Ace Ventura wrote:

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Will be of interest to some, particularly CD I would have thought, but RG WCs have been announced:

MDWC
BABEL Océane (FRA)
BUREL Clara (FRA)
DODIN Océane (FRA)
JACQUEMOT Elsa (FRA)
PAQUET Chloé (FRA)
PARRY Diane (FRA)
SHARMA Astra (AUS)
TAN Harmony (FRA)

QWC
ANDRIANJAFITRIMO Tessah (FRA)
BELGRAVER Julie (FRA)
BOISSON Lois (FRA)
DJOUBRI Salma (FRA)
DROGUET Aubane (FRA)
GADECKI Olivia (AUS)
JANICIJEVIC Selena (FRA)
MONNET Carole (FRA)
ZHAO Carol (CAN)

Looks like it's just a FRA-AUS reciprocal arrangement at the moment, but I believe that's 5 above Jodie (and Katie S) who will come out.

 

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 There's a sneaky Canadian in there. 

Coup Droit wrote:

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The French Federation always give MD wildcards to their best youngsters. This time it's easier as JACQUEMOT Elsa (FRA) is still a junior but won Roland Garros juniors last autumn.

However, Océane Babel also has a main draw wildcard - she's 17 too (and only 1135 in adult ranking). It's a bold statement by the French but it's always their way.

In addition, Diane is born 2002 and Clara is born 2001, so two other youngsters too.

And Diane only ranked WTA 304.

That's pretty much identical to giving a MD WC to Emma Rad for Wimbly (although at least Diane's been playing recently - although not mega successfully, really).

The French are commenting that it shows the federation and Océane have kissed and made up, after some pretty vocal fallouts.

As for the QWCs, Lois Boisson is only 17, and WTA 1216 (and 225 in juniors) - that's weaker, on paper, than Matilda.

Other teenagers too include Aubane, Salma, Selena etc.

Julie Belgraver is also 2002, the girl I mentioned in some other threads as being way more highly rated than her ranking (now 852 but was a fair bit lower when she beat Freya and Millie). Lissey beat her at the start of May.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 17th of May 2021 09:23:48 PM

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Thanks for the detailed reply.

I think they're largely fair enough, and unlike Wimbledon, you'll never see them hand as many as 5 or 6 MDWCs back, which I'm not a fan of (handing back), but that's a different debate... .

Assuming Dodin had sorted her beef, then her along with Tan and Burel are perfectly justified. Paquet is getting on a bit now and seems to have been in that ranking range for ages, but she is still top 200 (and safely in quals), so I think that's fine too. The other 3 French ones are very young, and Babel is very bold as you say, and definitely the one that catches most eyes. It's possibly a year too soon, and she has had a few heavy beatings in her young career, and may well get one here, but then it could also be the making of her, some extra cash in her pocket, a huge moment / opportunity for her, so good luck to her.

Quite pleased to see Olivia Gadecki get a go in qualifiers. Maybe they'll have a MDWC and QWC swap with TA (not ours ) going forward, instead of the MDWC swaps with both the USTA and TA.

the addict wrote:

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I was just looking at the rankings on the WTA website, and some of those MDWC's have risen a few places this week, (eg Diane Parry now 295), so probably all playing well right now.

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Not really.

Although it depends on your definition, I suppose.

In the last two months, Diane made the second round in the French W60, which is OK (although then withdrew).

Lost in R1 at St Malo (though that's not surprising)

Lost in R2 in W60 in Zagreb

Lost in R3 in W25 in Portugal

Lost in R1 in W60 in Portugal

Lost in R2 in W15 in France....

She's certainly not been picked because of recent form (but because she is firmly labelled by the powers that be as one of the most promising youngsters and the French are quite consistent in their support, up to a certain age, it's not really results as such that count)