Week 23 - WTA 250 - Viking Open, Nottingham (grass)

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Week 23 - WTA 250 - Viking Open, Nottingham (grass)

PaulM · Tennis legend

Sharma has withdrawn so Fran now plays lucky loser Garcia Perez.

If a few more of these withdrawals had happened on time who knows which Brits were hanging about and could have got into qualies!!

PaulM · Tennis legend

Beth fought until the end but a big gulf in class, she goes out 6-2 6-2 but those 12 points for qualifying will come in handy as she goes back to the ITFs.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

where does taras wins today and in qualies take her to ranking wise...it feels like it could be a good level higher for her?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Proving to be a good event for players to end long losing streaks, Ahn ending her 7 one a few hours ago, and Leonie now ending her 9 match streak.

Still a good event for Beth though, 12 points in the bag - she has reached a W15 SF and QF in recent weeks (5 wins), but just got 6 points combined for those efforts.

Edit - Actually it was 7 wins as one of the events was via qualifying, so probably 7 points for 7 wins, so 12 points for 1 win is obviously much better, if you can get it.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 6th of June 2021 07:47:14 PM

PaulM · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
where does taras wins today and in qualies take her to ranking wise...it feels like it could be a good level higher for her?

Will take her up above Emily and Eden into the mid-400s. She qualified for Nottingham in 2019 as well so it's not a huge jump with the lower level of round 1 winning points offered in a 48 draw.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

thanks PaulM - indeed Live - tennis has her at 456 currently, also ahead of Maia who looks like she is losing a lot of points?

the addict · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Beth fought until the end but a big gulf in class, she goes out 6-2 6-2 but those 12 points for qualifying will come in handy as she goes back to the ITFs.

I'd completely forgotten, but Kung was runner-up to Swiatek in Wimbledon Juniors just three years ago.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Ace Ventura wrote:
Looks like just 2 matches on Centre tomorrow (and BBC).

3pm
Harriet vs Emma
Followed by
Katie B vs Osorio Serrano

The 2 standout matches of R1 for me.

These are the 2 matches that I am most looking forward to, as well. Osorio Serrano has been on great form, but I am not sure whether that is just because she is strong on clay, and this is a very tough draw for Katie B, but maybe this match could really kick start her season.

It will also be very interesting to see where Emma is at; if she wants a main draw Wimbledon wildcard, then she probably needs to show some decent form right now and maybe taking Harriet to 3 sets or battling hard in a close match will just be enough to sneak her a main draw wildcard, but I've a feeling if she loses heavily tomorrow, that the wildcard committee will not feel that she has done enough to deserve one, no matter what her potential is.

I will be caught between watching this and the French Open - still it is nice to have two great tournaments to choose from.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Dan evans and also Francis Tiafoe also on centre court as mens gets underway.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Dan evans and also Francis Tiafoe also on centre court as mens gets underway.

Ah. Thanks for the heads up, yes Tiafoe on at 12pm, Dan following on, so I'm assuming that will be a N.B 3pm for Emma-Harriet, but more likely to be nearer 4 or 4.30pm.

the addict · Tennis legend

Fran is first match on court one at 11am. Court 2 is all WTA, with Jo+ fourth match (not before 2pm), and Tara/Eden on fifth. Timings for the doubles are a bit optimistic

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Andy Parker wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Looks like just 2 matches on Centre tomorrow (and BBC).

3pm
Harriet vs Emma
Followed by
Katie B vs Osorio Serrano

The 2 standout matches of R1 for me.
These are the 2 matches that I am most looking forward to, as well. Osorio Serrano has been on great form, but I am not sure whether that is just because she is strong on clay, and this is a very tough draw for Katie B, but maybe this match could really kick start her season.
It will also be very interesting to see where Emma is at; if she wants a main draw Wimbledon wildcard, then she probably needs to show some decent form right now and maybe taking Harriet to 3 sets or battling hard in a close match will just be enough to sneak her a main draw wildcard, but I've a feeling if she loses heavily tomorrow, that the wildcard committee will not feel that she has done enough to deserve one, no matter what her potential is.
I will be caught between watching this and the French Open - still it is nice to have two great tournaments to choose from.

Yes Andy, Maria (or 'MCOS' as she is almost universally known on TF, as it's much easier) seems like a really likeable young player, and has had a super clay run these past few months. She was one of the non GB players I was most looking forward to seeing here (not live), so a bit of a shame that one goes out (although 100% pulling for Katie). I've never seen the Colombian on grass, so it is hard to gauge as you say, but I'm hoping the respective contrast in grass experience is the deciding factor.

I mentioned earlier how I thought Harriet was more likely to have a deeper run than Emma, like say QF or something (depending on where Riske is at), but my Wimbledon MDWC hat is leaning me towards hoping Emma pulls it off. Her resume was excellent for someone what had not long turned 17 (when she last played a proper match), so I'd love her to get a few wins before Wimbledon just to get a bit more genuine excitement on the board. I was looking at her results and her W25 record, and record against the top 250 is really, really good, especially as she would have been just 16 for the majority of those matches.

And yes, it's going to hard juggling it all in with the ongoing French, although certainly from Tuesday, the (singles) matches at RG do become more manageable.

indiana · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
thanks PaulM - indeed Live - tennis has her at 456 currently, also ahead of Maia who looks like she is losing a lot of points?

Yes Tara is up to live GB #13 on 99 points, ahead of now #14 Maia on 96 points.

Maia drops from 142 points, a net loss of 46 points. Most of that is 30 points from here in 2019 ( reached the L16, then R2, actually beating Tara in R1 ), the rest being 25K points dropping off.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
She was at JTC for ages (and may still be)

Colin Beecher and Lucy Ahl were often by the side of courts when she was playing back before covid times.

And, yes, I think they have a lot to answer for, to be honest.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 6th of June 2021 04:19:10 PM

She has been at JTC for such a long time and there have been a few coaches. Alex Ward most recently. Jodie has always been hard on herself, even from the age of 13. It is almost impossible to coach the mental side and the players need to release their frustrations. Some are better hiding it than others.