To celebrate the continuation of our union, a game, a challenge to predict the next British woman to win a slam.
I mean singles and in the open section of course (else the poll should probably have only two options in order to be balanced: Whiley, not Whiley).
I have my five "other" categories, now just have to choose five concrete choices to fill out the poll. Under the circumstances, a bit of tokenism is called for...
No, but seriously to answer your question Laura looks to be the the best bet although she's only just got back to hitting normal sized tennis balls never mind winning slams. Hopefully she gets back to her best and better on her return. I don't think Hev has the game tbh to get deep into a slam, Naomi has way to many holes in her game and Jo has only just got back to winning two matches in a row. The rest haven't had any standout results really to be considered (I love Tara's game when it's on though) so all my hopes rest in Laura.
Don't lose hope on Emma. She just turned 12. Sure, her results aren't earth-shattering, but after watching a couple of her matches on youtube, she just seems to have something special about her game. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm really excited about her future.
If you only mean singles slam than Laura is the best bet. However, I do think Heather could win a doubles or mixed doubles slam with the right partner...
If you only mean singles slam than Laura is the best bet. However, I do think Heather could win a doubles or mixed doubles slam with the right partner...
Robson just might, if she can get her confidence back, stays motivated and has a good stretch without injury.
Heather might, in doubles or mixed, if she is motivated and finds someone with whom she can build a stable partnership. I think she's rather good at doubles, but a lot of the time has played in scratch partnerships. I believe she can get further in singles than she has managed so far, but not all the way.
Can't imagine any of our other seniors managing it, and I don't really know enough about the juniors to have an opinion on them.
After yesterday's capitulation, I've voted for "not born yet". I guess Laura, Heather and Katie still have a chance, but there's a much bigger chance that they won't.
It's hard to distinguish "never" and "not born yet"; it's not really a tennis matter. For instance, to chose a fanciful example, when is the Antarctic ice cap going to melt and physically prevent further grand slam play by burying the venues under 50m of water?
Don't lose hope on Emma. She just turned 12. Sure, her results aren't earth-shattering, but after watching a couple of her matches on youtube, she just seems to have something special about her game. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm really excited about her future.
Curiously, it turned out in the end that if Emma had won one more match, she'd have been the champion. There's another salient fact, too, that's too obvious to even be worth setting down.
Jo's rise has been pretty phenomenal and I will admit I never anticipated it. She has a really good chance of making the semi finals at the AO. I don't see her beating Azarenka or Serena this time though, but further down the line..who knows?
You beat me too it I was just about to post this . With Judy's guidance, Andy's talent and unlimited funds little baby Murray will surely become a British Grand Slam Champion in the next 20-30 years .
Re-upping this as no one else is going to, but it was mentioned recently in GM.
There is no insight here. Firstly, I overlooked Konta, who I thought was a neverwas, months before she reached a slam semi. Secondly, Raducanu is more of an idea than a person, as a semifinalist at Auray she was world class in her age group, and represented the limit of the known at the time. (On that basis, I should have picked Fischer to be honest, but Emma had impressed me more.)
Also, the timing. The thread was created a day after the Scottish indyref, where a poll a week before had suggested "Yes" might win, that our country might be about to come to a sudden and unexpected end, so out of relief I created a "British" poll. For lots of reasons, not just the special circumstance, I wouldn't make a thread like this today.
Pretty surreal all the same. I mean you could create a thread today, 'next Brit after Emma to win a Slam', and pick some 11 year old who's just won a tournament, but the odds on that actually becoming reality must be... and the before and after options just make it extra classic! Now if you'd just pass me the lottery numbers please...
Contemporary of Swan. Auray winner. Also, Scottish and I wanted a Scottish choice (Anastasia McKeever from Edinburgh). Perhaps I should have picked Lumsden (also Auray winner) but by 2014 didn't seem to have world-beating potential. Anastasia was still promising in 2014 but was possibly starting to slip back by that time, and she just disappeared from the tennis scene not so very much later.
EDIT: it seems she was back playing at a reasonable level just before the pandemic hit: LTA - Tennis for Britain
Not really worth a thread, but Pune must be pretty much the only W25 event on TF this year without it's own thread in the ITF section, and doing this is certainly easier than creating one of those. Great week for young Emma coming through quals to take her biggest title, and a second...
But then she literally hasn't won a WTA match, and prior to Nottm W100 vs Sanders, I'm not sure if she even had a win above W25 level - that Sanders match definitely had a thread.
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this but its as good a place as any - I thought every year when Wimbledon is on and Andy Murray is the only Brit left after round one, its always said because we don't have good facilities/investment etc in this country but hasn't Emma proved we do?
I would be interested in the comments of anyone who actually plays Tennis in the UK as I am just a watcher so don't know too much about that side of things.
Or is Emma just a one off who would have come through no matter which country she was brought up in?
I do think that things have improved in the past few years, largely due to Murray's success and the Davis Cup win, brought increased investment into British tennis. As Emma is only 18, it's not unreasonable to say she could have benefitted from that.
Not to sound too optimistic, but I think at the moment things look bright, and the investment in British tennis is only going to grow. But I do think there is still an element of elitism and "country clubiness" in British tennis..but it seems to be changing!
A few years ago i thought it would be laura, then i thought konta, lately i thought it might be boulter. And then it was emma. I have to admit there is nothing nostradamus about me.
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