British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

MrTSymonds · Lower Club Player

RE: Week 24 - WTA250 - Nottingham, Great Britain - Grass

indiana · Tennis legend

MrTSymonds wrote:
PaulM wrote:
Just going to say there's an argument that being a very low seed is worse than being unseeded in terms of your scheduled draw pathway. Unseeded you can land in a section with middling seeds you think you've got a good shot at beating to get through to round 3/4. As a low seed you are guaranteed to face a top 5 player very early. Of course unseeded you could draw them in round 1!

-- Edited by PaulM on Monday 15th of June 2026 12:27:04 PM
Absolutely. Sabalenka last year in round 3.
However if she's going to be seeded for more tournaments and the US Open especially she needs to maintain the points and so reaching round 3 to equalise last year must be the initial priority. However, as Paul suggested, the top 8 are tough. I don't see her beating any of the top 4, or the top 8, but I see her having a chance against anyone Muchova (10) down.
Unseeded you could end up with the worst of both worlds. You could get a high seed straight away and then a tricky low seed in round 3 (like Fernandez, Vekic, Navarro) in 3rd round.

At least as a low seed you know the only seed you're playing is the beast in round 3.

I agree MrTS, bigger picture Emma has to build her ranking. Last week's Queen's RU 325 points were a step on that way.

Yes, for now she will very likely be in the Wimbledon seeds 25 to 32 who are bracketed against seeds 1 to 8 for the L32 ( though a decent chance that not all will get through the first 2 rounds snd she could get lucky, or at her very best beat one of them ).

Down the line it's about getting into higher seeding brackets, hopefully as early as the US Open.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wimdledont wrote:
So I think that Emma must have applied for the WC when only in R16 at Queens, (up until Saturday morning) - and decided that Berlin was too much for her.

She wasnt to know that she would have to play 3 more matches, with 2 1/2 of them while nursing a potentially serious injury.

The worst thing she could decide to do is to play Notts, aggravate the injury and rule herself out of not just Wimbledon, but also for months afterwards.

Zero problem in asking for the WC

And zero problem in changing her mind - as you say, very prudent, and very sensible

It's the timing of the informing them of her changing her mind that is the issue

sammmm · Junior player

Fantastic effort by Fran to take the second set 7-5 while struggling with some sort of illness/injury. Feel slightly for Talia though as it must be hard with the breaks in play

emmsie69 · Masters Series Champion

We don't know when she told them she was withdrawing nor are we party to any conversation leading upto her withdrawal. Maybe Emma did say she was considering withdrawing due to the change in schedule but it was suggested she hold off or maybe, after playing 3 matches she realised that it wasn't smart playing this week given that she's only just back after a virus kept her out for 2 months.
It's clear she initially intended to play and circumstances changed.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
We don't know when she told them she was withdrawing nor are we party to any conversation leading upto her withdrawal. Maybe Emma did say she was considering withdrawing due to the change in schedule but it was suggested she hold off or maybe, after playing 3 matches she realised that it wasn't smart playing this week given that she's only just back after a virus kept her out for 2 months.
It's clear she initially intended to play and circumstances changed.

Well, we do - as in we know it wasn't before the draw was made and we know when that was made, which is what matters

As before, it's not a hanging offence but it's unfortunate

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of June 2026 03:47:28 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Fran getting close ....

JonH · Tennis legend

Seems to have really turned this around, does Fran.

Go Yorkshire!

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
emmsie69 wrote:
We don't know when she told them she was withdrawing nor are we party to any conversation leading upto her withdrawal. Maybe Emma did say she was considering withdrawing due to the change in schedule but it was suggested she hold off or maybe, after playing 3 matches she realised that it wasn't smart playing this week given that she's only just back after a virus kept her out for 2 months.
It's clear she initially intended to play and circumstances changed.
Well, we do - as in we know it wasn't before the draw was made and we know when that was made, which is what matters
As before, it's not a hanging offence but it's unfortunate

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of June 2026 03:47:28 PM

I read emmsie's post as maybe the Nottingham tournament itself had suggested Emma hold off ( maybe still keen to have her involved ) and that that hold off might have gone past the draw being issued. Whatever, essentially we don't know everything involved.

DF · Tennis legend

Fran serving for the match 5-3 up in the third set

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
emmsie69 wrote:
We don't know when she told them she was withdrawing nor are we party to any conversation leading upto her withdrawal. Maybe Emma did say she was considering withdrawing due to the change in schedule but it was suggested she hold off or maybe, after playing 3 matches she realised that it wasn't smart playing this week given that she's only just back after a virus kept her out for 2 months.
It's clear she initially intended to play and circumstances changed.
Well, we do - as in we know it wasn't before the draw was made and we know when that was made, which is what matters
As before, it's not a hanging offence but it's unfortunate

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of June 2026 03:47:28 PM
I read emmsie's post as maybe the Nottingham tournament itself had suggested Emma hold off ( maybe still keen to have her involved ) and that that hold off might have gone past the draw being issued. Whatever, essentially we don't know everything involved.

biggrin biggrin biggrin

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

C'mon, Fran !

DF · Tennis legend

Now 5-4 third set.

PaulM · Tennis legend

5-2* to *5-5

Missed two match points. She looks done in but she should have closed this out 20 minutes ago. Was there.

-- Edited by PaulM on Monday 15th of June 2026 04:37:42 PM

PaulM · Tennis legend

Saves two break points to cling on for 6-5*