British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

There's some interesting comments about Katie's level. In my view she is easily capable of beating those ranked between 200-250. This is her level. However, her ranking is well below her level because she is gaining points slowly. This has not been bad idea as she has been able to build her core strength and match fitness. But only by playing better players will she build her game.

Her strategy quite rightly appears to have been low risk .. slow and steady. But soon, when she feels confident her body is holding up well, I expect she will play higher level tournaments to rise up the rankings to where her playing level is.

foobarbaz wrote:

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B00thy wrote:

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There's some interesting comments about Katie's level. In my view she is easily capable of beating those ranked between 200-250. This is her level. However, her ranking is well below her level because she is gaining points slowly. This has not been bad idea as she has been able to build her core strength and match fitness. But only by playing better players will she build her game.

Her strategy quite rightly appears to have been low risk .. slow and steady. But soon, when she feels confident her body is holding up well, I expect she will play higher level tournaments to rise up the rankings to where her playing level is.

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 The problem is that trying to focus on higher level tournaments (without the possibility of a wildcard entry) too soon, from a low tally of ranking points, means having to play qualifying matches first, with very little time to recover before the main draw matches begin. Playing more matches only increases wear and tear, and from past experience that's not good. There's really not any alternative other than to play the tournaments in which the MD equates to the current ranking points tally, and try to gain the most ranking points for the fewest matches (and fewest sets) played, until such time as the next tournament MD level is unlocked. It seems to be working at the moment.

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 There is a W100 in Wrexham 20th October and a W75 the following week in Glasgow. You'd like to think that she'd get a MDWC into atleast one of those and they fit in quite well with her current play 2 weeks have a week off.  She needs roughly 150 more points to make AO qualifying so potentially she could be there by the end of October subject to staying fit but if not, back to Oz for the Sydney W75 in November. There's not much in the US that would be suitable and what there is would probably require playing qualifying, something that she really does need to avoid if at all possible.  

Either way, I think we're all on the same page, the fewer matches played whilst winning them as quickly as possible, and retaining match fitness from week to week, in order to maximise the accumulation of ranking points, and perhaps be in a position to have a go at something big in January.

QF R2: Katie Swan (GBR) WR 451 v Tahlia Kokkinis (AUS) WR 729 (age 17)

Tahlia retired during their match last week.

I read the posts about her level and what tournaments people think she should play at with interest. I feel her strategy this season has been good, but has been partly forced on her, because in January she had only one point and so was not likely to get entry to many good class events. I think she did enter a couple, but was too far down the Alternate list to get in, early in her comeback

I think she started with a 15k tournament and since then has had quite a lot of 35k tournaments and a few at a higher level. Then ranking points she gained last week and is gaining here have got her into the top 400 and she may even make the top 300 by the end of the season. That should put her in a good position to make a real push for the top 100 next season. As a player who has had a long time out through injuries and has previously suffered from confidence problems and self esteem issues, I think that playing lots of lower ranked tournaments has been a great way of her building up momentum, match sharpness and fitness, and I think her strategy has enabled her to resurrect her career, far better than entering too many bigger money tournaments and getting knocked out in the first couple of rounds or qualifying.

The early signs are that she has a fight on her hands tonight though.

Andy Parker wrote:

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I read the posts about her level and what tournaments people think she should play at with interest. I feel her strategy this season has been good, but has been partly forced on her, because in January she had only one point and so was not likely to get entry to many good class events. I think she did enter a couple, but was too far down the Alternate list to get in, early in her comeback

I think she started with a 15k tournament and since then has had quite a lot of 35k tournaments and a few at a higher level. Then ranking points she gained last week and is gaining here have got her into the top 400 and she may even make the top 300 by the end of the season. That should put her in a good position to make a real push for the top 100 next season. As a player who has had a long time out through injuries and has previously suffered from confidence problems and self esteem issues, I think that playing lots of lower ranked tournaments has been a great way of her building up momentum, match sharpness and fitness, and I think her strategy has enabled her to resurrect her career, far better than entering too many bigger money tournaments and getting knocked out in the first couple of rounds or qualifying.

The early signs are that she has a fight on her hands tonight though.

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 Agree with all with the exception of the BOB. Top 200 if she stays fit. At the minimum, she should be in qualifying for the Australian Open so needs circa 300 points by the middle of December.

Easily doable subject to injury for someone of Katie's calibre.  She's actually been OK injury wise this season, nothing too major. I'd say the tournament breaks she has had have been more about not over stressing her body.  I think she is being very protective of her back, listening to her body and taking regular breaks.

I do think she is playing well within herself at the moment.

-- Edited by emmsie69 on Friday 19th of September 2025 06:07:46 AM

Another good win for Katie.

QF:- Katie Swan (GBR) WR 451 [4] def Tahlia Kokkinis (AUS) WR 729 (age 17) 6-3 6-2

Her next opponent will be either Erica Sema (JPN) WR597 [7] or Cara Korhonen (AUS) WR1463. Their QF has been suspended at *4-1 in the first set.