As last year the under 16 and under 18 Nationals are being held in early April - but in a reversal this time the under 16s are first. Qualifying starts tomorrow with Flora Johnson, at 506, the highest ranked player. The main draw starts on Tuesday with the likes of Hephzibah Oluwadare and Hannah Klugman entered .
Wild card for Wimbledon Junior Championships Main Draw Wild card for 1 x ITF W25 event (April/May 2023) Main Draw Wild card for ITF J1 Roehampton Main Draw Wild card for ITF J2 Aldershot (April 2023) Main Draw
The runner-up just gets a WC for Wimbledon Junior qualifying
The four qualifiers were Isabella Walker (edging out Hollie Smart 10-8 in the MTB), Aimee Knowles, Lois Newberry and Flora Johnson (edging out Molly Robinson 10-8 in the MTB). That means the 3 top seeds plus the highest ranked ITF progress. The main draw has been updated with qualifiers. Hep v Ruby Cooling pits two of the three players here ranked inside 200 ITF against each other in round 1
Does anyone know the rationale for a 16 main draw for the Nationals? Thanks
Hi Mr Gib - I dont know the rationale but my guess would be quality variation - there were something like 32 players in the qualies so overall field is 44 (12 direct entries into the main draw). I suspect the top 4 or 8 in the main draw would stamp all over the lower ranked ones in qualies so they had a larger qualies field to get it to a few to qualify. Which should make the main events more competitive.
on the actual page's livestream, it's reasonably clear - you scroll through the different courts available, and the numbers of the courts is clear - it doesn't give you the names of the players, or the score, but you can have the livescores up too, and cross check from time to time
Calling their own lines in a national championships??
I know - it's ridiculous, in my view.
In France, the national championships are not only for young players but also for young umpires - i.e. you use your best junior umpires, who are then overseen by the Umpiring commission, and it's part of their training.
Works really well....
Dani refused to play at one moment when yet another of her balls was called out by Mika (a couple of her calls were definitely dodgy). And the official had to come. Flora was very stressed at the end of the second set and lost it over her ball that Allegra called out (and was clearly out, IMO), but it was probably the stress that did it. I think Hannah and Heidi replayed a point when they couldn't agree - which wasn't right as the ball was in and Heidi was very well placed to see it, and Hannah was miles away. etc. etc. etc.