Week 44 - ITF ($25K) - The Wirral, GB

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

RE: Week 44 - ITF ($25K) - The Wirral, GB

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
Much tougher entry list at Shrewsbury - Sam is only at Q21 at the moment. And Freya at A4

It is indeed. Strange seeing Emily Ap ranked above Freya and Alicia, although that will of course change with the new system.

Be interesting to see who gets the WCs there, who has some left over and who gets the QWCs. There'll be less British interest overall, but more quality than quantity.

Strongbow · All-time great

Ace Ventura wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
Bit of a disgrace that last years winner Murray didnt get a Wild Card. I know its an upgrade but even still its poor from the organisers.

Im not really surprised at the results from the other girls. Even the ranked ones as they did accumulate their ranking mainly from very weak 15ks overseas, granted a couple of decent wins. K Pitak and Anna P etc.
The mystery wildcard is just that and if it is the likes of Ghodrati, Garshong or someone of similar ilk and they end of losing with scores like some of the above then there has got to be questions.
I don't know how many WCs she might have, and if 1 she may be lined up for Shrewsbury, but it does seem a bit strange if she has been snubbed for someone not really capable of competing.

I'm not sure if the ITF MD wild limit (3) is over the last 12 months or current year Sam has had 2 ITF MD wild cards in 2018 (Manchester & Surbiton), but also had one for Shrewsbury last year.

paulisi · Tennis legend

A quick summary of the games:
Emily Morton. Quite a competitive match, but Emily's lack of experience on the ITF circuit showed as she looked like she was in control in the second set and got tight. Will get some wins at 15k qualifying if she gets the chance to compete.
Taz Keens - only just started playing properly on tour at the age of 25. Apparently, she was a good junior, but quit at 16. You can see why she has picked up a point in 15ks, but that is her current level. Nice game, just a bit inconsistent.
Elinor Beazley - hardly played on ITF tour. Only playing G4/G5 juniors and she is a bit lightweight for this level.
Freya v Kimberley was tight early on with both players trying to out hit each other. The scoreline flattered Freya, but Kimberley is very inconsistent.
Ellie Tsimbilakis has improved since I last saw her, but again she hardly plays on the ITF circuit and is a bit lightweight for this level
Katie Morton - turned up last night with her sister and signed in as there were spaces in the draw. Her dad told me she had hardly played in the last 12 months due to exams and she could hardly land a serve in in the first set, but second set was a transformation and she gave the Norwegian girl a real fright.
Olivia French - hardly played on the ITF circuit, doesn't play much on BT tour and the gulf was obvious
Emma Hurst - just returning from a serious knee(?) injury and she looked rusty. Her opponent played well here last year.
Anna Popescu - bit disappointed as she had been playing well recently(especially in doubles). Her leg was heavily strapped
Kasia Pitak - game hasn't really changed much, inconsistent and came up against a girl who is underranked, played very well here previously until a bad injury and was hitting winners for fun.
Anousker Wooller - didn't see too much, but quite a nice game. Again not played much on ITF circuit.
Katherine Barnes - walked into an experienced girl, who hardly put a foot wrong. Katherine didn't play too badly, but another junior, who has hardly played on the tour. Her footwork and temperament have improved since I last saw her.
Eden cruised past Holly - Eden was very solid, Holly was very inconsistent. Again Holly is U16 and struggling to be competitive at G4/G5.
Mae McCutcheon - played quite a solid match, but another junior with little experience against a lady with tons of experience
Ola Pitak - played very well, but came up against a girl who played very well. Serve has improved a lot, just needs to cut down the errors. Way more talent than her sister IMHO
Sam Murray was in fine form against Tamara hitting winners from everywhere. Tamara is a tall girl with a big serve, but not great defensively and hardly plays on the ITF circuit.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
paulisi wrote:
Let's be realistic. Most of the GB girls that lost today have been thrown into the Lion's Den in a tournament too high for their current level. Basic entry level is where they should be playing, but the LTA decided to reduce the number of 15ks.
Emily Morton should have taken a set, when she was a break up in the second, but she got tight.
There are some nice prospects in their, but the LTA aren't making it easy.
Ola Pitak played very well and the scoreline flattered her opponent.
But earlier in the year, at Loughborough the likes of Nell Miller was beating her 2nd seed opponent, Anna Loughlin took a set off her 7th seed opponent. In Glasgow, Danielle Daley took a set off the 5th seed Piter and Collins took a set off her opponent. *
I know the grass can be a bit of a levelling of the playing field for our girls, but there were some good performances / results posted from our girls there, so I don't think it's that unrealistic to hope that one of those here combined could have taken a set or at least forced a tie break, but to have a modal score something like 6-1 6-1 has gotta be far worse than most were expecting when waking up this morning?
*Some of those mentioned in the earlier 25ks are better prospects than the bunch in action today, but is Loughlin much better?

Anna Loughlin is a lot more talented than most of the players that were beaten today. Nell Miller didn't play much ITF, but is capable of getting ranked in the 800's. Cannot comment on Danielle, as I've not seen he play.

Ali Collins may have a wildcard.

-- Edited by paulisi on Sunday 28th of October 2018 05:29:16 PM

TomTraubert · Futures level

Strongbow wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
Bit of a disgrace that last years winner Murray didnt get a Wild Card. I know its an upgrade but even still its poor from the organisers.

Im not really surprised at the results from the other girls. Even the ranked ones as they did accumulate their ranking mainly from very weak 15ks overseas, granted a couple of decent wins. K Pitak and Anna P etc.
The mystery wildcard is just that and if it is the likes of Ghodrati, Garshong or someone of similar ilk and they end of losing with scores like some of the above then there has got to be questions.
I don't know how many WCs she might have, and if 1 she may be lined up for Shrewsbury, but it does seem a bit strange if she has been snubbed for someone not really capable of competing.
I'm not sure if the ITF MD wild limit (3) is over the last 12 months or current year Sam has had 2 ITF MD wild cards in 2018 (Manchester & Surbiton), but also had one for Shrewsbury last year.

calender year

RedSquirrel · Satellite level

Strongbow wrote:

Ace Ventura wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
Bit of a disgrace that last years winner Murray didnt get a Wild Card. I know its an upgrade but even still its poor from the organisers.

Im not really surprised at the results from the other girls. Even the ranked ones as they did accumulate their ranking mainly from very weak 15ks overseas, granted a couple of decent wins. K Pitak and Anna P etc.
The mystery wildcard is just that and if it is the likes of Ghodrati, Garshong or someone of similar ilk and they end of losing with scores like some of the above then there has got to be questions.
I don't know how many WCs she might have, and if 1 she may be lined up for Shrewsbury, but it does seem a bit strange if she has been snubbed for someone not really capable of competing.
I'm not sure if the ITF MD wild limit (3) is over the last 12 months or current year Sam has had 2 ITF MD wild cards in 2018 (Manchester & Surbiton), but also had one for Shrewsbury last year.

Surbiton WC was for doubles. I would think Sam will get a WC for Shrewsbury as I think only Beth and Lissey have available WCs for our other women entered with a top 1000 ranking.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Would the Age Eligibility rule not apply to Sam anyway? Think it's competing for 10 years.

Barefoot · Lower Club Player

Thanks for this analysis paulisi!

Hopefully a useful learning experience for them all.

the addict · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Would the Age Eligibility rule not apply to Sam anyway? Think it's competing for 10 years.

The ITF rulebook refers you to the WTA rulebook ! It is ten years, not neccesarily consecutive. I think Sam is borderline, because she missed two full years.

Strongbow · All-time great

If she had got one this week she coudn't have one for next week - perhaps she was given a choice. Be interesting to see who got into the MD.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Helen40 wrote:
Wow, what a Brit bashing
Emma is the only person I have any hope in this week, although to be fair Freya beat her fellow Brit pretty easily. I'm so glad for Emma that she is under the press radar, I know they said that they tried to keep Robbo under it, but she wasn't really, and I'm not sure that helped her longer term.

Once Robbo had won Junior Wimbledon her life was changed for ever and there was no way she was ever going to stay under the press radar. Although not predictable at the time of the 64 players who played at junior Wimbledon in 2008 the player who achieved the highest singles ranking was Johanna Konta who was then flying under the Australian flag. Jo was decidedly under the radar at that time.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

It is difficult to know the best time to run a 25K outside the grass season when everybody is here. There are a group of girls who would benefit from it but bar Emma R, Sam and Freya they are elsewhere.

Anna, Nell and Olivia Peet all are part of the strongest recruiting classes in College tennis, Eden Richardson has just one the Southern ITA regionals hands down both doubles and singles, Emily Arbuthnot made the SF of NW Regionals. Jodie is in Aussie, Fran in Canada just to name a few.

If the remit is to generate WTA main tour players we have to accept that the well will not be that deep and this tournament falls at an opportune time for girls in school to step up be it in qualifying testing there metal or in the MD if they have WTA main tour potential. A bit like doling out WC to juniors at Wimbledon Qualifying we may well look back and understand the rationale.

indiana · Tennis legend

Overall yes very disappointing. Of course generally heavy out ranked but it is not unreasonable to expect one or two to come up with a surprise in a home ITF.

But I guess that these home 25Ks become a big thing in some minds with the ridiculous lack of home 15Ks to much better give some players a way in with ITF matches where they can be more competitive.

But the LTA seem far ahead of others in attempting to cull prospective pros, and to heck with trying to produce any sort of pyramid or much hope for later starters / improvers.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

indiana wrote:
Overall yes very disappointing. Of course generally heavy out ranked but it is not unreasonable to expect one or two to come up with a surprise in a home ITF.

But I guess that these home 25Ks become a big thing in some minds with the ridiculous lack of home 15Ks to much better give some players a way in with ITF matches where they can be more competitive.

But the LTA seem far ahead of others in attempting to cull prospective pros, and to heck with trying to produce any sort of pyramid or much hope for later starters / improvers.

Their attempt appears to be culling those that would have a chance in these tournaments, leaving us with the girls that shouldnt really be there as players. In effect only those in the position to be fortunate enough to have backing will have any sort of a chance. Like you say no pyramid system and will dismiss any late bloomers.