Week 6 - ITF W25 - Birmingham, UK Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 6 - ITF W25 - Birmingham, UK Hard

wales1994 · County player

What an incredible week for both! This came rather unexpected, well done Sonay and Talia!

Aberdaberdonian · Club Coach

As wales1994 says, a final that i imagine not many would have predicted biggrin Congrats to both.

Crispy · Strong Club Player

Really hope the LTA keep this series of M25 & W25 events at the beginning of the year moving forward - what a super springboard for our emerging players!

Priesty · Challenger level

indiana wrote:
No excuse then Priesty. You can be our eyes and ears

Bah, I've arranged to go for a walk with a friend and her walking group now. They want to get their facts right down there bleh disbelief

paulisi · Tennis legend

I think it would be better for Sonay to win.
Firstly, she is a senior
Secondly, I don't think she is well funded
Thirdly, she has the better short term prospects.

I suspect Talia will be aiming for a top 100 junior ranking and a cracking at some junior GS, with the odd senior tournament thrown in.

indiana · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
And the day keeps getting better

F:- Andre Lukosiute [LTU] / Eliz Maloney [GBR] CR2191(1191+1000) def Quinn Gleason [USA] / Catherine Harrison [USA] CR244 (135+109) [1] 7-6(4) 3-6 10-8 ( )

Super, especially seeing their opponents' rankings.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Well done Eliz and partner !

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Worthy of note. Some may have spotted I tracked tournament wins last year as part of the process for qualifying for player of the season vote. Talia got 5 in total, single and doubles , at junior level. Just one off being in that pos vote as 6 was the threshold. So although she was operating at quite a low level, she was showing some signs

indiana · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
SuperT wrote:
What an amazing set of results today. I seem to remember that at the start of the week we were bemoaning how much stronger the field was this week, and yet here we are with two finalists! Congratulations to both and thanks for giving us so much pleasure. Just a shame the matches haven't been streamed!
Crazy innit . All that initial talk, and it's probably been the best W25, results-wise (even if lack of streams), in recent memory. 4 GB QFs, 2 GB SFs, 2 GB F, and the age, and even the lack of experience at the level of the finalists makes it so much more exciting as well.
Does anyone have a preference for a winner?

Yes, I've certainly been one of those who have cried out for W15s to give players more reasonable opposition and help them make a mark. Or indeed just rather more reasonable opposition than the rankings of even just the Q seeds thst players were having to meet from the off in 2 round qualifiers.

The Bath W25 last month where we had some success ( if not as much as this week ) was unusually weak for a W25 and the more representative Loughborough I thought showed up the issue again.

But jeepers, players have managed to come through this week.

I still think it would be good to have some W15s to help players along. We're not too often going to get such crazily good against the rankings results as this week and we are still asking a lot of many to have this as our lowest level home ITF.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
SuperT wrote:
What an amazing set of results today. I seem to remember that at the start of the week we were bemoaning how much stronger the field was this week, and yet here we are with two finalists! Congratulations to both and thanks for giving us so much pleasure. Just a shame the matches haven't been streamed!
Crazy innit . All that initial talk, and it's probably been the best W25, results-wise (even if lack of streams), in recent memory. 4 GB QFs, 2 GB SFs, 2 GB F, and the age, and even the lack of experience at the level of the finalists makes it so much more exciting as well.
Does anyone have a preference for a winner?
Yes, I've certainly been one of those who have cried out for W15s to give players more reasonable opposition and help them make a mark. Or indeed just rather more reasonable opposition than the rankings of even just the Q seeds thst players were having to meet from the off in 2 round qualifiers.
The Bath W25 last month where we had some success ( if not as much as this week ) was unusually weak for a W25 and the more representative Loughborough I thought showed up the issue again.
But jeepers, players have managed to come through this week.
I still think it would be good to have some W15s to help players along. We're not too often going to get such crazily good against the rankings results as this week and we are still asking a lot of many to have this as our lowest level home ITF.

Yeah, we could definitely do with a few W15s, maybe at the expense of a couple of W25s (if necessary) as we have had a few additional W25s this year, and it would be be a big help to a lot of the players, but while they obviously don't often go as well as this, as you say, and usually more in line with rankings / odds, the buzz you do get from the rare home W25 that does go so well, especially the lucrative points at stake, is pretty hard to beat smile

SuperT · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
SuperT wrote:
What an amazing set of results today. I seem to remember that at the start of the week we were bemoaning how much stronger the field was this week, and yet here we are with two finalists! Congratulations to both and thanks for giving us so much pleasure. Just a shame the matches haven't been streamed!
Crazy innit . All that initial talk, and it's probably been the best W25, results-wise (even if lack of streams), in recent memory. 4 GB QFs, 2 GB SFs, 2 GB F, and the age, and even the lack of experience at the level of the finalists makes it so much more exciting as well.
Does anyone have a preference for a winner?

My preference is for Sonay to win. Her results have shown she is under ranked and the sooner she can get enough points to get into the top 500 as least the better. She'll then be able to get into more tournaments by DA instead of needing a WC or to qualify. Talia has had a phenomenal week and you would think will be climbing the rankings too but at 16 she has plenty of time to do this, and and others have said will probably be targeting junior slams this year. I feel quite excited tonight at the prospect of following so much emerging talent. Wimbledon qualifying might be fun this summer?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
SuperT wrote:
What an amazing set of results today. I seem to remember that at the start of the week we were bemoaning how much stronger the field was this week, and yet here we are with two finalists! Congratulations to both and thanks for giving us so much pleasure. Just a shame the matches haven't been streamed!
Crazy innit . All that initial talk, and it's probably been the best W25, results-wise (even if lack of streams), in recent memory. 4 GB QFs, 2 GB SFs, 2 GB F, and the age, and even the lack of experience at the level of the finalists makes it so much more exciting as well.
Does anyone have a preference for a winner?
Yes, I've certainly been one of those who have cried out for W15s to give players more reasonable opposition and help them make a mark. Or indeed just rather more reasonable opposition than the rankings of even just the Q seeds thst players were having to meet from the off in 2 round qualifiers.
The Bath W25 last month where we had some success ( if not as much as this week ) was unusually weak for a W25 and the more representative Loughborough I thought showed up the issue again.
But jeepers, players have managed to come through this week.
I still think it would be good to have some W15s to help players along. We're not too often going to get such crazily good against the rankings results as this week and we are still asking a lot of many to have this as our lowest level home ITF.

Yes, it's truly been a great week.

But the argument for W15s, as you say, is still strong. The point is, Talia and Isabelle were obviously very good choices by the LTA. No question smile

But there are lots of other girls who would like a chance. Maybe ones that the LTA know well (who knows, maybe Given Roach would also have risen to the challenge? Maybe Hannah Read would have done? Just picking two girls of the same age at elite academies). Or maybe girls that the LTA really doesn't know well? (Imogen Haddad just won the British Tour event - never got the feeling that she was on the LTA's radar). Or slightly older players? The point is that there are not enough slots in 25ks.

However, that's not to take anything away from the bods - they've organised some great events this year so far - it's certainly been a big excitement boost for this forum biggrin

Peter too · Tennis legend

Apart from the usual suspects, there are some interesting looking juniors in the Alts list for Glasgow. We should find out later today which ones are in the Q draw and then speculate on which ones might be offered WCs to the main draw. One of the highest ranked juniors is 16 year old Ranah Akua Stoiber with a JCH of 41. She seems one likely candidate to be offered a place in the Q or main draws.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Sonay is a very short priced favourite