British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Fingers crossed she has pulled up well and can get through another week unscathed!

Honestly I really don't want to see Katie doing a Rus and scavenging points at W35 level for too long. It's not her level. I'd like to see her come back to the UK for the higher level events we have in October and then possibly go back to Australia for the November ones. She could also head to the US at some point. Obviously as she climbs the rankings more options will open up anyway.
RE this week, I don't think she played much more than 7 or 8 hours last week, no really long matches so she should be fine this week.

emmsie69 wrote:

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Honestly I really don't want to see Katie doing a Rus and scavenging points at W35 level for too long. It's not her level. I'd like to see her come back to the UK for the higher level events we have in October and then possibly go back to Australia for the November ones. She could also head to the US at some point. Obviously as she climbs the rankings more options will open up anyway.
RE this week, I don't think she played much more than 7 or 8 hours last week, no really long matches so she should be fine this week.

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 I understand the sentiment emmsie69, but the reality is Swan is basically starting afresh, and the present ranking level around 400 is appropriate for W35 comps. If the tournaments are slightly weaker, then that's a problem for the tournament organisers to address. It may be that the W35's in Brisbane will be stronger. I think it's better that Swan is able to prepare and play in conditions that are conducive to her recovery, and if that results in a rapid rise in the rankings (already up 700 places) that's good for her and for the players around her at the moment.

indiana wrote:

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foobarbaz wrote:

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emmsie69 wrote:

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Honestly I really don't want to see Katie doing a Rus and scavenging points at W35 level for too long. It's not her level. I'd like to see her come back to the UK for the higher level events we have in October and then possibly go back to Australia for the November ones. She could also head to the US at some point. Obviously as she climbs the rankings more options will open up anyway.
RE this week, I don't think she played much more than 7 or 8 hours last week, no really long matches so she should be fine this week.

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 I understand the sentiment emmsie69, but the reality is Swan is basically starting afresh, and the present ranking level around 400 is appropriate for W35 comps. If the tournaments are slightly weaker, then that's a problem for the tournament organisers to address. It may be that the W35's in Brisbane will be stronger. I think it's better that Swan is able to prepare and play in conditions that are conducive to her recovery, and if that results in a rapid rise in the rankings (already up 700 places) that's good for her and for the players around her at the moment.

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I believe you would have had Katie having a MD WC for Wimbledon?!

I agree she is clearly still building ( although her current ranking is well below the playing level she has already reached - that's why she might win easily, not that the rankings field is particuiarly inappropriate for a W35 ) and has built since the grass season, though it's a fair question - stay in Oz for the October W35s or come back to the UK for the stronger events? I don't see either as clearly right or wrong and I am sure she is not going to "scavenge" lower tournament points on any longer basis, just do what she feels is right to help start getting her back to the big places she wants to be. Rus is on a whole different level!!

And the Australian weather conditions ( I don't know how the weather / temperature might affect her back  ) might be an influence. Plus say avoiding long haul flights back and forth to the UK.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 16th of September 2025 12:37:43 PM

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 At no point in my reply to emmsie69 did I allude to Swan's actual playing level, only to present ranking level. The former is intangible and subjective, the latter is a concrete number.

The itf-entries website has data on relative tournament strength, so it could be interesting to see how the early W35's in the Aussie 2025 sequence compare with the historical data on that website. In any case, I feel it's quite a subjective assessment as to how easily a tournament is won, and likely a combination of several factors : current form, fitness, tournament strength, drawn opponents ranking, drawn opponents playing style, weather conditions, etc.

Re. Wimbledon MD. yep, it's a Slam, It's Grass, It's Swan. If the fitness is there, and any sort of form going in, she plays, is what I think. Swan had hardly played a match in the run up to Surbiton, and look what she produced. With a favourable draw, who knows how it would work out.

foobarbaz wrote:

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indiana wrote:

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foobarbaz wrote:

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emmsie69 wrote:

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Honestly I really don't want to see Katie doing a Rus and scavenging points at W35 level for too long. It's not her level. I'd like to see her come back to the UK for the higher level events we have in October and then possibly go back to Australia for the November ones. She could also head to the US at some point. Obviously as she climbs the rankings more options will open up anyway.
RE this week, I don't think she played much more than 7 or 8 hours last week, no really long matches so she should be fine this week.

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 I understand the sentiment emmsie69, but the reality is Swan is basically starting afresh, and the present ranking level around 400 is appropriate for W35 comps. If the tournaments are slightly weaker, then that's a problem for the tournament organisers to address. It may be that the W35's in Brisbane will be stronger. I think it's better that Swan is able to prepare and play in conditions that are conducive to her recovery, and if that results in a rapid rise in the rankings (already up 700 places) that's good for her and for the players around her at the moment.

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I believe you would have had Katie having a MD WC for Wimbledon?!

I agree she is clearly still building ( although her current ranking is well below the playing level she has already reached - that's why she might win easily, not that the rankings field is particuiarly inappropriate for a W35 ) and has built since the grass season, though it's a fair question - stay in Oz for the October W35s or come back to the UK for the stronger events? I don't see either as clearly right or wrong and I am sure she is not going to "scavenge" lower tournament points on any longer basis, just do what she feels is right to help start getting her back to the big places she wants to be. Rus is on a whole different level!!

And the Australian weather conditions ( I don't know how the weather / temperature might affect her back  ) might be an influence. Plus say avoiding long haul flights back and forth to the UK.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 16th of September 2025 12:37:43 PM

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 At no point in my reply to emmsie69 did I allude to Swan's actual playing level, only to present ranking level. The former is intangible and subjective, the latter is a concrete number.

The itf-entries website has data on relative tournament strength, so it could be interesting to see how the early W35's in the Aussie 2025 sequence compare with the historical data on that website. In any case, I feel it's quite a subjective assessment as to how easily a tournament is won, and likely a combination of several factors : current form, fitness, tournament strength, drawn opponents ranking, drawn opponents playing style, weather conditions, etc.

Re. Wimbledon MD. yep, it's a Slam, It's Grass, It's Swan. If the fitness is there, and any sort of form going in, she plays, is what I think. Swan had hardly played a match in the run up to Surbiton, and look what she produced. With a favourable draw, who knows how it would work out.

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 Thats interesting - is there a link to those stats you could post, Ive never seen that? Like cut off levels for each event or seeding levels, do you mean? 

R1:- Katie Swan (GBR) WR451 [4] def Caitlin Baker (AUS) UNR/1737 [Q] 6-1 6-3

*****

L16:- Katie Swan (GBR) WR451 [4] v Alicia Smith (AUS) WR904

Top seed Cabrera retired, and third seed Micic lost. And Katie beat the second seed, Preston, in the final last week.

foobarbaz wrote:

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[...]

At no point in my reply to emmsie69 did I allude to Swan's actual playing level, only to present ranking level. The former is intangible and subjective, the latter is a concrete number.

[...]

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Oh, I agree you just referred to her ranking level in how appropriate W35s were for her.

And my point was, however intangible and subjective her playing level was, it was most certainly fairly far ahead of that concrete ranking number ( official - 451 from just 9 counters, and now with last week's title live ranked 376 from just 10 counters ).

As I said, I have no particular objection to her playing W35s for now, as she builds up her game again and plays more and more matches, but that concrete number, as with many players in different circumstances, is clearly not a true reflection of her level relative to others.