Wimbledon wildcards 2023 - women

RainDelay · Pro player

Wimbledon wildcards 2023 - women

Nix · Futures qualifying

RainDelay wrote:
I liked the old ranking points in the 90s where you got bonus points for the ranking of the player you beat.

I like that idea too. I wonder why they scrapped it.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

it changed because, in the old days, there was a truly big difference in level at different rankings and, rightly or wrongly, the ranking system had what was called a quality element to it - over the years, it became clearer that the general level was closing up and , as the quality aspect was also linked to luck of the draw, it was less appropriate. Added to that, a round by round system was easier for the lay public to follow , no need to try and work out anything beyond a win being worth X points in round one etc.

I suspect it will not change now - they used to also have things like points averages ie total points divided by events played at some points in the evolution, so it has moved around a fair bit over time

dodrade · Satellite level

Barefoot wrote:
According to the beeb article, Heather said this about her lack of Wimbledon points -

"I feel like that after Wimbledon I went from an all-time high in my career and then not being awarded any points there really affected my tournament entries," she said.

"I couldn't get into WTA tournaments so I was playing ITFs and I was winning them all but the points are rubbish so it doesn't help my ranking at all.

I very much sympathise about the effect on her ranking, I think Ive already said that I think it should have a sway on WC allocations but its not accurate to say she was winning them all when playing on ITFI dont think she won any!

-- Edited by Barefoot on Tuesday 13th of June 2023 12:52:41 PM

She reached two finals in Glasgow and lost both. If Heather thinks ITF's are beneath her she ought to have played better in WTA tournaments.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

dodrade wrote:
Barefoot wrote:
According to the beeb article, Heather said this about her lack of Wimbledon points -

"I feel like that after Wimbledon I went from an all-time high in my career and then not being awarded any points there really affected my tournament entries," she said.

"I couldn't get into WTA tournaments so I was playing ITFs and I was winning them all but the points are rubbish so it doesn't help my ranking at all.

I very much sympathise about the effect on her ranking, I think Ive already said that I think it should have a sway on WC allocations but its not accurate to say she was winning them all when playing on ITFI dont think she won any!

-- Edited by Barefoot on Tuesday 13th of June 2023 12:52:41 PM
She reached two finals in Glasgow and lost both. If Heather thinks ITF's are beneath her she ought to have played better in WTA tournaments.

The comment she was playing itf events and winning them all had me scratching my head !

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, and while I really like Heather and while getting the Wimbledon points would have been a great boost to her ranking, ,post Wimblefon her ranking was down where it was because of how she had performed over the rest of the 12 month period.

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

I don't think Heather was so much referring the whole tournament(s), more the individual matches in the comment about winning them all. To be fair she did get to two finals.

The disparity in points awarded is clear in the current Rothesay W250 32MainDraw competition, compared with the ITF60k tournaments, for example.

W250 : 2 wins : 60 points
ITF60 : 2 wins : 18 points

W250 : 3 wins : 110 points
ITF60 : 3 wins : 36 points

I'm not comparing with ITF100k because, there's top players dropping down, or top players coming back in those.

Wickmayer a case in point at Surbiton, walking away with both singles and doubles titles and the best part of 18k in the bank. (The singles winner taking home double the cash that the runner-up received, and 55 more ranking points to boot, for winning the tie-break)

Also I'm not comparing tournament win points, because players in the lower part of the top 100 aren't typically going to win the W250 tournament, instead maybe get just a win or two.

Also I'm not really on about the top 5% up and coming players, sure they probably will get to where they are aiming for. I'm talking about the next 15% who deserve a better chance.

-- Edited by foobarbaz on Wednesday 14th of June 2023 05:26:57 PM

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

My big reservation with the wildcards is that the winners of Ilkley and Surbiton get one.

If others on here are correct, then Venus Williams and Svitolina have 2 of the wildcard places for sure. Now that Wickmayer has won Surbiton, that means we have Ilkley plus probably 4 spots for Brits - in other words 4 from Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter, Katie Swan, Harriet Dart and Heather Watson. In my opinion, all of those Brits are thoroughly deserving of wildcards this year, and it seems a shame that Ilkley and Surbiton winners deny more Brits the chance.

I have a problem with the winners of Ilkley and Surbiton getting 2 of the places on any year, but with so many Brits ranked just below the mark where they would receive automatic entry, this year the system seems particularly harsh. I cannot, for instance, imagine the French ever bringing in an equivalent system and I always feel that Wimbledon wildcards is the biggest help each year that British players can get, as one run at Wimbledon makes a player move up the rankings hugely.

Know others will disagree with me for sure, but the system feels very flawed, and harsh too.

Var · Club Coach

Andy Parker wrote:
My big reservation with the wildcards is that the winners of Ilkley and Surbiton get one.

If others on here are correct, then Venus Williams and Svitolina have 2 of the wildcard places for sure. Now that Wickmayer has won Surbiton, that means we have Ilkley plus probably 4 spots for Brits - in other words 4 from Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter, Katie Swan, Harriet Dart and Heather Watson. In my opinion, all of those Brits are thoroughly deserving of wildcards this year, and it seems a shame that Ilkley and Surbiton winners deny more Brits the chance.

I have a problem with the winners of Ilkley and Surbiton getting 2 of the places on any year, but with so many Brits ranked just below the mark where they would receive automatic entry, this year the system seems particularly harsh. I cannot, for instance, imagine the French ever bringing in an equivalent system and I always feel that Wimbledon wildcards is the biggest help each year that British players can get, as one run at Wimbledon makes a player move up the rankings hugely.

Know others will disagree with me for sure, but the system feels very flawed, and harsh too.

Can understand where you are coming from but poor performance over the past 12 months shouldnt be rewarded. The British women are so far behind the curve this year they need to fight harder to get a wildcard. Venus lost her opening match so may be considering her option. Give the younger players a chance. At the end of the day thats what they did with Emma R and she got to the fourth round. Etc etc

indiana · Tennis legend

Oh c'mon, Emma is a different matter from any other current young player we have now. Sure she went on to do hugely better than folk were expecting so it did really benefit her but she was also already very much on the radar previously and during the 2021 grass season and she had been for a while.

And I'm not really sure what you mean by so far behind the curve this year when this year we are going to have 5 players far within our normal ranking territory for giving MD WCs to GB players.

Sure, we'd love some of them to be doing better and be top 100 and be DEs but at the moment IMO any MD WCs have to come from Katie B, Jodie, Katie S, Harriet and Heather. Let's hope we yet have 5 available.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 14th of June 2023 08:23:18 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Oh c'mon Emma is a different matter from any other current young olayer now. Sure she went on to do hugely better than folk were expecting but she was also already very much on the radar and had been for a while.

And I'm not really sure what you mean by so far behind the curve this year when this.year we are going to have 5 players far within our normal territory for giving MD WCs to GB players.

Sure, we'd love some of them to be doing better and be top 100 and be DEs but at the moment IMO any MD WCs have to come from Katie B, Jodie, Katie S, Harriet and Heather.

One of them could do a favour and win this week or Ilkley or Birmingham, however unlikely - any of those would ensure a wildcard!

failing that, 4 from those 5 seems likely from what everyone is saying. Im hoping the powers that be have told them that - win an event or prove yourself one of the 4 to get one over these weeks of surbiton, Nottingham, and Birmingham / Ilkley. Make your case.

so far, Katie, Katie, Harriet and Heather have all managed 4 wins, Jodie just one. Its time for Jodie to step up and make her case and the other 4 to build on what they have done so far.

we shouldnt bemoan all 5 not getting one of the spots - make your case, prove your deserving, win matches and push the others down.

its healthy competition and, to be frank, its quite exciting to see how it transpires. I wish the mens was similarly interesting

Lambda · Futures level

We shouldn't bemoan Surbiton and Ilkley winners getting WCs. It's a far better and fairer way to give WCs than the closed shop reciprocal WCs that the French, US and Aussies use. Just think that if Wimbledon was part of that agreement that would be 3 WCs taken up, and if Venus and Svitolina were to be given WCs we could be left with just 3 WCs for GB women.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
We shouldn't bemoan Surbiton and Ilkley winners getting WCs. It's a far better and fairer way to give WCs than the closed shop reciprocal WCs that the French, US and Aussies use. Just think that if Wimbledon was part of that agreement that would be 3 WCs taken up, and if Venus and Svitolina were to be given WCs we could be left with just 3 WCs for GB women.

Agreed - and not forgetting the Brits can win those events themselves if good enough. All 5 Brits shouldnt see winning either as beyond them. Of course they will all chase the Birmingham ranking points and money as opposed to Ilkley, maybe one of them will try that route and hit the jackpot, Jodie almost did last season.

Kennykoalabear · Junior player

Of course if the winner of Ilkley has already got into Wimbledon then the wildcard becomes available again. Lets hope if a Brit doesnt win Dalma Galfi wins again as shes already in the main draw. Im also a quarter Hungarian so Im biased towards her too!

PaulM · Tennis legend

I don't believe the grass court lead-in WCs are in any way "guaranteed", it's just been a way of awarding ones that would (when they first started doing this) have likely gone unallocated.

So while recent years make it sensible to factor those players as being in the running, I don't think it's a settled certainty Wickmayer will get one.

If it's between the Ilkley winner and, say for arguments, Katie Boulter for the final wildcard - Katie B will get it.