Week 26 - The Championships, Wimbledon (grass) - women's qualifying

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 26 - The Championships, Wimbledon (grass) - women's qualifying

paulisi · Tennis legend

Sonay was always injured asa junior. She was talented, but struggled to play regularly

wolf · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
9vicman wrote:
Sonay quoted as saying she didn't think she'd play this year: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/ced38jkjg7yo
Interesting. Great that she got things sorted out. I'm not sure about the line below her picture - "Sonay Kartal was Emma Radacanu's main rival as a junior" ??

In U10 they were!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1724574521072159

telstar · Strong Club Player

dodrade wrote:
PaulM wrote:
Thrilled for Sonay. What an achievement. And she's done it quietly without fuss or fanfare. Just got on with the job. Fantastic.
It was pretty churlish of the AELTC not to give her a MD WC in the first place when she's clearly a better player than Lily who did get one.

I have to disagree with it being churlish. Sonay will go into Wimbledon with a sense of real achievement and is likely to play all the better for it. Those with wildcards will know that they have merely been gifted a position in the draw.

Lambda · Challenger level

9vicman wrote:
Sonay quoted as saying she didn't think she'd play this year: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/ced38jkjg7yo

You can always rely on the British media. How disappointing that Sonay does the rare achievement of a British player qualifying for the main draw and all the BBC can muster is to put it as a footnote and instead focus on a 15 year old losing.

9vicman · Satellite level

wolf wrote:
indiana wrote:
9vicman wrote:
Sonay quoted as saying she didn't think she'd play this year: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/ced38jkjg7yo
Interesting. Great that she got things sorted out. I'm not sure about the line below her picture - "Sonay Kartal was Emma Radacanu's main rival as a junior" ??
In U10 they were!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1724574521072159

I can watch that rally again and again.

Nix · Futures level

paulisi wrote:
Sonay was always injured asa junior. She was talented, but struggled to play regularly

It's such a shame for her. She said in the post-match interview that she'd been struggling with health issues this year and didn't think she'd even be able to play at all this year at one point. It's so good that she's been able to come back and do so well.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Well done to Sonay - it is interesting that she came through all 3 matches without even one round on the main show court and I think it was a real upset to beat an opponent who is ranked much higher than her, so quickly and so comprehensively.

I watched all of Hannah's match and I agree with Coup that she was overpowered, with Parks outhitting her and producing some great winners. Parks was actually shaking her head a lot and not happy with her form, but to beat Hannah with the crowd against her was actually a very good win. Hannah started well and broke Parks first service game, but then Parks settled and never looked likely to lose, though Hannah did break her for a second time when 5-1 down in the second set.

I think that at 15, Hannah will have gained some very useful experience, and being outhit and overpowered isn't surprising at 15 - Hannah attempted to shorten the points and go for lots of winners herself, and when you think she was physically the weaker player, that was actually a smart and brave move on her part I think.

I feel for Marni to have lost so quickly, but I think both her wins in the previous 2 rounds were a great performance from her and she is clearly going to finish the season with a much higher ranking than she started with, so things are definitely going in the right direction.

It's not often that we get a qualifier through for Wimbledon - I can think of Katie Swan a couple of years ago and Karen Cross, who made the third round here after qualifying, and narrowly missed out on the last 16 after an epic duel with the Croatian seed, Iva Majoli. However I can't off the top of my head think of many more qualifiers over the years and I think that's because it is a pretty rare group of British players to have come through all 3 rounds and qualify for Wimbledon, so well done Sonay, you have now joined that elite group of names that will be recalled for many years, no matter what you do from here.

Does anyone know how many British qualifiers were have had in the last 30 or 40 years - I give that timescale, because before about 1977, the standard was much lower and not only were many players on the tennis circuit not very good, but with no lesser tour events for the weaker players, it meant that qualifying was much easier. Anyway I can't recall many players qualifying - did Naomi Cavaday do it one year? My guess is 3 or 4 since 1977, anyway, but no doubt someone on here will know for sure.

steven · Tennis legend

Andy Parker wrote:
Well done to Sonay - it is interesting that she came through all 3 matches without even one round on the main show court and I think it was a real upset to beat an opponent who is ranked much higher than her, so quickly and so comprehensively.

I watched all of Hannah's match and I agree with Coup that she was overpowered, with Parks outhitting her and producing some great winners. Parks was actually shaking her head a lot and not happy with her form, but to beat Hannah with the crowd against her was actually a very good win. Hannah started well and broke Parks first service game, but then Parks settled and never looked likely to lose, though Hannah did break her for a second time when 5-1 down in the second set.

I think that at 15, Hannah will have gained some very useful experience, and being outhit and overpowered isn't surprising at 15 - Hannah attempted to shorten the points and go for lots of winners herself, and when you think she was physically the weaker player, that was actually a smart and brave move on her part I think.

I feel for Marni to have lost so quickly, but I think both her wins in the previous 2 rounds were a great performance from her and she is clearly going to finish the season with a much higher ranking than she started with, so things are definitely going in the right direction.

It's not often that we get a qualifier through for Wimbledon - I can think of Katie Swan a couple of years ago and Karen Cross, who made the third round here after qualifying, and narrowly missed out on the last 16 after an epic duel with the Croatian seed, Iva Majoli. However I can't off the top of my head think of many more qualifiers over the years and I think that's because it is a pretty rare group of British players to have come through all 3 rounds and qualify for Wimbledon, so well done Sonay, you have now joined that elite group of names that will be recalled for many years, no matter what you do from here.

Does anyone know how many British qualifiers were have had in the last 30 or 40 years - I give that timescale, because before about 1977, the standard was much lower and not only were many players on the tennis circuit not very good, but with no lesser tour events for the weaker players, it meant that qualifying was much easier. Anyway I can't recall many players qualifying - did Naomi Cavaday do it one year? My guess is 3 or 4 since 1977, anyway, but no doubt someone on here will know for sure.

I was checking last night before I went to the FQRs, could remember two more this century and that's all there were. Six (one of them twice, so seven qualifications) since 1977.

Here's the list I came up with, the (..) numbers are ages (I was also trying to find the youngest just in case Hannah made it through). Don't assume it's 100% complete (especially not the LLs, which I only started checking part-way back, and married names were only added if I happened to know or come across them):

2024 Sonay Kartal (22) - first time 3 GB women in the FQR since 1972

2021 Katie Swan (22) - a few months younger than Sonay, so youngest since 1995

2001 Karen Cross (27) - last British woman (only British woman in Open era, I think) to manage it twice

1997 Karen Cross (23) - when she made R3 (first GB woman for 7 years to so that) and only lost a very close one to Majoli, who had just won Roland-Garros

1995 Amanda Wainwright (19) - last teenager

1988 Karen Hunter (19)

1979 Lesley Charles (26)

1976 Corinne Molesworth (26/7) (LL for Anthea Cooper) - last time 2 including LLs

1973 Claire Colman (21), Annette Coe (19) - last time 2 actual GB female qualifiers

1972 Diane Riste (now Hill, 23), Sue Mappin (24) - last time 3 British women in the FQR before 2024

1971 Glynis Coles (17) - last British junior

1970 Jackie Fayter (19), Sally Holdsworth (26) (LL for Marilyn Greenwood) - last time 3 including LL

1969 Elizabeth Ernest (23), Wendy Hall (22), Marian Boundy (34) - last time 3 actual GB female qualifiers

1968 (LL for Wendy Hall)

Note that there were only 7 or 8 women's qualifiers up to 1999, 12 from 2000-18, 16 from 2019 onwards but the global depth of potential participants has probably more than matched the growth in the number of places. As evidence of that, there were 23 Brits in the 64-player qualifying draw in 1969, the last time 3 qualified, whereas we have never had more than 8 women in any of the 96- or 128-player qualifying draws this century.

Babfive · Satellite level

I definitely remember Amanda Wainwright qualifying and I think she had to win three rounds of prequalifying to get the wildcard into qualifying, so she won 6 matches to get into Wimbledon.

9vicman · Satellite level

Thanks Steven. Good to see the full list. When you think that the players with the best chance of qualifying are usually given a wild card into the main draw, any qualifier is impressive.

It's quite interesting that the last British player to qualify to have held a Top 100 ranking was Lesley Charles. I 'think' she was Top 100 but she had already reached the Wimbledon mixed doubles final. Glynis Coles, who was only 17, is the best example of a player who qualified for Wimbledon en route to achieving a high ranking.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great list, steven

Now, obviously, the reason it's really rare for our players to qualify here is that all the better-ranked ones/ones with the best chance of qualifying, will have already have been given a wildcard to the main draw

(So you'd expect our numbers to be far better at other Grand Slams, not Wimbledon)

So my question is: if Karen Cross made R3 in 1997 (and only lost by a whisker then to Marjoli), what had she done wrong, to p*ss off the AELTC, so she didn't get a MD WC in 2001?

miriam abc · Strong Club Player

The commentators were asked that question during a match on Wednesday, they forgot Katie Swan and could only come up with Marcus Willis.

emmsie69 · Top national player

Poor Katie, she's the forgotten one. Didn't they forget she made Junior Final too when Jack made the Bots Final.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Great list, steven

Now, obviously, the reason it's really rare for our players to qualify here is that all the better-ranked ones/ones with the best chance of qualifying, will have already have been given a wildcard to the main draw

(So you'd expect our numbers to be far better at other Grand Slams, not Wimbledon)

So my question is: if Karen Cross made R3 in 1997 (and only lost by a whisker then to Marjoli), what had she done wrong, to p*ss off the AELTC, so she didn't get a MD WC in 2001?

Karen had pretty much retired by 2001, did she stop after Wimbledon 2000 maybe, I can't quite remember. But I know she basically came back to play pre-qualies, sailed through, then breezed through qualifying without coming close to dropping a set, then won her first round in the main draw in straight sets too.