She was hitting with Anett Kontaveit and Andy yesterday (I know this was posted elsewhere too): https://twitter.com/TennisWinter/status/1119550279081517056
Originally based at Bromley, but has moved and now trains at Roehampton or with the JTC girls.
What a pain for her if true, Bromley Tennis centre is in her school grounds. I suppose it is a reflection of the level she is at in terms of hitting partners.
Hopefully she will get the GCSEs she needs do she can do what she wants. There was a lot of talk of Ci Ci Bellis going to Stanford before her break through at the US open?
Hopefully she will get the GCSEs she needs do she can do what she wants. There was a lot of talk of Ci Ci Bellis going to Stanford before her break through at the US open?
Yeah but look at Cici now - injured and has had several surgeries.
17 year old Maja C won a W60 in her home country today, 16 yo Fernandez won a home W25 title about 3 weeks ago, and followed it up with a W80 final the week later, look what young McNally has done this year and she won a W100 title just a few months after her 17th birthday, 16 year old Tauson won a W60 title 4 months ago, Wang Xinyu, still 17, has won 3 very recent (albeit weak) W25s, Osuigwe won a W80 at 16 and a half and another a few weeks past her 17th brithday, and that's not even mentioning the top top end 15-18 year olds who everyone knows about at WTA or slam level.
Yes, some have had injuries like Bellis and Lopatestska, and that could be from playing too much too soon, but there's plenty above Emma obviously not put off by it and currently generating a lot of excitement, and when the current GB top 100/150 landscape isn't too encouraging, and that is possibly your most likely hope of having another top 100 player, or one to eventually establish herself, as a GB tennis fan, while there's no rush, I'd hope she'd concentrate more on playing a few events here and there, and then in 6-12 months or so, look to replicate what some of the above examples have done.
However, she and her team will know what they are doing and what her short term intentions are, and if she did decide to do A Levels (and then further education) then good luck to her, but there's been a fair few wondering when she was next playing both on here and on TF recently, and I'd imagine if some of the other younger players had pushed on more these past 12 months, there'd have been less emphasis on Emma's short term plans.
Hopefully she will get the GCSEs she needs do she can do what she wants. There was a lot of talk of Ci Ci Bellis going to Stanford before her break through at the US open?
Yeah but look at Cici now - injured and has had several surgeries.
Precisely my point, not many potentially elite players are academic enough to get the options Ci Ci had. There are a number of WTA players that have come through: Nicole Gibbs, Kristie Ahn and most recently Carol Zhao, undoubtedly Micaela Gordon will follow. The temptation to over train is mitigated and there is a massive academic opportunity and the chance to build lasting relationships with like minded academically gifted athletes which in the balance of probabilities one would never otherwise meet.
All that said I am sure like Ci Ci she will go pro, conventionally I just worry about injury and the boredom of the tour.
Early on in the year there was some suggestion that Emma might get a main draw wild card for Wimbledon. Now her future education path seems to be of more interest. There's always the possibility that in the long run a young player decides against a tennis career and prefers a university degree and job outside tennis. In the pre Open era Virginia Wade combined a University Degree with playing tennis. She even played Wightman Cup whilst sitting her final University exams. An equivalent these days would be Katie Boulter playing Putinseva or Diyas in the Fed Cup whilst sitting her final exams at the same time.
Maybe we should contact Interpol. Last seen at Wimbledon juniors just over a month ago.
Maybe just a slight niggle. She was down to play at least one one event since ( withdrew from Woking during the week before it began ), possibly more events. Who knows ...
And before that we know it was her GCSEs keeping her out.
-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 11th of August 2019 08:12:32 PM
Just a thought but maybe between the stress of her GCSE's and not having a great Wimbledon her family decided it would be more beneficial to go on holiday like any other normal family does. Its far healthier to live a normal life at 16 than it is to live like Cori Gauff, not being top 100 in the world at 16 is hardly the end of the road. Emma has her own journey, the fact that others her age are busy on the tennis court might be great for them but its not how everybody wants to live.
Just a thought but maybe between the stress of her GCSE's and not having a great Wimbledon her family decided it would be more beneficial to go on holiday like any other normal family does. Its far healthier to live a normal life at 16 than it is to live like Cori Gauff, not being top 100 in the world at 16 is hardly the end of the road. Emma has her own journey, the fact that others her age are busy on the tennis court might be great for them but its not how everybody wants to live.
I assume that's largely directed at my post after detailing those other youngsters results? Of course not being in or near the top 100 at 16/17 isn't an issue at all. Assuming she does go down the pro route, then there's ample time to try and achieve that, and there's no need to rush or feel pressure of other players results, and she should go at a pace she is comfortable with.
That was more me presenting a direct argument for going down the pro route than potentially going down the college route which was being discussed on here (if that is indeed even an option her team are discussing), in that there's a number of young, talented players currently doing very well and they are not all going to get injured or suffer from burnout, which seemed the main reason why a college route might be considered instead, if someone is particularly academically gifted.
And regarding CiCi Bellis, I really hope she is back soon and gets back to where she was (and beyond), having withdrawn from Cincy the other week - hopefully that means she is close to returning, but just not quite ready, but even if she never plays tennis again, she has already made over a $1m dollars in prize money for her short time on court, and while CiCi's obviously a pretty and marketable girl, that's in addition to all the sponsorship deals she gets such as Maserati, which she would have received as a result of the platform that pro tennis has given her.