Ace Ventura wrote:

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JonH wrote:

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Ace Ventura wrote:

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Yeah, it's a bit of a shame when someone is already in a main draw (or very likely would have been in Harriet's case) and then pull out to get a WC elsewhere because it just means one less GB player in action, and also less chance of general success - Harriet might have been able to do OK in that Ilkley field. However, from her POV, if she got another relatively kind draw in Birmingham, someone just sneaking in, or not great on grass, or a qualifier, like she did in Eastbourne last year with the lesser Pliskova, then it's far better and she'll probably be on TV as well - of course if she draws a top player then it's different, but she could still consider it good prep for Wimbledon.

Ilkley is going to worse than Surbiton from a GB perspective. The field is similar, but not quite as strong, there'll be no Heather in directly and the WCs will be on a similar level to Manchester, but in a much tougher field, e.g. Asia Muhammed, who Sam beat, isn't even in qualifying currently, yet she was main draw in Manchester.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Thursday 13th of June 2019 08:56:09 AM

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 From both mens and womens perspectives, we dont have any direct entry Brits, so all will come from wild cards or anyone that manages to qualify. 

At the top of the womens draw, Mladenovic has now got into Birmingham due to withdrawals there and, as such, withdrawn from Ilkley which is sad - I am taking my Dad (or more accurately he is taking me) and id whats apped him the other day to say that the French mixed doubles finalist Mladenovic was playing - and now she isnt. 

We are going on Sunday, finals day, so dont really expect any  Brits anyway to be frank!

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Yeah, from your perspective, on the women's side we'll be lucky to get a couple of R1 wins never mind someone reaching the final. A lot will depend on who gets Birmingham QWCs - if Maia and Naiktha are in Ilkley then they may be able to win through a round or so, but without Harriet or Heather there won't be any realistic contenders - if it's the likes of Alicia and EWS receive the MDWCs again, then GB interest will likely end quickly. 

Mladenovic withdrawing is a blow, but there are currently some decent names involved - Magda R is obviously pretty popular here with her success on grass, Peng has been a big name in the past, plus there's some really promising teens involved. I went down last year from Friday-Sunday so got to see Harriet (in her QF defeat) which was good, but I've mentioned a few times, one of the highlights was seeing Yastremska (who had just turned 18 a few weeks earlier), where it was obvious she would rise from her circa 150 ranking pretty sharpish and now 1 year later, she has 3 full WTA titles (HK, Thailand and Strasbourg) and is just outside the top 30 and slam seeding, and you can always say you saw her when nobody outside the very big tennis fan knew who she was (assuming she does go even further). The likes of Osuigwe, McNally (if she qualifies), Wang Xiyu, Danilovic etc. could be the same for you. Also don't forget the likely Wimbledon MDWC - there's currently 6 already in the Wimbledon draw, so if the final doesn't involve 2 of those, then somebody (perhaps both) will be playing for a Wimbledon WC like they were last year in Yastremska vs Smitkova (who is also here this year) and that made the match feel much bigger - the men's final also had a WC on the line for the both players.

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 Well, certainly looking forward to it either way, as you say it is good to see names you arent totally familiar with and then follow their subsequent progress. And there is always a chance of a Brit getting through in one of the doubles events as well, either way so long as the weather holds, it should be fine. 

I used to visit the old Ilkley Open event (now British Tour event) that was end July, early August (and weather was always lousy) as a junior  player in the event and would often go to watch the finals. Always got a decent crowd - they used to have a proper centre court with stone  terraced seating and one year a sponsor pumped in a fair bit of money and a bumper field turned up - it would have been around 1981 I am guessing, but we had Peter McNamara, Vijay Amritraj, Jeremy Bates , Peter Fleming ( I think) and Roscoe Tanner I believe played, maybe some others. McNamara and Bates I think reached the final and it was televised (highlights) on Yorkshire TV (the regional ITV back then) which was something. I recall it was £10k total prizemoney, which in 1981 was something decent , maybe something like £30k in current terms?  

Compson out of Madrid this week.