British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 23 - WTA500 - HSBC Championships, Queens, London

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
They scheduled 4 L16 for Wednesday and 4 for Thursday.

But only got 3 done, incuding one by retirement

With no stand-in match

And with three people with BYEs who won't have played even their first match before Friday

It's plain daft

The corporate lot need a few titbits, hence Emma's match, but what is the point of not playing Harriet's match, say, when you know now that you've got an unecessary bottleneck on Friday

wolf · Tennis legend

Obviously from a getting the tournament done perspective your right, and if a lower level tournament you could use your common sense to do it this way but every single tournament on the main tour would have done it the same way I promise you. They have fans/TV to worry about.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
Obviously from a getting the tournament done perspective your right, and if a lower level tournament you could use your common sense to do it this way but every single tournament on the main tour would have done it the same way I promise you. They have fans/TV to worry about.

I don't agree

It's nothing to do with TV

There is no TV to worry about here - the BBC barely show most of the matches anyway - and obviously they now have a whole Thursday with nothing to show at all - so it can't have helped them, quite the contrary, they could have shown replays from yesterday if there had been more matches

As for fans, the problem is the pricing of the corporate packages (it's only about £50 extra per person for Wednesday pacakges to Thursday packages but that's enough if you think you have to offer more on the Thursday to make the extra worthwhile)

But now she has to refund all the Thursdays, which obviously she'd had have to do anyway, so she didn't get herself in any better position

Player safety is compromised, some of the players are complaining that they'd been expecting to travel on Friday for qualis at the weekend, and now they can't plan, the BBC is not saying whether it's offering any extra coverage (given they didn't even show Emma and Katie's doubles, it's unlikely) so a lot of fans won't get to see their favourite matches now, so it's the opposite of what you're saying, the normal fans are being short-changed.

A lot of experienced tournament referees would have changed the schedule - it's very difficult when the weather forecast is poor but not certain - but Thursday was forecast to be a washout the whole week

indiana · Tennis legend

Yep, everyone's a loser.

wolf · Tennis legend

All of what your saying is true (apart from IMO the last paragraph) but it's just never going to happen like that. smile

telstar · Club Coach

Absolutely crazy scheduling all week. On Monday, McCartney Kessler was due to play both of the only two matches on Court 1. With sporadic rain forecast why build an empty court into the schedule? On Tuesday, why put the two box office doubles matches on at the same time? Yesterday, most ridiculously of all, as forecast there were more hours of play and yet again there were empty courts. Unhappy players, unhappy spectators and unhappy TV company! I know Laura Robson is Tournament Director. Does that also mean she is the Referee and responsible for scheduling?

wimdledont · Challenger level

Sorry if this is trollish, but I am not convinced that Laura Robson is a qualified or competent Tournament Director for the second biggest tournament in the UK tennis calendar.

JonH · Tennis legend

I notice theyre only using 3 courts tomorrow - are there only 3? I thought Queens used 4 or 5 for the men?

If they had 4 available, they could spread the last 16 matches left across all 4 courts in one set of matches (1 would need to follow) and then play the quarters later in the day to catch up. Weather allowing, as a strategy I mean.

Or am I missing something? The use of 3 courts tomorrow reduces any chance to do that unless they get really lucky and can put the tbd last 8 matches on very late in the day.

Lambda · Grand Slam Champion

There's nothing to be gained from playing the L16 over 4 courts. The winner of Harriet's match plays the winner of Emma's match and they are both scheduled 2nd and the QF scheduled as the last match of the day. The QF's wouldn't be completed any quicker. And I would think the ATP require a certain number of courts to be available for mens practice.

There is perhaps an argument Emma could have been scheduled 2nd on court 1 and Harriet 2nd on court 5 so they could start the QFs on centre earlier but that would probably cause issues with the number of people that want to watch Emma.

Theres been a lot of criticism of Laura over the scheduling. She isn't responsible for scheduling. The WTA supervisor is responsible for setting the order of play.

emmsie69 · Masters Series Champion

wimdledont wrote:
Sorry if this is trollish, but I am not convinced that Laura Robson is a qualified or competent Tournament Director for the second biggest tournament in the UK tennis calendar.

She's not but she's not the only ex player to be given an opportunity that other more qualified, experienced candidates would have done justice to.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
Theres been a lot of criticism of Laura over the scheduling. She isn't responsible for scheduling. The WTA supervisor is responsible for setting the order of play.

Finally someone's said it! The stuff that Laura is actually responsible for (or has a team to be responsible for on her behalf) the players all seem very happy with. The scheduling is still dreadful though.

-- Edited by PaulM on Friday 12th of June 2026 06:35:41 AM

sammmm · Lower Club Player

I can imagine Laura being very good at player engagement and liaison since she was and is well liked by players, but the decision to not take weather forecast into account for scheduling purposes when theres a high chance of zero play is very questionable (whether that is Lauras responsibility or not)

-- Edited by sammmm on Friday 12th of June 2026 07:08:30 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Lambda wrote:
Theres been a lot of criticism of Laura over the scheduling. She isn't responsible for scheduling. The WTA supervisor is responsible for setting the order of play.
Finally someone's said it! The stuff that Laura is actually responsible for (or has a team to be responsible for on her behalf) the players all seem very happy with. The scheduling is still dreadful though.

-- Edited by PaulM on Friday 12th of June 2026 06:35:41 AM

If you are an AI believer:

At an individual WTA event, the Tournament Director (e.g., the local tournament management) and their team draft the daily order of play. However, this schedule is heavily influenced and finalized by the WTA Supervisor to ensure it aligns with the tour's strict rules (such as prime-time sessions and restrictions on late-night finishes).

I don't believe in A1 ( biggrin biggrin biggrin ) but, of course, Laura doesn't make decisions on her own and the WTA supervisor is part of it. But it's done in conjunction, the tournament director is part of the decision-making process, and - as the person who gets overall credit for running the thing when it goes wonderfully - also has to asset themselves to try and protect against slip-ups.

Var · Challenger qualifying

So they have moved Katie to Court 1, followed by Harriet. Good for those who have seats for Court 1 today and supporting the Brits! Hope the BBC have some coverage of their matches. Also that the rain stays a way!