British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

I don't think Henry deserves a MDWC this year - although I'd definitely give him one into qualies.

But I'm just going by CD's comments that LTA funding also comes into consideration, and Henry is (deservedly, as he has buckets of talent) getting plenty of support from the powers that be, as player with future top 100 potential

Max is definitely one of the dark horses to watch going into the grass season. Also been amassing titles by the bucketload since last summer, and I expect him to be well into the top 300 by June

While yes getting more players into the top 100 would help, there is the issue of keeping all 3 that we currently have.

After Monday Jake has 213 points due to drop from 4 tournaments before the Wimbledon MD entry list is due out, potentially dropping him well out of top 100 / Wimbledon MD direct entry contention.

Adding Jake into the MD WC mix is not what we need, so c'mon Jake - let's be finding that serve and these wins.

Coup Droit wrote:

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Sheddie wrote:

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I don't think Henry deserves a MDWC this year - although I'd definitely give him one into qualies.

But I'm just going by CD's comments that LTA funding also comes into consideration, and Henry is (deservedly, as he has buckets of talent) getting plenty of support from the powers that be, as player with future top 100 potential

Max is definitely one of the dark horses to watch going into the grass season. Also been amassing titles by the bucketload since last summer, and I expect him to be well into the top 300 by June

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Yes, I am sure that the players who are part of the top programmes will get 'preferential' treatment

And it makes some sense - although is obviously open to accusations of favouritism (but, then, if you trust your powers that be to be impartial, you'd probably want to prioritise those with the most potential)  

Henry has a decent claim too, whatever his results, not just because of his age and talent, but because he's proven he can play on grass (having won junior Wimbly). 

The grass events running up to Wimbly will be a relatively big deciding factor in general (there's still the idea that grass if 'different', although to my mind this is a lot less relevant than it used to be, given the change in rackets and balls) 

Toby was also one of the elite 'chosen' players during his teenage years

So I think his potential for wildcards is higher

Bottom line, there are players who have 'supporters' i.e. you need someone batting for you, in your corner. And preferably someone important  

(Supposedly the Mika v Hannah clans is rather unpleasant/ unnecessary at the moment (nothing to do with Mika and Hannah themselves, I hasten to add))

  

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 Is there an actual wild card committee or is the LTA performance managers or whatever - like Leon smith, Jeremy Bates, who put the nominations together ? 

Obviously things could move around as Jake tries to stay in direct contention and Jan, JPJ, Billy etc try to move up.

But as it stands now, some of those 8 MDWC are no brainers- Jan, Jack PJ, Billy, Arthur and I think we add Toby to that mix now.

That would leave 3 - Jake might end up with one, lets assume he does, leaving 2.

Jay, George, Oli C, Evo, JoMo, Oli T, Henry Searle , Harry W, Felix, Charlie B, Ryan, Liam, Paul , Max

Could argue around those all day and then add in any non Brit doing well on the grass or the FO, who isnt in already, or someone like a Stan W with his season long good bye.

I think one of those 14 or so needs to stand above the others in the next few months and push their noses clearly in front. But feels to me like the first 5 plus maybe Jake or a gimme. Of course, any of Jake staying top 100 or Jan, Jack, Billy etc making the top 100 would help things a lot!

JonH wrote:

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Obviously things could move around as Jake tries to stay in direct contention and Jan, JPJ, Billy etc try to move up.

But as it stands now, some of those 8 MDWC are no brainers- Jan, Jack PJ, Billy, Arthur and I think we add Toby to that mix now.

That would leave 3 - Jake might end up with one, lets assume he does, leaving 2.

Jay, George, Oli C, Evo, JoMo, Oli T, Henry Searle , Harry W, Felix, Charlie B, Ryan, Liam, Paul , Max

Could argue around those all day and then add in any non Brit doing well on the grass or the FO, who isnt in already, or someone like a Stan W with his season long good bye.

I think one of those 14 or so needs to stand above the others in the next few months and push their noses clearly in front. But feels to me like the first 5 plus maybe Jake or a gimme. Of course, any of Jake staying top 100 or Jan, Jack, Billy etc making the top 100 would help things a lot!

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 If Jake ends up needing a WC, I agree with you and others that currently there look to be 6 stand-out candidates for MD WCs. These are not only the current GB ranks #3 to #8 but ( other than Jake ) they have relatively few points to drop by 15/06, the last rankings update before the WC announcement should be due, so are even more clearly the leading 6 by guaranteed minimim points at that date, points banked. So likely to still be the leading candidates come WC time, though it would be good to see one or two others have a big couple of months or so. As you say, it looks like time to stand out.

In order of guaranteed minimim ranking points at 15/06/26 for these 6 :

Jan 498, Billy 392, Jack PJ 381, Jake 370, Toby 338, Arthur 338 ( enough points that all 6 will certainly still be in the top 200 by WC time even if they were to add no further points ).

They are a long way clear of any other players, the next 5 of whom are :

Dan 227, Oliver C 200, Felix 199, Harry 192, George 190

Essentially, other than Henry, the next batch of players on the guaranteed points list come from the remaining players you listed above. So no obvious oversights at the moment. I think that's quite enough anyway!

If Dan was to get playing again and look to be in decent shape he would be my #7. He has the pedigree and as stevemcqueen has just indicated in his 'Dan Evans' post, he can certainly play on grass.

JonH wrote:

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To add - Ilkley (and Birmingham the week before) for this level of player (ie not the top ones) becomes a really big event as its really that last feeder
In for challenger level players to make a difference. As Blue Belle says, spots in those events become equally valuable as well as one doesnt expect the wild card contenders to be in Stuttgart or NL that same week.

-- Edited by JonH on Sunday 15th of March 2026 09:06:32 AM

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 Looking forward to your annual Ilkley reporting, Jon!