Just looked at the full round of 16 line-up. 14 seeds, Belinda Bencic returning from maternity leave and Sonay. Brilliant.

Var wrote:

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Well done Sonay. No histrionics, job to do and got it done! I wouldnt agree that Sonay is an introvert, her socials suggest otherwise, I just think she is a private person and only gives us glimpses of her private life, unlike Emma where at times it was every days events. From a marketing perspective however Emmas content is usually excellent although she has been pretty quiet recently.

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 Personally, I've always seen Sonay as a bit of an introvert

As a 17 year-old, she'd be on the outside of the group, wouldn't say much, whereas others would be a lot noisier, holding centre attention, so to speak

Not a criticism for either, of course :), just the way people are different

And her WTA interview talked about being very shy but having grown up a lot, and got better, in recent years:

"Shy as a child, Kartal's coaches remember her pulling her cap so far down over her face that she avoided having to look at others.

"I didn't want to speak to anyone and I'd hide behind my mother's back," she said, pointedly maintaining eye contact. "But all that's long behind now.""

Coup Droit wrote:

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GAMEOVER wrote:

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Who is Sonay's  coach?

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 As of last autumn it was still Ben Reeves, I believe

He (and a couple of others down Brighton way) have been coaching her since she was 6 - she's always said it was hyper-important to her have a consistent solid coaching team and not swap around (.....saying nothing about anyone else......schtum....lips sealed......)

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-- Edited by Var on Tuesday 11th of March 2025 09:21:27 AM

Crispy wrote:

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dodrade wrote:

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Neil Gee wrote:

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Sheer will to win had a lot to do with this result. Sonay's into the last 16. I hope Emma Raducanu feels embarrassed by her abject first round non-performance as she watches this at home.

-- Edited by Neil Gee on Monday 10th of March 2025 09:15:10 PM

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 A shame people can't praise Sonay without attacking the only female GS winner we've had in the past fifty years, especially after the horrible experience she's just been through.

 

 

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 Completely agree, we shouldn't be shaming other players who are all on their own journey, and I'm sure trying to figure out what's best for themselves - and their lives as a whole outside of just winning matches. Sonay has been incredible, and just looking at that ranking improvement from last year is phenomenal. 

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I disagree in some aspects of this argument. Unfortunately  in Emmas case the stats speak for themselves. No titles since the US Open, no QFs in grand slams, we could go on. I am not doubting her talent, but you need a bit more than that. Sonays relationship with Luke obviously influenced her core strength, however with Emma I would say time to come off the pedestal and put someone else up there until she finds that fight again. I really hope she does, but facts are facts.

-- Edited by Var on Tuesday 11th of March 2025 09:33:26 AM

Peter too wrote:

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R1: Emma Raducanu (GBR) WR55 v Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) WR 52
They met in Seoul in 2022 with Emma winning 2 & 4

The winner plays Gauff in R2.

 

R1: Katie Boulter (GBR) WR38 [25] v Bye

Katie plays the winner of Begu and Li in R2 both with rankings outside the top 60

-- Edited by Peter too on Tuesday 4th of March 2025 12:57:06 AM

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 Uchijima is currently the highest ranked player not to have reached a WTA singles final. 

When I first started commenting on women's tennis we hadn't had a woman in the top 100 for 9 years. Now we have three in the top 70 and a chance of three more either reaching or returning to the top 100 in Harriet, Francesca and Jodie. Things are definitely looking up.

the addict wrote:

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Peter too wrote:

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When I first started commenting on women's tennis we hadn't had a woman in the top 100 for 9 years. Now we have three in the top 70 and a chance of three more either reaching or returning to the top 100 in Harriet, Francesca and Jodie. Things are definitely looking up.

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 Looking very promising isn't it. And you can add five in the top 100 doubles to that as well.

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 Yes, I don't recall as high a ranked GB #3 ( Sonay live ranked 63 ).That's a super stat from jb288 that we will now have a higher ranked #3 than all of France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

And it would be good to get at least 4 into the top 100 again. We've only had 4 for 7 weeks this century, 6 weeks of that in the last 6 months. And haven't had 5 this century ( and these periods will go back much further since we certainly weren't blessed in the 90s ).

We / I may moan from time to time about GB women's ranking depth. But we do need to appreciate that at the upper levels we are getting to see an unprecedented ( at least for a long long time ) group of well ranked players competing in and winning matches in big tournaments.

Point well made about the doubles too.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 11th of March 2025 05:27:18 PM