British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

seagull wrote:

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Exactly. Supposed to be the British tennis forum. Bet all those people who were cheering at 8:30 at night on outside court would not have been there for Maria v Samsonova.

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Oh dear. I didn't know that forum members were expected to always prioritise and fight for the interests of British players over foreign ones.

Plus I think that a sense of right and fairness is quite British.

Now we can legitmately argue about what was most right / fair about the MD WCs being all awarded to Brits and not Maria. But hopefully those of us who thought and still think that Tatjana should have hsd one can retain our forum membership cards!

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 8th of June 2026 09:06:30 PM

seagull wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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ricardo89 wrote:

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Puts all those comments about tatiana Maria should got the wildcard over Harriet to bed, lets go Harriet fantastic match

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Still not with you on this one 

(and it didn't have to be Harriet's wildcard)

But very pleased for Harriet, and for the supporters - I watched and enjoyed 

Obviously, though, the people who like the fact the supporters were there in number for Harriet will be equally glad if the supporters are there in number for Venus or Serena at the expense of a Brit  

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CD you are probably my favourite poster on here but going to disagree with you again here.  I will be very annoyed if Venus and Serena get a wildcard at Wimbledon just to raise their profile yet again.  Im sure crowds would flock to see them but you can hardly compare them to Maria?

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 I'm going to stop on the first line 

But venturing further:

I wasn't actually saying that I'm all in favour of the Williams

But I meant: people who are saying that Harriet should have got one over Maria because the crowd want Brit players would also be forced to accept that Venus/Serena should get one over a Brit player if the crowd were more in favour of the Williams (which I'm pretty sure they would be over certain not-very-well-known Brit players)

i.e. if it's crowd appeal, pure and simple, then what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and all that

(NB Personally, I have mixed feelings about the Williams sisters getting wildcards - not a huge amount of interest myself, I'd rather give it to Ruby Cooling, or April Sackflame or any little fave ranked outside the top-1000 in juniors  BUT I don't agree that the Williams are at fault for asking for one, and I do think a lot of crowd would like it) 

ADD: and Indy has put another side quite eloquently too 

emmsie69 wrote:

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It's not an either or situation though because Wimbledon has a veterans tournament which would be far more appropraite for Venus. I'd be quite happy to see Serena get a MDWC, I think she still has the capacity to compete with anyone outside the top 5 to 10 Women in Singles.

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 Yes, I possibly agree - but do the AELTC agree? No one's forcing them. 

indiana wrote:

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seagull wrote:

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Exactly. Supposed to be the British tennis forum. Bet all those people who were cheering at 8:30 at night on outside court would not have been there for Maria v Samsonova.

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Oh dear. I didn't know thst forum members were expected to always prioritise and fight for the interests of British players over foreign ones.

Plus I think that a sense of right and fairness is quite British.

Now we can legitmately argue about what was most right / fair about the MD WCs being all awarded to Brits and not Maria. But hopefully those of us who thought and still think that Tatjana should have hsd one can retain our forum membership cards!

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 8th of June 2026 09:06:30 PM

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 The wildcard system is designed to be unfair. Why should any players be given a place in the main draw over higher ranked players.

Given that is the case then what are wildcards for?

To generate more interest in the event and/or to give local players opportunities.

Maria I would argue does neither. Nothing to do with being fair.

But I am biased. I had court 1 tickets for Wimbledon last year and never went on it once having spent the whole day watching George Loffhagen and Jack Pinnington-Jones!