Id like to think they were to benefit all players Not just academy players, otherwise they could have run it as an invitational event. 

Yes some players missing I would have liked to have seen, either playing overseas or injured Or just choice?

Jasmine Conway, Eva Shaw, Ben Hudson, Fabio , imogen, Kyle Hughes, etc.

I think some of  the older end juniors 2003/2004 Will Nolan, Kylie bilchev  etc are away competing  in high level ITFs and some have done the pro series.

Injuries I know of are Henry Jefferson and Talia whos suffered a severe ankle sprain at Loughborough and is out of action for a few months. 

Tennisdad_101 wrote:

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Id like to think they were to benefit all players Not just academy players, otherwise they could have run it as an invitational event. 

Yes some players missing I would have liked to have seen, either playing overseas or injured Or just choice?

 

Jasmine Conway, Eva Shaw, Ben Hudson, Fabio , imogen, Kyle Hughes, etc.

I think some of  the older end juniors 2003/2004 Will Nolan, Kylie bilchev  etc are away competing  in high level ITFs and some have done the pro series.

Injuries I know of are Henry Jefferson and Talia whos suffered a severe ankle sprain at Loughborough and is out of action for a few months. 

 

 

 

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 In theory, yes, of benefit to all players who played. BUT my point was that the academy players will have had dispensation  to train throughout lockdown which many others (who may turn out to be more successful players in the end) didnt have the benefit of, as not classed as 'elite' by lta despite rankings being higher than some academy players. For those non academy players to travel for two matches of a grade 6 lta match play so soon after lockdown it was not at all a level playing field. From the top 20 lta u18 girls rankings (which does include itf points as well as lta points) only 3 players entered those 11th april match plays, which makes my point.  The entries for the next one, next weekend, are a bit stronger, as more players have had more training now as restrictions eased on the 29th march. These events, though u18 also have guaranteed places for under 16 players as well which is clearly an obvious way to make sure most academy players can actually get accepted as not all of them might have been high enough in the rankings otherwise. Many on this board are dubious at least about the merits of the lta academies but it is clearly in the interests of lta to make it at least appear that they are working for as long as possible. Not least to keep academy  players and parents happy, which is never easy in an individual sport where players are training in groups at times and in the end competing with each other. I should add I am mainly referring to the girls side which I know more about. Once we know if any of the current players have made it or not as tennis players those responsible for the academies will probably be gone...  I'm not commenting on individual players particularly, but I would say that there are a lot of non academy players, those going by different routes including us college, who still have ambitions of making it in tennis, and who is to say none of them will. In my opinion the whole academy set up has certain clear  disadvantages.