With over half the votes that we can expect to get having been placed, Im going to put some scores on the doors- earlier than usual but its been a fast start!
In a way its a little unfortunate to have both Emma and the BJK team as separate options. It is, as expected diluting the votes for both . There were only 2 players who scored points. Emma and Katie . Katie had a bad first match against Parry and recovered well against Burel but she was fortunate that Garcia was unable to play against her in her second match. Emma on the other hand beat the 2 top players Garcia and Parry . Im not belittling Katies win over Burel or the vocal support from their team mates. But the reality is that the teams victory was mostly because of Emma.
I was among the first to vote for Katie when she won player of the month in March. But Emmas achievements this month especially backed up by her results and performances at Stuttgart make her the clear winner for me. The fact that she lost in Madrid doesnt diminish that just as Katie losing first round at Indian Wells had no bearing on her outstanding results in March.
In a way its a little unfortunate to have both Emma and the BJK team as separate options. It is, as expected diluting the votes for both . There were only 2 players who scored points. Emma and Katie . Katie had a bad first match against Parry and recovered well against Burel but she was fortunate that Garcia was unable to play against her in her second match. Emma on the other hand beat the 2 top players Garcia and Parry . Im not belittling Katies win over Burel or the vocal support from their team mates. But the reality is that the teams victory was mostly because of Emma.
I was among the first to vote for Katie when she won player of the month in March. But Emmas achievements this month especially backed up by her results and performances at Stuttgart make her the clear winner for me. The fact that she lost in Madrid doesnt diminish that just as Katie losing first round at Indian Wells had no bearing on her outstanding results in March.
Definitely it is splitting the votes, for sure. Where it will land will be interesting. There are probably 3 realistic contenders left in the running, maybe 4 to 6 at a real stretch.
As an aside, Katie won PoM for February (vote was early March) and Lily and Fran won it jointly last month. February was the record number of votes placed in a PoM vote off the back of Katie's performances.
Worthy of note, for the PoM votes this season (incl December which was voted for in early Jan) we have had 3 female and 1 male winner (Kyle) and this month looks like it will go to one of the female contenders again.
I went for Henry P. A first title at that level is huge, plus there's his general consistency across the month.
But I could also have happily voted for Emma, Mika or Henry S (for his single very exciting win) in another month, and I loved EWS's and SDL's achievements, even if I didn't find them PoM-worthy.
With still well over 24 hours left we have comfortably beaten last months 41 votes; before this year, our record vote haul in a PoM vote was 45, so we are close to that now. In Feb this year, we managed 53 votes and in Player of the Season at the end of last year, we managed 54. So being only 9 or 10 away from that with over 24 hours left, it feels like we could end up with a good vote level, maybe another record haul?!
The top 3 feel very close in that context - with 4 votes across them, and maybe double or treble that out there, it could still go to any of those top 3 - 4th and below are probably out of the running now, I would guess?
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Monday 29th of April 2024 04:48:37 PM
Sophie for me. To return to the sport after 8 years and get to the semi-finals of the British Tour Premier event, only narrowly losing to a top 600 WTA player and then backing that up the following week by narrowly losing to the WTA 336 in a epic 3 setter with only 1 British Tour and a couple of National League matches since her return and while still competing at the top of her main sport for me trumps every other achievement this month.
Sophie for me. To return to the sport after 8 years and get to the semi-finals of the British Tour Premier event, only narrowly losing to a top 600 WTA player and then backing that up the following week by narrowly losing to the WTA 336 in a epic 3 setter with only 1 British Tour and a couple of National League matches since her return and while still competing at the top of her main sport for me trumps every other achievement this month.