Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

HarryGem · Club Coach

RE: Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

HarryGem wrote:
kundalini wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Just for interest (or not....), and with thanks to zootennis:

Five former #ausopen junior champions in women's singles draws this year:

Strycova(02, 03)
Pavlyuchenkova(06, 07)
Rus(08)
Ka Pliskova(10)
Townsend(12)
Interesting to see which former junior champs are in the main draw even going back 18 years. Shows how durable Strycova is. However there are no players from 2013 onwards which begs the question what has gone wrong? I know the player who beat Katie Swan in 2015 has never made it on the main tour.
2013 - Ana Konjuh - elbow injury
2014 - Elizaveta Kulichkova - last played 2017 US Open qualifying so I imagine injured but not sure. Career high ranking 87. Wikipedia says retired. Tennisforum says now a coach.
2015 - Tereza Mihalikova - currently ranked 528, career high 349
2016 - Vera Lapko - currently ranked 360. Career high 60. Not played since Wimbledon. Knee injury and health issues (low immune system) mentioned in an article.
2017 - Marta Kostyuk - currently ranked 149. Career high 116
2018 - En-Shuo Liang - currently ranked 235. Career high 150
2019 - Clara Tauson - currently ranked 271. Career high 265
So I guess the answer is a combination of serious injury (3), perhaps not that amazing a player (1) and too early to expect much at WTA level (3).
Interesting to see this. Tauson did only turn 17 in December so as you say too early. She's roughly the same age as our Emma R so interesting to see how the 2 match up over the season.

Too early for Tauson? Well the girl she beat in the final Leylah Fernandez who was 17 last September has qualified.It shows Canadian womens tennis has more than Bouchard and Andreescu.

HarryGem · Club Coach

ROSAMUND wrote:
HarryGem wrote:
kundalini wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Just for interest (or not....), and with thanks to zootennis:

Five former #ausopen junior champions in women's singles draws this year:

Strycova(02, 03)
Pavlyuchenkova(06, 07)
Rus(08)
Ka Pliskova(10)
Townsend(12)
Interesting to see which former junior champs are in the main draw even going back 18 years. Shows how durable Strycova is. However there are no players from 2013 onwards which begs the question what has gone wrong? I know the player who beat Katie Swan in 2015 has never made it on the main tour.
2013 - Ana Konjuh - elbow injury
2014 - Elizaveta Kulichkova - last played 2017 US Open qualifying so I imagine injured but not sure. Career high ranking 87. Wikipedia says retired. Tennisforum says now a coach.
2015 - Tereza Mihalikova - currently ranked 528, career high 349
2016 - Vera Lapko - currently ranked 360. Career high 60. Not played since Wimbledon. Knee injury and health issues (low immune system) mentioned in an article.
2017 - Marta Kostyuk - currently ranked 149. Career high 116
2018 - En-Shuo Liang - currently ranked 235. Career high 150
2019 - Clara Tauson - currently ranked 271. Career high 265
So I guess the answer is a combination of serious injury (3), perhaps not that amazing a player (1) and too early to expect much at WTA level (3).
Interesting to see this. Tauson did only turn 17 in December so as you say too early. She's roughly the same age as our Emma R so interesting to see how the 2 match up over the season.
Too early for Tauson? Well the girl she beat in the final Leylah Fernandez who was 17 last September has qualified.It shows Canadian womens tennis has more than Bouchard and Andreescu.

I mean we shouldn't write her off yet. 17 year olds all develop differently. She may not make it but there is still time.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Tauson is doing more than fine for someone only a few weeks into her 17th brithday. She's already won 2 W60 events, although she didn't actually receive the 80 points for her win in the Israel event because she withdrew from qualifying in bigger tournament with a cold 3 days prior (which is against the rules), so with those 80 points added, she would have been on 294 points and just 2 points from the top 200 (and made it into the AO quals). She's already had 13 top 250 wins!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

So how's everyone actually going to follow the event? Taking time off work (if applicable)? Watching one match at midnight? Staying up to daft o clock? Getting up earlier than normal to catch some of the 3rd and 4th matches? Recording it to watch at a more convenient time, or just watching stuff as and when you can without changing normal routine?

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 19th of January 2020 12:22:30 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
So how's everyone actually going to follow the event? Taking time off work (if applicable)? Watching one match at midnight? Staying up to daft o clock? Getting up earlier than normal to catch some of the 3rd and 4th matches? Recording it to watch at a more convenient time, or just watching stuff as and when you can without changing normal routine?

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 19th of January 2020 12:22:30 PM

The last option and probably lots of reading of tweets and watching of scoreboard.

the addict · Tennis legend

The last option, with the addition of watching selected highlights from Amazon Prime when I get home from work. And if any matches are on late, might watch on my laptop at work !

DF · Tennis legend

Might watch a bit of a match at midnight eg Dan tonight and then see what is still on in the morning.

the addict · Tennis legend

Just to repeat a comment someone made a few days ago.
There are no Brits in the women's doubles this year. The draw is out, and Strykova/Hsieh are top seeds with Babos/Mladenovic at #2

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
So how's everyone actually going to follow the event? Taking time off work (if applicable)? Watching one match at midnight? Staying up to daft o clock? Getting up earlier than normal to catch some of the 3rd and 4th matches? Recording it to watch at a more convenient time, or just watching stuff as and when you can without changing normal routine?

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 19th of January 2020 12:22:30 PM

Interesting question, AV....

For my part, probably no daft o,clocks.....certainly no setting alarms and getting up early.

But I've pushed back a few of my normal morning appointments next week to leave myself a couple of hours from 9-11, say, on a couple of days, at least, for tennis watching smile

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
So how's everyone actually going to follow the event? Taking time off work (if applicable)? Watching one match at midnight? Staying up to daft o clock? Getting up earlier than normal to catch some of the 3rd and 4th matches? Recording it to watch at a more convenient time, or just watching stuff as and when you can without changing normal routine?

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 19th of January 2020 12:22:30 PM
Interesting question, AV....
For my part, probably no daft o,clocks.....certainly no setting alarms and getting up early.
But I've pushed back a few of my normal morning appointments next week to leave myself a couple of hours from 9-11, say, on a couple of days, at least, for tennis watching

I watched a match at midnight last year. It certainly helps being more of a WTA fan because you could usually have one fully watched and into bed by 2am, but you'd struggle to do that with a BO5 match - it would be pretty one sided anyway if you did. I remember watching Katie B beat Makarova in that super tie break, and I think that finished around 2.15/30am, which is getting towards my absolute limit.

This year, I have the option of working from home in the mornings, so I am planning on going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting up much earlier, like 5 or something, get all my stuff sorted the night before, and watch as much as I can, before heading into the office. That's the plan anyway, ha.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The weather is supposed to be bad on day 1, but they do have the 3 covered courts, so there should be at least 14 uninterrupted matches. Konta is on the main uncovered court, and last on, so there's possibly a chance she might not get on.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

It may come as something of a surprise when discussing players prospects that Katie Boulter has played more singles than Jo Konta since Wimbledon. Katie did not play Wimbledon but since her return has played 12 singles matches. On the other hand Jo has only played 8. Obviously Jo has played players of a higher standard but I'm not sure that Jo's injury problem wasn't masked over for a while whilst Katie's was more apparent.

Tennpar · Strong Club Player

As and when and Amazon for me. Maybe the occasional midnighter - not looking good re Dan later though..

Michael D · All-time great

ROSAMUND wrote:
It may come as something of a surprise when discussing players prospects that Katie Boulter has played more singles than Jo Konta since Wimbledon. Katie did not play Wimbledon but since her return has played 12 singles matches. On the other hand Jo has only played 8. Obviously Jo has played players of a higher standard but I'm not sure that Jo's injury problem wasn't masked over for a while whilst Katie's was more apparent.

Yes, this does come as a surprise I must admit Rosamund, and a really interesting statistic I must admit. And I agree I think it does bear out your point that Jo's injury problem has been greater than has been both acknowledged and more widely understood. None of this sounds like a good omen for her this season, especially as there is no indication that she is any nearer some kind of solution for this knee issue.