The road to the 2020 US Open

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The road to the 2020 US Open

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Thanks for that post. I have been watching the withdrawal list go up and up and did wonder who was left and how it would affect the British players. I think that there will probably be lots more withdrawals before it all starts and it will be interesting to see who is the lowest ranked player who actually gets in to the event; I would have thought Harriet has a good chance of playing, if she wants to. Disappointing that Katie B chose not to use her Protected Ranking for this one, as given the number of withdrawals, she might have made it through a round and picked up some much needed ranking points.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Very interesting. They reckon as low as 170 might get in. I think Muguruza might be the latest to pull out as she has an injury. Agree with your comment about Katie. At the presnt rate Heather will be seeded and Harriet will get in.

PaulM · Tennis legend

I think there will be high levels of withdrawals from the alternates list in the next couple of days as those players from 150-300 commit to Prague, meaning that if we lose a few more players you will see a sudden and quite big jump to who is getting in, probably just working your way down those in the late 100s and early 200s even who are US based.

Once draw is made onsite alternates come from those accepted into doubles draw.

I suspect Heather won't be seeded, as I anticipate most of the remaining withdrawals to come from further down, eg Maria who is pregnant.

indiana · Tennis legend

It really is becoming the US Open 2020*

All the best to Harriet though. It does look as if she probably just has to stay upright to get in.

Though clearly the sooner the better for planning plus it's not a trip you'ed want to make if participation was still in doubt.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 18th of August 2020 12:23:55 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

The entry for Italian Open has 16 of top 20 women in it, stronger than the US Open field overall...

ROSAMUND · Futures level

indiana wrote:
It really is becoming the US Open 2020*

All the best to Harriet though. It does look as if she probably just has to stay upright to get in.

I heard Pam Shriver discussing 6 of the top 10 players pulling out. The world will cave in if Serena pulled out. It can stand losing the players who have pulled out and many others as well but I daresay it will survive as long as Serena and Coco play.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
indiana wrote:
It really is becoming the US Open 2020*

All the best to Harriet though. It does look as if she probably just has to stay upright to get in.
I heard Pam Shriver discussing 6 of the top 10 players pulling out. The world will cave in if Serena pulled out. It can stand losing the players who have pulled out and many others as well but I daresay it will survive as long as Serena and Coco play.

For Serena, asterisk or not, it is her chance to get that Slam win and take the record - so no way will she pull out if she has a choice!

That said, I wonder if Serena, Coco are getting large appearance fees to make sure they enter - no idea what the rules are, but suspect they will be (and quite possibly Djoko as well), and it raises the question of Andy? Given Rafa, Roger, Stan, Delpo of the established slam winners arent here, Andy is possibly the biggest world name after Djoko in the mens field

LordBrownof · Futures level

Osuigwe has a wildcard.

Not withstanding all the very good points but there are still 10 Grand Slam champions on this list.

PaulM · Tennis legend

And it's still a heck of a lot stronger than a number of Court's Australian Open titles which count to her 24 without an asterisk!

indiana · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
And it's still a heck of a lot stronger than a number of Court's Australian Open titles which count to her 24 without an asterisk!

Fair point.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

LordBrownof wrote:
Osuigwe has a wildcard.

Not withstanding all the very good points but there are still 10 Grand Slam champions on this list.

But still just about worth including in the list for now for reference, in general terms, because if, or almost certainly, when she does get in directly then that WC would go to another American, but yes, she is in regardless, and Harriet is technically a step closer to getting in directly.

And another slam winner if WC Kim C still plays, although some journalist was speculating about her involvement the other day.

For me, it's still a decent mix, those slam champs as you say, other players who are normally considered a contender like Pliskova, and some who have won multiple bigger (hard court) titles like Sabalenka, and then some really good youngsters in high seed positions like Rybskina, Yastremska etc. who could really get their names out there, but at the same time, it isn't great when you see stuff like:

OUT: Halep (2)

IN: Haas (130 odd)

NEXT IN: xxx

And every reasonably big name withdrawal, even like an Ostapenko, will be felt that much harder when it's a 140+ player stepping in, although as a GB forum, we'd like to see a few more so Harriet can get in, but I just hope it's those early 100s that PaulM was alluding to earlier.

LordBrownof · Futures level

Contiuning to look on the positive side here, my POV is that this list is still incredibly strong and backs up the idea that the women's game has incredible depth to it right now. Being based in the US I got to watch almost all of Prague and Lexington and was impressed by a number of the women ranking 40-70.

If there's a debate about the astrix next to the winners name, I'd like to have that debate once we see their draw and path to the title. For example, the winner might have to beat Pliskova, Muguruza, Yastremska, Stephens, Gauff, Giorgi etc.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I see the Prague list is out, and available at the top of the first page of Tennisforum, and Harriet is on there (along with Naiktha and Sam).

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 18th of August 2020 02:43:52 PM

emmsie69 · Top national player

Thats a diilemma for Harriet, possibly a better option but hard to walk away from a possible US Open main draw. Not sure of her pedigree on clay as she missed the clay season with injury last year but with the French Open still on and a possible doubles entry into Prague aswell, it might make sense to stay in Europe.