Battle of the Brits Premier League of Tennis at National Tennis Centre

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Battle of the Brits Premier League of Tennis at National Tennis Centre

jb288 · Satellite level

"She's ten foot tall Lissey!"

Quote of the day from Alicia as she set up a smash for Naomi...

the addict · Tennis legend

First day results

Alicia Barnett def v Naomi Broady 3-6 7-5 10-3

Heather Watson def Katy Dunne 6-2 6-3

Beth Grey def Freya Christie 3-6 6-2 10-7

Emma Raducanu def Eden Silva 6-2 7-6(4)

-- Edited by the addict on Sunday 20th of December 2020 06:30:47 PM

sliced backhand · Lower Club Player

JonH comes home wrote:
So individual but players wont play same number of matches. Sort of contrived !

Contrived indeed-presumably run mainly for benefit of betting companies! A league competition with some playing four times and some playing once. LTA's organisational skills as great as ever!

PaulM · Tennis legend

The LTA didn't really organise the event though. I'm not sure the odd format is of their doing or choosing. Will be a combination of whatever agreement Jamie got with betting companies for matches, and players decisions around what they want to do at this stage of their training blocks.

Thought the tennis was pretty good today.

-- Edited by PaulM on Sunday 20th of December 2020 06:54:13 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I had it on for most of the day (I've barely left my sofa...) but a lot of it was in the background to the football and darts, but I did make sure I saw the majority of the Emma-Eden match, which was an enjoyable second set.

I'm always happy to watch specific players, and will continue to do so over the coming few days, and it's great that it's basically a TV stream again with comms, replays, and different camera angles, but it did kind of seem a bunch of matches with not much meaning, if that makes sense, whereas the other 2 BOTB events didn't.

SuperT · Futures level

I watched quite a bit today and really enjoyed it. Heather looked comfortable, Dan and Andy both played well and were evenly matched I thought, and the Emma Eden match was interesting. I don't see this as a competition like the summer BOTBs but more an opportunity for the players to get some useful match practice in a safe environment before the new season starts. The LTA or whoever seem to have tried to arrange the matches between players of similar ability to make them as competitive as possible which is great. I'm looking forward to watching Heather play Jodie tomorrow, Emma on Tuesday and Fran on Wednesday - also Jodie v Fran and Jodie v Emma as it should give us some idea where the players are in relation to each other. With Christmas plans cancelled there's less preparation to do so great to have some tennis to watch.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Points total after Day One
The way it cuts and pasted shows it as a single table but I believe it is one for men and one for women.
MENS

WOMENS

Andy Murray - 3

Heather Watson - 2

Liam Broady - 2

Alicia Barnett - 2

Anton Matusevich - 2

Beth Grey - 2

Jan Choinski - 2

Emma Raducanu - 2

Aidan McHugh 1

Naomi Broady - 1

Dan Evans 0

Freya Christie - 1

James Ward - 0

Katy Dunne - 0

Jay Clarke - 0

Francesca Jones - 0

Cam Norrie 0

Jodie Burrage - 0

Jack Draper - 0

Eden Silva - 0

*Mark Whitehouse - 0

*Emily Appleton - 0

(*Reserves)

*Katie Boulter - 0

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Order of play for Monday

Main Court from 10am:
Silva vs Barnett
Evans vs Choinski
Raducanu vs Dunne
Norrie vs Draper

Other Court from 10am:
McHugh vs Matusevich
N Broady vs Grey
L Broady vs Ward
Watson vs Burrage

I was surprised that Silva vs Barnett is on the main court ahead of Watson vs Burrage. Obviously both will at least be streamed, which is good, but one is like a basic, fixed ITF stream, whereas the other has the replays, camera angles, commentators etc - which will be a lot more handy for those more watching in the background, whilst WFH. In some ways it's good that less familiar players will more showcased, but then Dunne and Silva were also on the main court today (even if as the 'B side'), and Evans and Raducanu have all 4 of their matches on the main court, whereas even Watson vs Jones is on the basic court on Wednesday as well.

Probably creating something out of nothing, but was a bit surprised, and a little disappointed, as that Watson vs Burrage match is the one I was looking forward to most out of all those matches, and the type of stream does make a difference to my viewing. After all that, they'll probably swap the cameras around tomorrow, and it'll be the other court with the better stream, ha.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Order of play for Monday

Main Court from 10am:
Silva vs Barnett
Evans vs Choinski
Raducanu vs Dunne
Norrie vs Draper

Other Court from 10am:
McHugh vs Matusevich
N Broady vs Grey
L Broady vs Ward
Watson vs Burrage

I was surprised that Silva vs Barnett is on the main court ahead of Watson vs Burrage. Obviously both will at least be streamed, which is good, but one is like a basic, fixed ITF stream, whereas the other has the replays, camera angles, commentators etc - which will be a lot more handy for those more watching in the background, whilst WFH. In some ways it's good that less familiar players will more showcased, but then Dunne and Silva were also on the main court today (even if as the 'B side'), and Evans and Raducanu have all 4 of their matches on the main court, whereas even Watson vs Jones is on the basic court on Wednesday as well.

Probably creating something out of nothing, but was a bit surprised, and a little disappointed, as that Watson vs Burrage match is the one I was looking forward to most out of all those matches, and the type of stream does make a difference to my viewing. After all that, they'll probably swap the cameras around tomorrow, and it'll be the other court with the better stream, ha.

In terms of the table, Naomi v Beth and Anton v Aidan are actually the big matches tomorrow (both 2 points versus 1 as it stands).

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

In terms of the table, Naomi is arguably in the worst position out of all the women competing tomorrow, despite picking up that solitary point in defeat (against a lower ranked circa 600 player). Outside of the winners, Jodie hasn't played yet, Katy lost to a top 60 player, and still has her match with Lissey to come. Eden also lost in straights, but has her chance against the same lower ranked player tomorrow. Plus, some seem to play more than others, so it doesn't really seem too much of a table.

I was also looking at in more from a status / potential perspective.

the addict · Tennis legend

Personally, I'd look at it more as three groups of players, comparing the results of Lissey, Eden, Naomi, Beth and Freya against each other. Heather, Emma and Jodie should in theory beat all the others - Fran, Katy (and Katie) ought to be in between the other two groups. Mind you, I haven't looked at the remainder of the matches yet, to see how they line up for the last two days.

indiana · Tennis legend

Kind of like football friendlies aren't they? - and probably useful as such. But sport needs real point and jeopardy to pull me in.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I'd largely agree with that TA, although Fran is pretty interesting. She's currently higher ranked than Jodie (and over a year younger), but at this stage I'd personally probably still expect Jodie to have the better career, and even though Fran has had some good results indoors recently, the surface here probably suits Jodie more, and she'll have confidence from beating Jo at the exact same venue.

They actually play each other on Tuesday so that should be good one, and it's on the better streamed court.

This is the full schedule:
www.lta.org.uk/major-tennis-events/british-major-events/battle-of-the-brits-premier-league-of-tennis/event-guide/schedule/

The match ups do generally seem to fit your group splits (and not just based on current ranking). Katy is currently ranked higher than Emma, but it looks like they are treating Emma as if she is the higher ranked player.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Kind of like football friendlies aren't they? - and probably useful as such. But sport needs real point and jeopardy to pull me in.

Agreed, a glorified training block