Boys & Girls: J30 Liverpool, GB - hard (Week 45)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Boys & Girls: J30 Liverpool, GB - hard (Week 45)

paulisi · Tennis legend

James Rigby plays his tennis at Wavertree.
Anders Borg often gives his fellow countrymen wildcards.

I will probably pop in tomorrow and definitely Mon and Tues

Quite a lot of new names - any to keep an eye on?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

If you're going today (Sunday), it would be interesting to see a little of Eric Lorimer.
He's only 13 (born 2010) and he made the final of the U14 Nationals this year, despite being a year young.

Equally, Lara Savic (2009) is one of the top LTA picks for U14s (she was in the team with Edie and Hollie recently).
Daisy Wootton is only 13 (born 2010) and has been making certain waves.
Eva Hutchins maybe too....

Just my thoughts for today, for what they're worth, focused on the younger end

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, fair point, Lambda, but:

The TE event only applies to 2009 born and younger - so where are all the 2008-2005s?

And, looking at the TE event, the boys qualis has a full 32 draw

Whereas the girls qualis has only has 13 entrants

It's a huge difference.

So where are all the girls?

Just to say, France has the same problem - the girls' events have far less depth. It's not specifically GB.
BUT, from my experience, people complain far more in the UK than France about lack of opportunities for the non-elite players. So....

ADD: not quite sure why this comment is listed above Lamda's when it was made in reply

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 5th of November 2023 08:09:41 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Some bug has inverted the comment and answer - see above.

But just to note that in the U14 TE event, Khadija Adeniran is listed as USA

Khadija made the finals of the U12 nationals this year - she's the one who stands out because she serves with either arm, depending which side she's standing and hits forehands on both sides.

And there was a long discussion about her nationality, and she was obviously UK as she was taking part in the nationals (and took part in them in 2022 as well). But is listed here as USA.

Lambda · Challenger level

There's also a TE U14 event running alongside this, although qualifying for that is being held at Wirral.

Perhaps that has affected the lack of entries in the girls draw?

paulisi · Tennis legend

Court 2 was delayed due to a wet court. There are buckets all over the concourse where water is dripping.
Eric Lorimer is some prospect, even if he is a set down...

paulisi · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
There's also a TE U14 event running alongside this, although qualifying for that is being held at Wirral.

Perhaps that has affected the lack of entries in the girls draw?

The TE event is on the Wirral as there are not enough courts at Wavertree to manage both.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
If you're going today (Sunday), it would be interesting to see a little of Eric Lorimer.
He's only 13 (born 2010) and he made the final of the U14 Nationals this year, despite being a year young.

Equally, Lara Savic (2009) is one of the top LTA picks for U14s (she was in the team with Edie and Hollie recently).
Daisy Wootton is only 13 (born 2010) and has been making certain waves.
Eva Hutchins maybe too....

Just my thoughts for today, for what they're worth, focused on the younger end

Eric lost in straight sets, but was quite tight. Tall for his edge, strong on the ground shots, but insuprisingly lacks pace on his serve.

Lara Savic was disappointing, she lost to Eva Hutchins in a scrappy match littered with errors and complaints over calls. Eva is a tall lefty who hits a lot of winners, but also makes a lot of mistakes.

Daisy qualified with two straight set wins. Busy player, good defensively and got a lot of balls back in court,

One other player that caught my eye was Liani Sharratt - Blanskby who qualified by winning very long opening sets on tie breaks and then dominating the second set. Apparently she has been out of competitive competition for two years, but she looks capable of getting on the rankings and progressing very quickly once she is match fit.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Thanks very much, paulisi - really appreciate it.

Are you still planning on going on Monday and Tuesday?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Congrats to the qualifiers, namely:

Daist Wootton, Eva Hutchins, Liana Sharratt Blanksby, Sophie Johnstone
Martino Colabella, Jonny Cross, Finn Reilly, Callum Matthew

The MD is now out.

The top seeds in the girls are Serena Manca and an Irish girl, Rachel Deegan.
There are wildcards for Celine Ricaud, Eva Senior and a Norwegian girl.

The top seeds in the boys are Dan Hughes and Alfie Kings.
Wildcards go to Murray Watters, Joe Evans, Leo Wright and Norwegian boy

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

If you're going tomorrow, paulisi, my picks and interest would be:

***Rosie Cho - age 13 - made the final at the J30 in Bradfield - unfortunately drawn against the second seed, but really interested to know how she plays and how she copes

Celine Ricaud - she's 14 and well thought of too; I follow her because of her French name (

) and she comes from Liverpool, I believe

Gabby Read - Hannah's younger sister - age 14 - never seen her play - and she's playing Liana, the one you mentioned as being interesting

In the boys, Rhys Lawlor (age 14) is a big name in young juniors - he was chosen by the LTA to play at the U14 Wimbeldon championships this year and did well - definitely worth a look

Conor Brady (Patrick's younger brother) would be one I'd like to see a bit of too. And possibly Kouros Anssarizadeh.

TW18 · Lower Club Player

Liana S-B really is one to watch. She was one of the younger hopefuls - got a good record but had injuries.

I think Celine is from London (she may live in Liverpool more recently).

I'm keen to see Serena Manca playing again. She seems to have gone quiet - probably GCSEs, I assume, but has a good record too.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

My bad about Celine and Liverpool - I'd read about her first and noted it down, from the Liverpool Echo, and somehow got Liverpool into my head.
But you're A1 right, it says she plays at Batchwood, which is St Albans, I believe
All interesting....... do let us know if you go there, TW18, and what you think (if you have time and don't mind doing so). With paulisi too, we've got good reporting

paulisi · Tennis legend

Celine won a TE event at Liverpool, last year? and got a wildcard on the back of it. I've seen Kouros and Connor before at Liverpool.