It'll be interesting to see who gets the 2nd WC this year if there is a top 20 WC take again. Katie B will obviously get one (if fit) with the press release last week, but then who gets priority out of Harriet and Heather? Harriet is younger and had a much better grass season last year, but Heather may just about still be higher ranked by decision time and is a bigger name to add to their marketing and PR content. If there's no Stosur type taking one this year then the 3 Brits mentioned will likely be the 3 recipients.
There is the option to play Manchester challenger instead and there will be qualifying wildcards to allocate.
I suspect Laura Robson will get a Nottingham QWC
There is the option to play Manchester challenger instead and there will be qualifying wildcards to allocate. I suspect Laura Robson will get a Nottingham QWC
There is, but Heather has played Nottm for the past 4 years and won a main draw match there last year and Dart won more matches on grass last year than any other women and is now at that fringe WTA main draw level, so both will surely be hoping to play there and I'm not sure who the committee would select - hopefully both can end up with WCs. I'd probably go for Harriet if I was in charge.
I'm not sure what would be better for Dart/Watson in Nottm Q or Manc main draw - it's pretty much 6 and 2 3's. Dart obviously played the 100k last year, won 2 matches, made the QFs, picking up 25 points, Swan played Nottm Qs, won 2 matches to qualify before losing in the main draw, picking up 19 points. It's hard to say without seeing the respective fields.
There is the option to play Manchester challenger instead and there will be qualifying wildcards to allocate. I suspect Laura Robson will get a Nottingham QWC
There is, but Heather has played Nottm for the past 4 years and won a main draw match there last year and Dart won more matches on grass last year than any other women and is now at that fringe WTA main draw level, so both will surely be hoping to play there and I'm not sure who the committee would select - hopefully both can end up with WCs. I'd probably go for Harriet if I was in charge.
I'm not sure what would be better for Dart/Watson in Nottm Q or Manc main draw - it's pretty much 6 and 2 3's. Dart obviously played the 100k last year, won 2 matches, made the QFs, picking up 25 points, Swan played Nottm Qs, won 2 matches to qualify before losing in the main draw, picking up 19 points. It's hard to say without seeing the respective fields.
How would the money compare with those respective performances?
Nottingham entry whilst having Barty lacks a big name apart from jo. To a punter or the press, heather offers more in terms of status than any other younger brit apart from Laura. If Laura is a stretch as a WC then I think heather is the likely preferred option. At an event like eastbourne or brum they may not need heather as much as the top end players will be bigger names by far.
Nottingham entry whilst having Barty lacks a big name apart from jo. To a punter or the press, heather offers more in terms of status than any other younger brit apart from Laura. If Laura is a stretch as a WC then I think heather is the likely preferred option. At an event like eastbourne or brum they may not need heather as much as the top end players will be bigger names by far.
I spent ages looking for 100k prize money breakdown, but couldn't find anything. Nottingham prize money will be similar to the below, with the last 2 being qualifying and $2.1k for a R1 defeat:
$43,000
$21,400
$11,500
$6,175
$3,400
$2,100
$1,020
$600
The adjacent Holland WTA grass event, which is the same level on the tour has a better line up IMO:
That's a cracker for an international event. Similar cut off point as Nottm, but a lot more top end stars like Ostapenko, Bertens, Bencic, Sabalenka etc. Even young Anisimova to an extent.
