Birmingham - twitter.com/WTAEntryList/status/1125864407815344129

WTA Mallorca (same week) - twitter.com/WTAEntryList/status/1125868824048340996

JonH wrote:

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Ace Ventura wrote:

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Birmingham - twitter.com/WTAEntryList/status/1125864407815344129

WTA Mallorca (same week) - twitter.com/WTAEntryList/status/1125868824048340996

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 So 5 top 10 and 10 top 20 in Birmingham, good standard there. JoKo just misses out, not sure how far out she is so may need a wild card or get in if a few withdrawals

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Jo will be 1st or 2nd alt depending on if Strykova has entered (she did last year if that is any guide).

Birmingham looks a good entry, how does 5 top 10, 10 top 20 compare with previous years? My instinct without following these things is that the entry at Birmingham is getting to be better than Eastbourne? Being frank I have been to Eastbourne final albeit back in the early 90's and the wind and the general atmosphere made it not worth the day out, very disappointed. But that was back more than 25 years ago. It was the wind more than anything that is a regular feature there and I would have thought that a more compact venue in Birmingham, in our second city, should draw bigger crowds and better players, all things being equal

Birmingham 2018 initial entry list (this time last year):

1 Garbiñe Muguruza ESP 3
2 Karolina Pliskova CZE 6
3 Petra Kvitova CZE 10
4 Julia Goerges GER 12
5 Coco Vandeweghe USA 13
6 Madison Keys USA 14
7 Daria Kasatkina RUS 15
8 Elise Mertens BEL 16
9 Ashleigh Barty AUS 18
10 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 19
11 Naomi Osaka JPN 21
12 Kristina Mladenovic FRA 22
13 Johanna Konta GBR 23
14 Daria Gavrilova AUS 24
15 Barbora Strycova CZE 26
16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS 31
17 Mihaela Buzarnescu ROU 32
18 Ekaterina Makarova RUS 33
19 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 34
20 Alizé Cornet FRA 35
21 Lesia Tsurenko UKR 39
22 Petra Martic CRO 40
23 Timea Babos HUN 41
24 Maria Sakkari GRE 42

So a little bit stronger this year. Bottom 4 there wouldn't have got in this year and just the 3 top 10 players. 10th highest player is #19 both years, but I suppose last year Konta was 13th on the list at 23, whereas Andreescu is 11th on the list at that ranking this year.

From my experiences, whether it's because there are more pensioners in Eastbourne, or the fact that it's a combined event, Eastbourne's WTA crowds are a lot better than Birmingham's. Birmingham and Nottingham are often a little disappointing earlier in the week, whereas I remember the QFs at Eastbourne on the Thursday last year being absolutely rammed.

to be fair, from last year , Eastbourne holds up well. Maybe the mens event alongside helps a little although it has few big names generally.

flamingowings wrote:

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JonH wrote:

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Here are the grass court lists so far:

ATP

 

Queens announced today 

https://www.lta.org.uk/major-tennis-events/british-major-events/fever-tree-championships/event-guide/player-entry-list/

4 top 10 and 8 top 20 in total, Kyle and Cam in the field. Not as strong as past, no real top name, but still time for a WC for maybe a Rafa or Novak, and one being kept open for Andy

-- Edited by JonH on Tuesday 7th of May 2019 04:43:43 PM

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 Ouch @ Delpo not being a "top name" Not sure Rafa will ever play Queens, I like him but several times (unsurprisingly) he was entered and never played. Pretty sure he was at The Boodles for his warm up last year/year previous.

Won't they WC Dan, Ward & Jay in as well? Anyway, I'm off to Queens this year and like the mixture of established players and newer/up & coming players - will be great to see then "properly".

Andy won't play. I just don't see how he can be possibly ready.

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 I'm going to ilkley so hope not all those brits get queens wild cards. 

 

The actual queens field is v interesting just not one of the big 4 , if that is still a thing, at least yet. Delpo is a big name , just not a really BIG name

 

Enjoy queens though, I've never actually been other than a DC tie many years back. Bucket list.