British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Lambda · Masters Series Champion

RE: Race for the Wimbledon wildcards 2026

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

As said before, Alicia Dudeney is lining herself up very nicely for a definite quali Wimbly wildcard (assuming she needs one)

And even possibly a MD one

Live ranked to be inside the top-300 next week and still very much on an upward trajectory.

She was quarter-finalist at Junior Wimbly, too - which will help.

the addict · Tennis legend

Live rankings for 04/05/2026 (from OER as at 24/04/2026)

Rank Points
28 1430 Emma Raducanu
55 1057 Sonay Kartal
58 1036 Katie Boulter (still playing)
104 746 Francesca Jones
170 439 Harriet Dart
246 274 Mingge Xu
263 258 Katie Swan
267 250 Mika Stojsavljevic
294 217 Alicia Dudeney
322 198 Yuriko Lily Myazaki
355 172 Heather Watson
362 168 Amarni Banks
372 163 Naiktha Bains
429 131 Amelia Rajecki
431 130 Ranah Stoiber
439 128 Victoria Allen
473 116 Ella McDonald
495 106 Emily Appleton
500 104 Alice Gillan
529 95 Jodie Burrage
547 90 Hannah Klugman
548 90 Katy Dunne

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Coup Droit wrote:
As said before, Alicia Dudeney is lining herself up very nicely for a definite quali Wimbly wildcard (assuming she needs one)

And even possibly a MD one

Live ranked to be inside the top-300 next week and still very much on an upward trajectory.

She was quarter-finalist at Junior Wimbly, too - which will help.

Alicia could well be ahead of Hannah for a main draw wild card, I'd have thought. Her early season form is the highlight of all the Brits for me, so far.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Andy Parker wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
As said before, Alicia Dudeney is lining herself up very nicely for a definite quali Wimbly wildcard (assuming she needs one)

And even possibly a MD one

Live ranked to be inside the top-300 next week and still very much on an upward trajectory.

She was quarter-finalist at Junior Wimbly, too - which will help.
Alicia could well be ahead of Hannah for a main draw wild card, I'd have thought. Her early season form is the highlight of all the Brits for me, so far.

I agree in terms of form and results - I'm praying Alicia takes the form onto grass (she can be very effective on grass) and gets a MD WC - that would be great (also praying she's not injured - hence withdrawal this week). I've always had a soft spot for Alicia and have batted her corner when people have said she should concentrate on doubles or whatever - she was a gangly teenager and so not the best mover (she's arguably a little too thin now) but was always surprisingly agile and balanced even so.

But I don't think Alicia is in front of Hannah at the moment - not given the dynamics, funding, support situation of each player

RJH1962 · Strong Club Player

Unless something dramatic happens I think Jodie will struggle to get a MD or even qualification WC. Still not played a singles match. As mentioned in other threads it could be that the shoulder injury will prevent her playing singles and she concentrates on doubles. Hope thats not the case. I do wonder If I'm a curse as the 2 players I mainly follow are Jodie and Katy Dunne. Both of whom have had major issues with injuries.

indiana · Tennis legend

RJH1962 wrote:
Unless something dramatic happens I think Jodie will struggle to get a MD or even qualification WC. Still not played a singles match. As mentioned in other threads it could be that the shoulder injury will prevent her playing singles and she concentrates on doubles. Hope thats not the case. I do wonder If I'm a curse as the 2 players I mainly follow are Jodie and Katy Dunne. Both of whom have had major issues with injuries.

Jodie will jave a protected ranking good enough to get on the qualifying list. But yes, will she be fit enough to compete by whatever means she might get in?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

If she has a PR to play, surely she'll play, no matter what? It's big money - you'd limp around on one leg and serving underarm if you had to

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Coup Droit wrote:
Andy Parker wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
As said before, Alicia Dudeney is lining herself up very nicely for a definite quali Wimbly wildcard (assuming she needs one)

And even possibly a MD one

Live ranked to be inside the top-300 next week and still very much on an upward trajectory.

She was quarter-finalist at Junior Wimbly, too - which will help.
Alicia could well be ahead of Hannah for a main draw wild card, I'd have thought. Her early season form is the highlight of all the Brits for me, so far.
I agree in terms of form and results - I'm praying Alicia takes the form onto grass (she can be very effective on grass) and gets a MD WC - that would be great (also praying she's not injured - hence withdrawal this week). I've always had a soft spot for Alicia and have batted her corner when people have said she should concentrate on doubles or whatever - she was a gangly teenager and so not the best mover (she's arguably a little too thin now) but was always surprisingly agile and balanced even so.
But I don't think Alicia is in front of Hannah at the moment - not given the dynamics, funding, support situation of each player

Alicia's results have been much better than Hannah so far this year though.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

dodrade wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Andy Parker wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
As said before, Alicia Dudeney is lining herself up very nicely for a definite quali Wimbly wildcard (assuming she needs one)

And even possibly a MD one

Live ranked to be inside the top-300 next week and still very much on an upward trajectory.

She was quarter-finalist at Junior Wimbly, too - which will help.
Alicia could well be ahead of Hannah for a main draw wild card, I'd have thought. Her early season form is the highlight of all the Brits for me, so far.
I agree in terms of form and results - I'm praying Alicia takes the form onto grass (she can be very effective on grass) and gets a MD WC - that would be great (also praying she's not injured - hence withdrawal this week). I've always had a soft spot for Alicia and have batted her corner when people have said she should concentrate on doubles or whatever - she was a gangly teenager and so not the best mover (she's arguably a little too thin now) but was always surprisingly agile and balanced even so.
But I don't think Alicia is in front of Hannah at the moment - not given the dynamics, funding, support situation of each player
Alicia's results have been much better than Hannah so far this year though.

100%

Couldn't agree more

But ....

indiana · Tennis legend

I wonder what the best opportunity for development would be regarding Hannah.

Wimbledon MD WC or Wimbledon Q WC ?

emmsie69 · Masters Series Champion

indiana wrote:
I wonder what the best opportunity for development would be regarding Hannah.

Wimbledon MD WC or Wimbledon Q WC ?

Or even playoffs if we're talking development.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
indiana wrote:
I wonder what the best opportunity for development would be regarding Hannah.

Wimbledon MD WC or Wimbledon Q WC ?
Or even playoffs if we're talking development.

Indeed.

And when you say 'development', you're saying it (or it comes across) is a 'nice' way - more matches, at a lower level, hone your skills, learn to win, with less pressure, less media attention etc etc

There's also the more 'old-school' approach, a wake-up call, a sign that you're not going to have it on a plate, that the LTA are paying a lot of money and they expect something in return

Because, tbh, if she plays like she did two days ago on a regular basis, she should be told that it's not acceptable, that if that's the case, the LTA has no interest

I know this sounds really harsh - and, in general, I always go with 'nice'. But I do think - on the odd occasion - it's right to have a harsh reality check.

(Of course, she might play wonderfully next week, or back in UK in the grass build-up, which would change things and show this week (her worst match in living memory by far) as a blip - wouldn't THAT be nice? )

indiana · Tennis legend

Well it was indeed meant as a kind of underlying suggestion that it would very possibly ( likely? ) be better for progressing Hannah's game to play in qualies

But also related to what I think you have indicated, CD, that a big reason that you felt Hannah likely to get a MD WC was that she was such an LTA star of the future, a player that they have put so much time and money into. Surely then it is in their interests that she is given more chance to develop, and so more likely in time to give real pay back for all that support. If at the time of WC consideration her game looks well off the the level that she is likely to perform adequately what would be the upside of giving her another MD WC? Not that I'm saying I can't see it.

If not giving her a MD WC, and clearly told why, also served as a 'harsh' wake up call that might indeed be no bad thing.

Of course it would be great if her game takes s big turn for the better over the next 6 weeks but if not then personally I don't see the upside of giving her a MD WC.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Your logic makes sense, Indy, but I think it misses the politics of the place. And assumes everyone's on the same page. From my understanding, which is 'correct but not comprehensive' (i.e. I know what I'm saying is true but there might well be other things, very important factors, that I don't know), there are at least two camps: one is a rather anti-Hannah camp and the other is a very pro-Hannah camp - and both have a large amount of .... 'ego' is maybe the word... invested in the situation. Frankly, I'd call it a p*ssing contest. So, I wouldn't count on there being a harmonious rational decision on what's best in the long-term, rather a lot of vested interests.