Coup Droit wrote:

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the addict wrote:

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Her WTA profile says Australian.
I re-read the article on the BBC website from 8 years ago. Unless something has dramatically changed, I see no reason why she would ever switch back to playing under the GB flag. (not even for wildcards)

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/13394586

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 I guess a lot would depend if she's fallen out with the Australian federation.

She's at the right age, rather like Jan C.

Most federations support a big group of hopefuls as juniors, up to the age of 20 or 21 and then, at 21, the federations whittle down the number to just keep a selected few. If they've decided she's not one of the few, that would be the most likely reason, in my view, that she'd change.  

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And the current Aussie landscape is unfortunately a bit different to ours. They have admittedly just had their Grand Slam / WTA 'spike' and a few bigger ITF events, but currently they have Hon, Birrell, Aiava and Cabrera who are all younger and higher ranked than Bains, plus the likes of Hives, Sharma and Perez who are more like Boulter's age, but still higher ranked than Bains, so there could be something in the funding suggestion - we currently only have Swan (younger and higher ranked). They've currently got 23 players ranked ahead of our #11 which is a bit grim considering they only have about 40% of our popn, so it would be a very welcome addition indeed if there was anything in it.

JonH wrote:

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Ace Ventura wrote:

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the addict wrote:

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Her WTA profile says Australian.
I re-read the article on the BBC website from 8 years ago. Unless something has dramatically changed, I see no reason why she would ever switch back to playing under the GB flag. (not even for wildcards)

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/13394586

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I know what you mean, it's also not like she is (potentially) switching from NZ to GB where she would get more benefits and it would be like for like in tennis terms. She would however instantly become the GB #6 as opposed to Aussie #14. Her father still refers to her as a 'Leeds lass' though and she has referenced it as 'home' in recent years, so does still have an attachment in that sense.

As for other switches, it is the ITF that usually update first. It changed with Choinski well before the ATP and Rybakina's from Rus to Kaz and a few others. It just seems strange that there would be 2 changes, first the flag and then an hour later 'nationality', that's surely not by accident or a mistake.

 

It would be great if it was true as we'd basically be getting another Maia Lumsden type, someone 21, circa 300 (or beyond in Naiktha's case) who already has a 25k title to her name.

 

Perhaps she has just seen some if the gloom on here in recent weeks/months and wants to give us all a boost 

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 Out of interest is she related to the (ex) male player Maniel Bains, I notice he is down as a Brit on the ATP site although I am not sure if he was always a Brit or had been an Aussie representative at some stage? to be fair, he seemed to play in GB mostly so probably was a Brit all along, but I wasnt sure if he was related at all?

https://www.atptour.com/en/players/maniel-bains/be82/overview

  

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I'd never heard of him before now, but it might be plausible - Looks like they might have a similar ethnic background (hope that doesn't sound bad) and obviously both are/were involved in tennis, but there's no reference of them in the same paragraph anywhere and no correspondence on social media, so perhaps very distant if any.

Going back to Naiktha, I see she is 253 now with absolutely nothing to defend until her 12 points at Nottingham in mid June and a string of 5 pointers being her lowest, so another solid run or two in Europe over the next 10 weeks or so and she could really build on that.

Ace Ventura wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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the addict wrote:

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Her WTA profile says Australian.
I re-read the article on the BBC website from 8 years ago. Unless something has dramatically changed, I see no reason why she would ever switch back to playing under the GB flag. (not even for wildcards)

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/13394586

---

 I guess a lot would depend if she's fallen out with the Australian federation.

She's at the right age, rather like Jan C.

Most federations support a big group of hopefuls as juniors, up to the age of 20 or 21 and then, at 21, the federations whittle down the number to just keep a selected few. If they've decided she's not one of the few, that would be the most likely reason, in my view, that she'd change.  

---

And the current Aussie landscape is unfortunately a bit different to ours. They have admittedly just had their Grand Slam / WTA 'spike' and a few bigger ITF events, but currently they have Hon, Birrell, Aiava and Cabrera who are all younger and higher ranked than Bains, plus the likes of Hives, Sharma and Perez who are more like Boulter's age, but still higher ranked than Bains, so there could be something in the funding suggestion - we currently only have Swan (younger and higher ranked). They've currently got 23 players ranked ahead of our #11 which is a bit grim considering they only have about 40% of our popn, so it would be a very welcome addition indeed if there was anything in it.

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Still no idea if it applies to Bains but I know it can also get very personal, it's not just a rational decision based on actual funding. 

i.e. When the federation turns round and tells you (or your daughter) that they're dropping her, after having been one of the 'golden' ones, and half her friends/rivals still being kept, it can get rather nasty, pretty quickly.

As you say, Aussie tennis is in a good place at the moment (although I thought Fourliss would be higher ranked than she is now). Would be nice if we could 'share'  

NB I wonder if Izzy Wallace is happy with the move - it started very well but she seems to have stalled rather (which I don't think is a huge surprise to most of those who followed her)