British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Girls: 2026 Wimbledon (Week 27)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Rose wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Var wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Var, it is not acceptable to 'blow cold' when you've been given a wildcard into your home Grand Slam

And, anyway, I don't think that's it

After all, you'd expect the other kids to look the same, then, wouldn't you?

And I dipped into a lot of other matches and it wasn't the case

And you should be asking the question about pushy parents, or LTA favourtism or whatever - it's a perfectly valid question

As people have noted, there was a real lack of fight, lack of willingness to engage, from some of the players

You simply can't make that many UEs, and just keep going, as though it doesn't matter - it should matter, this is Wimbledon, and if it doesn't, because you're 'blowing cold', then give it a miss this year
Well in that case they ought to be doing something else. If I w the mother of a prospective tennis player I think I would have mixed feelings, given the amount of criticism and bad press they seem to get. Seems to some that British women and British girls cant do anything right at present. Even on here. Frustration I get but knocking them down surely isnt the way to help and support a young teen.

That's a decision that mothers (and fathers) obviously have to take
Some of thse players are receiving relatively large amounts of public money. The comments here are not personal, to their lives, their characters, their looks, or anything else
The comments here are purely about their tennis
And that is perfectly correct and proper
People are allowed to criticise - and when there are at least three or four posters above all criticising exactly the same thing then maybe they have a point? And maybe it might even do the players good to realise how other people perceive it?
In my opinion, for what its worth, the LTA has created the problem. They take young players often as young as 10 , see potential and pile a lot of money at them. Meg is a classic example. At 10 there were 4 national coaches supporting her at a 12U Tennis Europe and they were all talking about her being the next Hannah. These kids are told they are brilliant and have so many opportunities such as trips abroad and even the opportunity to visit and play in the courts at Wimbledon at 11U!! . Those that then go to the national academy have everything handed on a plate to them. ITFs in very good hotels, including the Caribbean, coaches and S+C trainers to think for them and nutritionalists to cook for them. When do they learn to want to fight or to need to fight, like many of the other Europeans do. They dont. They have it all regardless. Then if they start to hate it they feel they have to stick with it because they are the best, they are treated specially because of it and they dont want to feel normal (for want of a better word) Nor do their parentsMaybe some of these players arent as promising as we often think, maybe theyve just reached their level very early due to the large amount of investment? (look at Sevil as well)
Hannah herself is another one. Pushed from age 10, loads of money spend on her, hundreds of thousands. One LTA coach said that if she wasnt top 100 by the age of 18 she hasnt met expectations! So she grows up thinking she is something incredibly special, never has to want for anything tennis wise and then really struggles when the wins stop coming (same as Megan). Her mum now says that the early wins and hype actually harmed her. her game never developed for a while and she is now having to learnt to be far more agressive. She struggled with this initially as she started to lose more but it looks like she is still trying to- and I respect her a lot for that. I think she will continue to improve but this is the first period of time things have been hard for her.

Mika on the other hand was always on the LTAs radar but not in the elite camp until 13/14. She had to play all the 12U and 14U normal national events (Hannah was considered too good for her own age group) and she learnt to fight for everything. She missed loads when she was younger as she used to hit everything as hard as she could, even back then, but the pressure wasnt on her like it was Hannah. Even in the national academy she was allowed to develop her own way. Look at her now.

Dani Britton (whose game I still find incredibly boring but cant deny her talent) was overlooked twice for the national academy. They didnt really rate her and she had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the place she wanted. Shes learnt to fight for what she wants and look at her at the moment. Liv has had it handed to her on a plate and looks like she both hates it but also takes it for granted that shes one of the LTAs favourites so must be good and should just win.

i honestly think the LTA has got to stop treating them like mini celebrities. stop all the hype around them and really teach them what they have to give and sacrifice if they want to be a professional player. And if they dont want to - or cant - then give the opportunities (and wildcards) to someone else. As many have said - pressure is a privilege. They have to want it and be able to cope with it and enjoy it

Unfortunately Mika lost to a girl 18 months younger who came through qualis

cry

sammmm · Intermediate Club Player

Coup Droit wrote:
Rose wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Var wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Var, it is not acceptable to 'blow cold' when you've been given a wildcard into your home Grand Slam

And, anyway, I don't think that's it

After all, you'd expect the other kids to look the same, then, wouldn't you?

And I dipped into a lot of other matches and it wasn't the case

And you should be asking the question about pushy parents, or LTA favourtism or whatever - it's a perfectly valid question

As people have noted, there was a real lack of fight, lack of willingness to engage, from some of the players

You simply can't make that many UEs, and just keep going, as though it doesn't matter - it should matter, this is Wimbledon, and if it doesn't, because you're 'blowing cold', then give it a miss this year
Well in that case they ought to be doing something else. If I w the mother of a prospective tennis player I think I would have mixed feelings, given the amount of criticism and bad press they seem to get. Seems to some that British women and British girls cant do anything right at present. Even on here. Frustration I get but knocking them down surely isnt the way to help and support a young teen.

That's a decision that mothers (and fathers) obviously have to take
Some of thse players are receiving relatively large amounts of public money. The comments here are not personal, to their lives, their characters, their looks, or anything else
The comments here are purely about their tennis
And that is perfectly correct and proper
People are allowed to criticise - and when there are at least three or four posters above all criticising exactly the same thing then maybe they have a point? And maybe it might even do the players good to realise how other people perceive it?
In my opinion, for what its worth, the LTA has created the problem. They take young players often as young as 10 , see potential and pile a lot of money at them. Meg is a classic example. At 10 there were 4 national coaches supporting her at a 12U Tennis Europe and they were all talking about her being the next Hannah. These kids are told they are brilliant and have so many opportunities such as trips abroad and even the opportunity to visit and play in the courts at Wimbledon at 11U!! . Those that then go to the national academy have everything handed on a plate to them. ITFs in very good hotels, including the Caribbean, coaches and S+C trainers to think for them and nutritionalists to cook for them. When do they learn to want to fight or to need to fight, like many of the other Europeans do. They dont. They have it all regardless. Then if they start to hate it they feel they have to stick with it because they are the best, they are treated specially because of it and they dont want to feel normal (for want of a better word) Nor do their parentsMaybe some of these players arent as promising as we often think, maybe theyve just reached their level very early due to the large amount of investment? (look at Sevil as well)
Hannah herself is another one. Pushed from age 10, loads of money spend on her, hundreds of thousands. One LTA coach said that if she wasnt top 100 by the age of 18 she hasnt met expectations! So she grows up thinking she is something incredibly special, never has to want for anything tennis wise and then really struggles when the wins stop coming (same as Megan). Her mum now says that the early wins and hype actually harmed her. her game never developed for a while and she is now having to learnt to be far more agressive. She struggled with this initially as she started to lose more but it looks like she is still trying to- and I respect her a lot for that. I think she will continue to improve but this is the first period of time things have been hard for her.

Mika on the other hand was always on the LTAs radar but not in the elite camp until 13/14. She had to play all the 12U and 14U normal national events (Hannah was considered too good for her own age group) and she learnt to fight for everything. She missed loads when she was younger as she used to hit everything as hard as she could, even back then, but the pressure wasnt on her like it was Hannah. Even in the national academy she was allowed to develop her own way. Look at her now.

Dani Britton (whose game I still find incredibly boring but cant deny her talent) was overlooked twice for the national academy. They didnt really rate her and she had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the place she wanted. Shes learnt to fight for what she wants and look at her at the moment. Liv has had it handed to her on a plate and looks like she both hates it but also takes it for granted that shes one of the LTAs favourites so must be good and should just win.

i honestly think the LTA has got to stop treating them like mini celebrities. stop all the hype around them and really teach them what they have to give and sacrifice if they want to be a professional player. And if they dont want to - or cant - then give the opportunities (and wildcards) to someone else. As many have said - pressure is a privilege. They have to want it and be able to cope with it and enjoy it

Unfortunately Mika lost to a girl 18 months younger who came through qualis

It had the feeling from the outset even when Mika was ahead it was more a result of her opponent struggling, really disappointing our top teenager lost to a younger player whos a clay specialist

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

An excellent win from Dani Britton

Talking of fighting, she really had to battle for that

Pop is an excellent mover, all over the court, and with super balance - the blinkin ball came back time and time again

And Dani was struggling to find the balance between attack and defence, especially in the heat

But you could see her focusing on the points, and not on the score - very lucid

Well done !

DF · Tennis legend

The points should see her zoom up the ranking table to be on thr heels of Hollie Smart

PaulM · Tennis legend

Now that was a bit of grit. Amazing what can happen when you dig in and just battle as hard as you can!

sammmm · Intermediate Club Player

Really well done to Dani! Next up is Pircher who beat Mika, a shame we wont get Dani v Mika which would be interesting after neither Mika or Hannah played in nationals which Dani won

DF · Tennis legend

Efremova the French second seed is out

PaulM · Tennis legend

0/3 in the doubles this evening.

GAMEOVER · Futures qualifying

Back in 2023 Mika was a quarterfinalist in this event. Does she need a change of coach?

DavidC · Tennis legend

R2

(Q) Anna Pircher (AUT) d. (12) Mika Stojsavljevic 4-6 6-4 6-2
(WC) Daniella Britton d. Maria Valentina Pop (ROU) 2-6 6-1 6-4

R3

(Q) Anna Pircher (AUT) v (WC) Daniella Britton

Doubles R1 (L32)

(1) Barros/Leme Da Silva (BRA) d. (WC) Bush/Prisadnikova 6-4 6-2
(WC) Britton/Griffiths v Hermanova/Sekerkova (CZE)
Clarke/Traynor (USA) v (WC) Bekker/Zingg
Chang/Sohns (USA) d. Eigelsbach/Smart (GER/GBR) 7-5 6-3
Pircher/Yoshida (AUT/JPN) d.(WC) Knight/Wong 6-4 7-5

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

GAMEOVER wrote:
Back in 2023 Mika was a quarterfinalist in this event. Does she need a change of coach?

biggrin biggrin biggrin

My answer might be biased......

Seriously, it's adult tennis that matters - this (with 20/20 hindsight) was an error - she just has to focus on adult stuff now

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 6th of July 2026 07:43:54 PM

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:
Back in 2023 Mika was a quarterfinalist in this event. Does she need a change of coach?

My answer might be biased......
Seriously, it's adult tennis that matters - this (with 20/20 hindsight) was an error - she just has to focus on adult stuff now

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 6th of July 2026 07:43:54 PM

I watched quite a bit of her match. It was disappointing , but maybe she wasn't feeling well or something.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Coup Droit wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:
Back in 2023 Mika was a quarterfinalist in this event. Does she need a change of coach?

My answer might be biased......
Seriously, it's adult tennis that matters - this (with 20/20 hindsight) was an error - she just has to focus on adult stuff now

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 6th of July 2026 07:43:54 PM

Frankly I can't see much progress for her in senior Tennis either as long as Jeremy Bates is around.

indiana · Tennis legend

When did Bates get so involved with Mika?

I pretty much couldn't care less about just comparing this year's Wimbledon girls with 3 yesrs ago.

She did seem to be really on the march, moving into the top 300 last year but not so much lately. She clearly has great talent and generally a good attitude, with much more that can be developed, and still with her last 12 months' results the 17 yo sits at WR 276, making her the 4th best ranked under 18 yo in the world.

But from all I read about him, and just partly first hand experience of how non supportive he can be, Bates has to be a concern.

Hopefully her family ( I think I have read they are very ambitious for her? ) and any other advisers can keep on top of things and give her appropriate advice. It would be awful if she seriously stalled now through working in a set-up that was fundamentally ill-equipped to develop that talent in her early senior years.