Week 42 - ITF (W15) Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

RE: Week 42 - ITF (W15) Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Hard

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, good point - I hadn't focused too much on the Fed Cup, you're right.

I wonder if the federation are aware of that and take it into consideration?

cya · Strong Club Player

I get the potential benefit for the grass court WCs. I checked to see if she was in the Chinese Taipei / Taiwan Fed Cup line up but I didn't see her name. If she switched to GB, would she be selected to play given there are other elite players sponsored on LTA's PSP? Even Emma R didn't end up playing when she was selected as part of the team. We'll see what happens next year or so...

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, good point - I hadn't focused too much on the Fed Cup, you're right.

I wonder if the federation are aware of that and take it into consideration?

https://www.billiejeankingcup.com/en/teams/team.aspx?id=TPE

I remember around June last year they had a tie, and Liang (won a recent jr slam) was over here playing one of the W100s and flew a long way to play it, but no Garland involvement, and I see this May 2004 born player has now had 5 singles and 2 doubles matches for them (she was also called up in 2019).

https://www.billiejeankingcup.com/en/players/player.aspx?id=800543727

All things equal, you'd have expected Joanna at her age and ranking to have at least been involved by now, considering their fairly limited pool of talent, but not sure whether it was more down to the federation, or Joanna, as to why she wasn't included. I will be keeping an eye on their next squad though.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 21st of October 2020 04:12:43 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Given Joanna's links to the UK, the fact she plays clubs tennis here, is sponsored by a cambridgeshire company (from recollection), her dad's UK tennis connections etc etc etc, I do think there's a good chance she may well swap at some time.

The Fed Cup bit may well be important (especially at this age) - it's not just Fed Cup, either, but all the other bits that go along with being part of the federation's elite group - Cam Norrie moved country mainly because the NZ fed refused to really believe in him.

However, given Joanna's connections, I guess one could also make the other argument - that she knows full well what the UK can offer, the parties have obviously had the conversation, at least once if not more. And she doesn't want to move.

But it's an important stage of her career now - as said, I think it may well look rather different in a couple of years - and, yes, if her federation don't value her that will certainly help our appeal.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, good point - I hadn't focused too much on the Fed Cup, you're right.

I wonder if the federation are aware of that and take it into consideration?

Once you've played for a country in the Billie Jean King Cup is a player ineligible to play for another country ?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Yes, good point - I hadn't focused too much on the Fed Cup, you're right.

I wonder if the federation are aware of that and take it into consideration?
Once you've played for a country in the Billie Jean King Cup is a player ineligible to play for another country ?

Yes, Tomljanovic had to get clearance to play for Australia after representing Croatia earlier in her career, but that was before new rules came in:

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6437289/ajla-tomljanovic-cleared-to-play-fed-cup/?cs=14686

Tomljanovic represented Croatia as a teenager but became an Australian citizen last year, having had permanent residency since 2014.

The International Tennis Federation ruled in 2015 that players could not represent more than one nation in team events.

Tomljanovic launched an appeal on the basis that she applied for her Australian passport before that rule was introduced.

Spireman · Strong Club Player

BBC website has article on Dan Evan's win, and mentions the women's results saying Katie B playing first 'Tour level match or tournament' since lockdown, then Fran and Harriet winning on second tier itf level, in 25k itf. This implies katie was in a higher level tournament....I think someone from this forum should get a job writing bbc reports.

sliced backhand · Lower Club Player

cya wrote:
I get the potential benefit for the grass court WCs. I checked to see if she was in the Chinese Taipei / Taiwan Fed Cup line up but I didn't see her name. If she switched to GB, would she be selected to play given there are other elite players sponsored on LTA's PSP? Even Emma R didn't end up playing when she was selected as part of the team. We'll see what happens next year or so...

It probably needs to be realised that a Chinese Taipei team including Su-Wei Hsieh and the Chan sisters would be likely to beat any UK team!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I think they may have edited it now (unless it was a different article you were reading).

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/54631469

Elsewhere, Katie Boulter earned victory in her first tour-level match since March, while Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones also won at a separate tournament on the second-tier ITF Tour.

Boulter, 24, enjoyed a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) win over Poland's Martyna Kubka at the W15 Sharm El Sheikh.

Dart, 24, won 6-3 6-3 against France's Selena Janicijevic at the W25 Reims, where Jones claimed a 6-2 6-0 victory over Indy de Vroome of the Netherlands.

Reads OK now, Katie still mentioned first but probably just because she's a bigger name, and arguably a more significant moment with it being a long time.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

sliced backhand wrote:
cya wrote:
I get the potential benefit for the grass court WCs. I checked to see if she was in the Chinese Taipei / Taiwan Fed Cup line up but I didn't see her name. If she switched to GB, would she be selected to play given there are other elite players sponsored on LTA's PSP? Even Emma R didn't end up playing when she was selected as part of the team. We'll see what happens next year or so...
It probably needs to be realised that a Chinese Taipei team including Su-Wei Hsieh and the Chan sisters would be likely to beat any UK team!

True, but Hsieh is 35 in a couple of months and hasn't played for them since 2016 (and subsequently can't play in the Olympics after having an appeal rejected last week), so their singles competition has been restricted to juniors and low ranked players for years, so you'd think Joanna would have a lot more chance playing for CT than GB over the next couple of years.

Giving it a bit more thought, it would actually probably be nearer 50/50 in a hypothetical situaton if both were at full strength, and would perhaps come down to location and surface. You'd expect them to take the doubles, and our two singles players to probably beat their #2, so it would possibly come down to Jo vs Hsieh. If they both didn't feature (like this year) then GB currently have a bit more strength in depth.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 21st of October 2020 05:33:31 PM

dodrade · Satellite level

Ace Ventura wrote:
cya wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
I have a bit less hope now that she'll switch, but still do keep an odd eye out for Garlands results, and she has just put out the 5th seed.
Unless there is any obvious benefit for her, I don't see her switching. She's probably more comfortable doing her own thing without the prying eyes and scrutiny of the British media ; or without being restricted by the LTA bureaucracy
The main benefit would be the grass court WCs, but if she is confident of getting where she wants to go without potential assistance/short cuts then another reason to stick with the status quo and carry on. I did kind of think it was inevitable about a year ago for some reason, possibly influenced by her not being part of the Taiwan Fed Cup squad (and subsequently tied up) when they selected a 15 year old as part of their team, and playing a lot of events over here, but having a quick look at her Instagram she does seem proud of Taiwan and has spent the majority of the Covid period over there, so I would be more shocked now if did switch.
I guess the next (Taiwan) Fed Cup squad could be a clue, whenever that is. If it was Feb/April and she still wasn't in despite approaching her 20th birthday then I might be more optimistic, especially as that would be a good time to switch like Naiktha did last year with the summer months approaching.

Would having played for them at the Youth Olympics stop her switching even if she wanted to?

cya · Strong Club Player

Ah! I thought I'd seen that she represented TPE in an international event a while ago, but couldn't remember which event, so its the Youth Olympics 2018.
I know that usually when junior tennis players are called upon to play for a country internationally (say representing GB at European Championships or so) , then they are eligible if they have not played for another country in the preceding 36 months. If that rule still holds then if she played for TPE in 2018 then the earliest she can play for GB is 2021 or thereafter; and that's if there aren't any other senior / ITF regulations that require compliance.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

dodrade wrote:

Would having played for them at the Youth Olympics stop her switching even if she wanted to?

Good question. I don't know to be honest. Anyone know for certain?

My hunch would be that I wouldn't have thought so, in line with the likes of football being able to represent a different nation at youth level, and Elena Rybakina represented Russia in the Junior Fed Cup (similar difference), but while she hasn't actually represented Kazakhstan yet, I have never heard anything to say she wouldn't be able to. I did see that Garland has represented CT at both Youth Olympics and Junior Fed Cup since your post.

She still would be able to switch to GB even if she was ineligible to represent GB at Fed Cup / Olympics, but it would obviously significantly reduce the chances of a potential switch if she wasn't able to actually play for a potential new nation.

Edit - posted before I read cya's post.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 21st of October 2020 06:45:55 PM

the addict · Tennis legend

Now that the Fed Cup has been renamed the Billy Jean Cup, the rules aren't accesible at the moment. It just so happens that the Fec Cup rulebook is one that I DON'T have downloaded !