet and the 3 Katies withdraw from ITF 60Ks at Granby and Ashland, KY I had hoped that was because one or more of them had opted for quali in WTA Nanchang. KB has 15 points dropping off from Granby and Harriet has 18 points dropping from WTA Nanchang in this week. But I guess they are all having another week of rest from competition before hitting the American hard court season.
Tbf, Harriet is still playing at W as of today. She also still has her thigh bandaged. That would give her a little over a week if she played this week to travel/acclimitise to the surface. Perhaps worth resting/training a further week before starting the assault on US hard courts.
The entry lists for Lexington and Woking have come out, and Harriet is on both - that may change of course, but that would only give her two weeks away from competition at most.
I see from The Times that Harriet cancelled her holiday because she was still playing at Wimbledon. So I won't be in the least bit surprised if she takes the next two weeks off and comes back for Woking where she is currently 11th on the acceptance list before withdrawals, so will probably be seeded.
I see from The Times that Harriet cancelled her holiday because she was still playing at Wimbledon. So I won't be in the least bit surprised if she takes the next two weeks off and comes back for Woking where she is currently 11th on the acceptance list before withdrawals, so will probably be seeded.
Harriet is showing as having withdrawn today from Woking in week 31. For now she is still on the Lexington list.
Never mind Nanchang quallies, all of them including Katy D would have got in directly as the last direct entrant was 267 which is an absolute joke when you see the Ilkley final entrant was 138 for a 100k.
It seriously needs downgrading, abolishing or moved to the rest of the Asian swing instead of being strategically placed to boost home players rankings when they know most will want a couple of weeks break before the US hard court swing. 126 is good enough to get a seed. 280 points to win it and 180 to get to the final is far too much given the strength of field.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 22nd of July 2018 09:29:48 AM
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 22nd of July 2018 09:35:15 AM
Would have been quite good (in hindsight) for the likes of Gabi and Katy who didn't really have extended grass tournament runs, obviously a lot of tournaments played between them but would have been a good way to get boost rankings further as you'll struggle to find a weaker WTA international level field.
Interesting, and I think not just in hindsight could the Nanchang tournament be reckoned to be probably at least relatively weak if not maybe quite so weak ( haven't checked history ).
But I guess it depends how far you want to be deviate from grass, a little rest, North America plans for maybe very good points but maybe a big trip for a rotten draw and a R1 exit.
As you suggest that may be the alternatives that the Chinese organisers are hoping the foreign players in general will consider and that they will come down on the more traditional schedule. And that arguably may still be right for our young players.
Interesting, and I think not just in hindsight could the Nanchang tournament be reckoned to be probably at least relatively weak if not maybe quite so weak ( haven't checked history ).
But I guess it depends how far you want to be deviate from grass, a little rest, North America plans for maybe very good points but maybe a big trip for a rotten draw and a R1 exit.
As you suggest that may be the alternatives that the Chinese organisers are hoping the foreign players in general will consider and that they will come down on the more traditional schedule. And that arguably may still be right for our young players.
I'd say the Chinese organisers (and the WTA given their prolific emphasis on this region in recent years) would be pretty chuffed that 5 of the top 8 seeds are Chinese in an incredibly weak draw. It was weak last year when Harriet qualified, but this is even worse. There's no reason Jacqueline Cako ranked 275 should be getting into any 250 level tournament by right and she is only one of 5 non Asian players in the main draw. There's 14 players from China in the 32 this year and there's usually around 16, so they obviously know that player from outside the region are unwilling to travel in that particular period yet it's been going on for a number of years and they don't seem keen to shift it or attracting higher ranked players with significant appearance fees, so I'm 100% convinced it's been placed strategically.
As for our girls, it's a difficult one as you say, I'd prefer them not to skip certain WTA and ITF events pre Wimbledon, but if they do play all those events and are still playing into the second week of Wimbledon like Harriet then coming here will be a bit of a tough schedule - it's just a shame that some players ranked circa 170 had to qualify for Ilkley whereas they would be in and around middle of the draw here and Katie B would have been a seed.
I'm not sure what the situation is regarding signing up and then pulling out, when the deadlines are etc. but for someone like Dart (12 grass matches excluding doubles) or Boulter (13) then resting up ahead of the US / Canada swing would be more beneficial especially as both significantly increased their ranking, but it could have been very useful for the likes Gabi (7), Heather (6) or particularly Naomi who only had 3 grass matches and she is normally all over these Asian trips.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 22nd of July 2018 03:43:44 PM
