Jaggy1876 wrote:

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Yes sadly its mainly hobby players there, seems to a lack of depth on the girls side compared to the mens at the moment.

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 Really most of those in qualifying would be better building up experience in 15k qualifying not 25k, but 25k is what we have. I'm sure most of them really take their tennis seriously, but are young, and not of the level for 25k, at least yet. I doubt if they think of themselves as 'hobby' players. There are definitely more gb boys/men at a certain level so the depth of gb players is better for these tournaments in mens Also don't forget there are probably at least an equal number of 18 to 22 year old gb girls as men at American college and for certain there are a lot of them who would be much more competitive in this qualifying than those in it.

Jaggy1876 wrote:

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I stand by my original point, if you look at the mens college players, ranking wise and ability wise its straight up in the top 800 for many, and probably higher if they stick at it. There are certainly hobby players listed above. The lack of depth is obviously going to mean that. Its plugging the hole, making up the numbers. Having 15ks would make no difference at all.

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 I agree and disagree.

There are definitely certain players in that list who, IMO, in terms of pro singles tennis, are 'hobby' players in level. That's not to say they don't take their tennis seriously or whatever. But they are not knocking on the door of pro tennis. 25k qualis is not the level they should be playing.  

However, there are a lot of youngsters. 

Brook and Ruby are born in 2007 (i.e. 14 or 15). Paulina is 16. Kristina P is 17. They are all four quite promising juniors. 

They would definitely be better off in a 15k. It would give them the bridge into adult tennis at the right level. 

However, I agree that it's a poor field, overall. And, yes, our US college players would (hopefully) be a bit more competitive. 

Purely on current world rankings the GB rankings for our guys and girls are extremely similar from WR 300 to WR 600, probably more the proper target range for these 25Ks. Beyond WR 600 yes there has increasingly become more depth in our men ( and of course we have more men near the very top ).

With absences for various reasons there is certainly an element of many GB players here who IMO would much more benefit from home W15 opportunities rather than being fed to the wolves here with WTA ranked seeds in all the QR1 ties ( although not generally as highly ranked Q seeds as has often been the case ).

Undoubtably one or two of the home W25s have worked out better than many expected. But it certainly won't always happen and the continued reluctance to stage any home W15s ( or M15s ) does seem very strange.

Current GB WRs :
Within top 100 : M 3, W 1
Top 200 : M 6, W 5
Top 300 : M 8, W 8
Top 400 : M 12, W12
Top 500 : M 15, W 15
Top 600 : M 19, W 20
Top 700 : M 25, W 22
Top 800 : M 32, W 25