British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

the addict · Tennis legend

RE: Week 25 - WTA250 - Nottingham, Grass

Lambda · ATP level

Harriet, Fran, Mimi and Hannah have the MDWCs.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
PaulM wrote:
Stronger than the qualies at the 500 in Berlin. The lack of any grass ITFs/125s means there's basically nothing for girls who will be in Wimbledon qualies to play either.

Really could do with a 100k somewhere this week (bring back Surbiton).

-- Edited by PaulM on Friday 13th of June 2025 06:13:55 PM
That's very poor.
Yes, certainly something was needed.

This was exactly the point I'd been making - not only is there no events for practice but there's no real event to stake your claim for a wildcard into playoffs say

Surbiton gave so many girls a chance and gave the better ones several matches

We've a lot of girls this year who've barely played

Danny1312 · Lower Club Player

Seems badly planned this year in general. Not sure Hannah in the main draw is the greatest idea when she probably needs practise and it seems unlikely in the main draw she will get much time.

indiana · Tennis legend

So it looks like most of our likely Wimbledon Qualifying women are either going to be involved in no tournament at all next week or liable to be done and dusted after one match against a much higher ranked player.

The more I look at it, the worse it looks in the middle of a fairly short grass season for our players generally and for these Wimbledon Q players.

seagull · Hall of fame

Yes where are McDonald, Rajecki Stoiber etc supposed to play this week?

Oscariyan · Club Coach

Hopefully the LTA will realise this and add more tournaments for next year. It wouldn't be that difficult to do so or cost that much overall. I went to Surbiton last year and it was brilliant and the people I went with loved it and were left disappointed this year that it was no longer there.

-- Edited by Oscariyan on Friday 13th of June 2025 09:35:15 PM

Oscariyan · Club Coach

What if we all write to the LTA - will anything come of it?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I wrote to the lta re Surbiton, as mentioned before, and they replied that it had been cancelled because of Queens (too similar, too much in one region, a distraction)

To which I replied that Surbiton could be downgraded to W50, say - far less direct competition - and that there were no new itf 100s in any other region - the 125s, say, are very different in terms of availability of places (as quoted previously)

They didn't reply to that

I think it's a mess

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Oscariyan wrote:
What if we all write to the LTA - will anything come of it?

Yes

I was intending to write again after the season finished

It's always worth an email or a letter :)

Oscariyan · Club Coach

Yes it is a mess and I am glad you have pointed it out to them at least. I don't understand their thinking - how can they expect more professionals when they limit the number of opportunities. I am going to write to them and maybe if enough of us do it, we might see change.

Oscariyan · Club Coach

I've just sent them a message which I hope they will read and perhaps consider the implications of their actions. I know its a big corporation but if enough of us express concern then it could make a difference. :)

-- Edited by Oscariyan on Friday 13th of June 2025 09:59:20 PM

Lambda · ATP level

It can't be a surprise. If the AELTC and LTA couldn't forsee this there is something wrong with the analysis they did in the 6 months review that led to this new calendar. I was saying when they announced this change last year there wasn't anywhere for most women in qualifying to play in the week before qualifying and a reduction of opportunities more generally for those lower down the rankings.

Oscariyan · Club Coach

Do you think they thought that the rest of the Brits would be fine with just some training the week before Wimbledon Q? If not what did they think the rest of the Brits would do? Just seems strange...

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

An absolutely easy quick fix would have been to simply run a W35/W50 somewhere this week (or the week before)

W125s do not interfere with W35s - it's a different cohort of players (and obviously from the Queens)

In a different area of the country

You can't do it next week (because of wildcard play-offs) so the issue for those going into qualis and practice is another problem

But, for me, the LTA is the King of grass court tennis. They want to develop players who are very good overall and very good on grass in particular

This year, players like Freya, Esther Adeshina, Kat Barnes, Hep Oluwadare, Angelica Blake, Alicia Dudeney, Katy Dunne, Eliz Maloney - as well as very good juniors like Hollie Smart, Flora Johnson, Edie Griffiths etc etc - have not been able to play a single pro event on grass

No chance to prove their worth, make a claim for a wimbly playoff wildcard, for instance

(And even the 'better' players have had one match max, against a player ranked miles higher - Dani Piani, for instance, got one match against a top player at Queens ! Alice Gillan is top-500 and all that was available to her was the same, and that was by the skin of her teeth. Dani could do serious damage at a W35 grass event. Now, her case is maybe less compelling because she'll still have the juniors and the LTA know and support her anyway - but the others??? They might as well not be British - yes, they'll get entries into hard court tournaments at other times int the year but they're excluded this year from the whole showcase of British tennis)