Not surprised Sophia beat Georgiana as Sophia has been timing the ball really well and I've yet to see Georgiana play well enough to justify that ranking.
Anna Wright lost , which was slightly surprising given how well she played last week.
Good to see Brennan win, I thought he would have done better last week. He is a very good player, given he has played very little on the ITF
Top seed, Georgiana Mititelu lost to last week's finalist, Sophia Christodoulou
Sevil Parviz is born 2010 but already 15. She's been an LTA pick for quite a long time but never that impressive from the livestream I've seen
She lost today to a 15 year-old LL which undermines the trouble she's had trying to get some success at ITF level
I feel really sorry for Sevil. She was an LTA favourite at 11 and 12 and won everything comfortably (eg beating Dani 6-1 6-1). Selected for summer and winter cups, national champion, invited to the Nadal 12U event etc and a big fuss made of her as she was the top player. Her game was never going to translate to the higher age groups. Technique wasnt good enough and it was safe high percentage tennis that won at younger age groups only. In 14U she got overtaken by a lot of girls and the LTA werent interested in her anymore. She found that very hard. She has kept going and is trying to break through at the high level again. She is hitting harder and is being a lot more aggressive. However she is inevitably missing more as that style isnt natural to her. Shes then getting down on herself. I know the LTA has got to have players competing for GB at an early age but I think Sevil isnt the only one - Ingrid and Sophia Krutikova are similar victims who had success too early. I also think there are a lot of 10/11 year olds now who are going to be in the same situation as Sevil in a few years time - Honey Robinson and Victoria Ariana Florea are two who spring to mind . Very good now but Im not sure their games are going to translate to the older age groups. However why would they want to change now when they are representing GB and are highly thought of. I dont know what the answer is!
Lily (Elizabeth) on the other hand wasnt that successful as a younger player. However her game has translated well to the older age groups which shows in her win against Sevil today. There is a lot to be said about not having too much success too early!
-- Edited by Rose on Monday 10th of February 2025 10:43:49 PM
-- Edited by Rose on Monday 10th of February 2025 10:48:13 PM
Not surprised Sophia beat Georgiana as Sophia has been timing the ball really well and I've yet to see Georgiana play well enough to justify that ranking. Anna Wright lost , which was slightly surprising given how well she played last week.
Good to see Brennan win, I thought he would have done better last week. He is a very good player, given he has played very little on the ITF
Georgiana does not move well at all. When someone like Sophia hits those big shots, and makes them, she has no chance of getting to them
Really interesting, Rose, about Sevil, and reinforces what I'd been thinking, and posted
And it's something that I've always focused on heavily in terms of my 'picks' for the future (both when involved directly and now just as a fan, just for fun)
As you say, some of the youngsters' games can be very successful at age 12-13-14, and yet have very clear problems for future development
And it's pretty obvious in most cases
How the LTA should approach it, though, is a different question - both in terms of being fair to the players and their families, and in terms of how to develop future success in tennis
-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 10th of February 2025 10:56:36 PM
Coaches also get rewarded for results there getting currently. If you can coach a player to be number 1 in the world at a younger age then youre going to get rewarded for that. So you may then focus on winning rather than long term development
Coaches also get rewarded for results there getting currently. If you can coach a player to be number 1 in the world at a younger age then youre going to get rewarded for that. So you may then focus on winning rather than long term development
Yes, really good point - I've always thought it daft that the junior coaches at the NTC only get rewarded on how their players do as juniors. I can see that's the direct link but they shoould be training them with a view to adult tennis and rewarded, also, on where they are at age 24, rather than just where they are at age 17
You can see that unprincipled coaches would go all out to boost their 17 year-old's top-100 ranking say, even at the risk of injury, if that gave them their bonus
And the same applies further down the chain and the age list