In Naples qualies, 74 year old Gail Falkenberg , against Tiphanie Fiquet...

Wow!

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Monday 3rd of May 2021 10:23:05 PM

There's hope for me yet!!  

Andy Parker wrote:

---

I see it is Naples USA; if it had been Naples, Italy, I would be wondering if the player had mafia backing - Dom Falkenberg representing the Camorra.

It is quite funny she is there - clearly some kind of publicity stunt or reality TV drama, but also undeniably completely ridiculous.

---

 Apparently she enters them now and then and was well known for playing Osaka in one back in around 2014 or so, I saw some tweets on it!

Andy Parker wrote:

---

I see it is Naples USA; if it had been Naples, Italy, I would be wondering if the player had mafia backing - Dom Falkenberg representing the Camorra.

It is quite funny she is there - clearly some kind of publicity stunt or reality TV drama, but also undeniably completely ridiculous.

---

Lucky you get no such dodgy stuff in Florida   

To be fair, as TA says she is in as a direct acceptance. She was on the entry list, 22nd alt on the last list based on what I assume was the normal random draw of these with no WTA or ITF ranking, with quite a lot of other unranked players ahead of her. I assume that she is in because of the number of subsequent late withdrawals.

If she's paid up for her ITF PIN I doubt there's much that can be done unless anyone wants to set upper age limits or some sort of playing level criteria beyond the rankings. 

Absolutely.

I don't think it's a marketing ploy, Andy P.

I think, for her, she just loves playing, plays most days, and - if it suits her - she enters tournaments, including regular ITF tournaments, if that's going on.

www.lovetennis.com/on-court/gail-falkenberg-to-return-to-professional-tennis-at-74/

As Indy says, if she's paid up, and qualifies directly coz no one else is entered, well good on her.

I find it a little weird that she doesn't seem to play any of the senior circuit though.... which plays into your point slightly, Andy

Anyone else think that Katie S and Jodie might be in direct competition for a potential final (GB) Wimbledon WC? Very little between them at the moment, similar ranking, both have won recent W25s, pretty much the same age, both turned up for the recent Fed Cup tie. Katie has obviously had previous Wimbledon WCs, whether that makes her more or less likely to get another remains to be seen, but if there were say 4 GB MDWCs on offer, then these next 2 weeks really could be a real differentiator opportunity for both of them.

Another name that sprung to me today was Ana Konjuh. She has had no fewer than ELEVEN WCs since the tour restarted, has obvious grass pedigree, and her ranking will likely still be outside the top 100 by the time of the grass, so could be a WC contender for the likes of Nottingham (as a former winner), as well as Wimbledon maybe.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 4th of May 2021 10:58:27 PM

R1: SWAN, Katie (GBR) 4 249 (CH=163 2018) v DAY, Kayla (USA) Q 530 (CH=122 2017)

They have met twice before with Katie winning in two both times.