Coup Droit wrote:

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Thanks for those links, David.

Just eyeballing it, those seem to be (generally) pretty weak draws - it's been said before, but it really does make a nonsense of junior nationals to have SO many top juniors (and even middle-top juniors) not taking part.

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 There are various wildcards available for winners and runners up in u16 and u18 as an incentive to play and possibly the 16 and 18 girls lists are a bit stronger than last year. There are some who have done very well in brit tours such as Charlotte Howard, Grace Piper, Amelia Rajecki playing. I think anyone who gets help from the LTA in terms of funding, playing for GB, wildcards etc should play in these nationals or have that help withdrawn. I can understand the likes of Emma R not playing as she has clearly moved to a higher level, but the rest should. Surely winning the national should be a way for the lta favoured ones to show how good they are. Otherwise some of us have a suspicion that some are slightly avoiding the competition because in junior ITFs they very rarely play other British players. A notable exception is Holly S who won both U16 and 18 last year, so has got that achievement and understandably isn't playing this year.

Good news about the overdue incentives for the top age ranges. It means that the under18/under16s will be held at the NTC over Easter next year, with the lower age groups combined at Nottingham in August. This article explains the changes