AIS/TA handouts, hinderance or helpful? enough is enough for Evie!

Its ironic when you look at the wildcards over the last 7 years. It seems more a hinderance in the development of a lot of players.

Our most successful players of late have been the ones that havent had that much support of Tennis Australia or the AIS.

Nicole Pratt - only had two years with the AIS, and only a couple of Aust Open main draw wildcards, she's done it on her own.

Alicia - only had 1 Aust Open wildcard. She was never really part of the AIS until the final year of juniors.

Dokic only ever needed one Aust Open to grab the chance.

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Evie - 6 main draw wildcards in the last 7 years, has had so many opportunities thrown her way, she's come to expect a wildcard every year! How can anyone be motivated when Tennis Australia kiss her feet every year!

Szili - Received a wildcard for winning a $10K. Give one to her for achieving didley squat and what happens? She gets a big head! She thought she had made it in January this year. Time for a reality check and to get rid of that lump thats moved from her head to her Macca's arse!

Bryanne Stewart - AIS Queen like Evie, too scared to hit out and use her weapons, more concerned with not making any errors than actually winning the point with controlled aggression. She's had countless opportunities. Bryanne has had 4 Aust Open main draw

Amanda Grahame - See Bryanne, Grahame has had 3 Aust Open main draw wildcards.

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Looking at Stosur I think she deserves another wildcard, but why give one to her this comin open? If Tennis Australia were smart they would make her qualify. She need to learn to take advantage when given a chance.

Evie certainly doesnt deserve one, if she wins the play off next week so be it but she's had enough wildcards. After all wildcards are there to give players trying to make an intial breakthru or return from injury a chance as well as a bit of financial support. Evie's had two 'breakthru's' at the Aust Open' and hasn't capitalised so cross her off the wildcard list for a few years, see if she can get her act together herself.

Wheeler - No complaints if she gets one, the 2 she's had gave her rotten draws, she's never really had the breakthru chance because of this and injuries have hampered her the last few years.

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Look at the juniors that grew up with the AIS! So many failures/dropouts in the last 10 or so years, and where are they now!

Evie Dominikovic - Complained that Tennis Australia was too big on handouts to her as a junior making it too easy, was dumped by Kachel for disputing the amount of training required, mentally fragile, slumping worse than ever!

Jelena Dokic - Defected Australian

Melissa Dowse - Retired, found the travelling to hard

Amanda Grahame - Was never able to develop her serve into the weapon it should have become also mentally fragile, her and Evie really play similar games.

Monique Adamczak - Successfully returned from injury lay off, edging 250 needs a break thru chance!

Jenny Belobradjic - Retired

Melanie Clayton - Retired

Bryanne Stewart - Had the ability more so than Evie and Amanda, just unable to close out the matches, too tentative.

Susan Cowan - Quit at 18, hated travelling

Bree Calderwood - Still plays Victorian Satellites and not much else but she can still beat Szili

Natalie Ko - Broke her leg, supposedly making a comeback, never had the ability in the first place.

Jaslyn Hewitt - Top 20 in juniors, has had a Kournikova run of injuries but seems to have finally overcome them. Is a battler and a fighter like her bro. Kudos for sticking to it!

Suzi Becvinovska - Suspended for 2 years for representing Macedonia

Biljana Dimovska - Suspended for 2 years for representing Macedonia

Sarah Stone - Quit at 19, then returned 18months later as a doubles specialist and a promoter of lesbianism, has all but quit singles but can still still beat Szili!

Tara Reid - was number 1 nationally in Under 14's, now plays College tennis in US

Esther Knox - Was playing College Tennis in the States, coaxed Annabel into retiring!

Christina Wheeler - Ranking has stalled, is gradually improving though I feel. Too early to tell still with her.

Annabel Ellwood - Retired at 23, frustrated that her game was not good enough to get her in the ranks, acknowledged that she had no weapons.

Siobhan Drake-Brockman - Retired at 20, didn't think she could match the power hitters.

Trudi Musgrave - Still Battling, has become more a doubles specialist but confidence is now coming across into her singles play, is she the next Guse/Barclay/Pratt aka late developer??? She's the perfect example why tennis Australia needs to acknowledge the battlers that are in it for the long haul to get as far as they can.

Maija Avotins - Won Wimbledon Junior Doubles, played a year on the satellites then became a teacher I think

Joanne Limmer - Retired young with injuries

Kristin Godridge - Retired young and now plays for Hong Kong!

Aarthi Ventarkasen - Was playing College Tennis for a while, think she' a career woman now

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Yeah, I think it's about time Evie stood on her own two feet. I wouldn't be surprised if TA gave her a WC anyway for the OZ Open next year since she reached the 3rd rd this year. :rolleyes:

How good was Aarthi Venkatesan anyway? I think she's also suffered a lot of injuries...

BTW, has anybody seen the Aus Open program at the newsagents yet? They listed Szili under "Ten of the Best" in the Aussie women article. :lol:

when is biljana and suzis ban coming off? :(

The 2 year ban would pretty much be served by now right? Wonder if those girls have given up or will end up playing for Macedonia? .

Hey nice post! Very comprehensive and it's pretty much spot on too. However, in Evie's defence she has actually earned a few of those wildcards herself by winning the Unity tour.

I agree that if she doesn't win the WC playoff next week, then TA should MAKE HER QUALIFY!

danker - lmao. No I didn't see that, but TA should realise that Szili is a lost cause now. She showed so much promise a couple years ago but I don't know what the hell happened?!?!? :confused: If she gets a qualifying WC, honestly that will be the biggest joke ever. Seeing that she is an AIS sqaud member and has had lots of money invested into here, I'd say she is more than likely to get one :rolleyes: (I mean she is in next weeks WC playoff for gods sake! lol)

The whole AIS squad this year was a disaster...(except for Casey), Szili and Welford have been disappointing, and I guess the jury is still out on Lukaszewicz as she is only 15. Does Annabel Ellwood still have the coaching job?

wow nice to read and frankly i reckon Evie and Sam NEED to go in the Quallies i rather they win 1 match or 2 ir even qualify then them getting a WC into the MD and losing humiliatingly

This list just highlights that TA has invested money in players just because they are the best in Australia not because they feel they will make it good on tour. It's obvious that the people in charge struggle to identify the skills and abilities of players needed to succeed on the tour and have instead hoped that the more players churned out eventually one should be OK.

The situation we are in is that there is a true lack of depth in Australian women's tennis and the question of wildcard allocations is always upto debate. Do you pass the wildcards to those ranked 130-200ish OR to a junior OR to a tour journeywoman who has never cracked the top 200-250 maybe because they're not talented enough??? Either way we've usually got 3 or so 'lucky' ones who are benefiting from the lack of choices. But they have to go to someone!!

Make them play-off against each other, 5 groups of 4. May the best five win and the benefit of tough, high pressure matches should help. At least it's earnt.

good post lou
"Do you pass the wildcards to those ranked 130-200ish OR to a junior OR to a tour journeywoman who has never cracked the top 200-250"
this is a moot point, no matter what person they select there will always be some controversy!! give ppl like szili a break guys , the fact she isnt making much progress isnt due to the fact she got a WC at the aus open , its one tournament out of 1000 shes played and i doubt she felt content with her game after being humiliated...whilst shes gained weight and probably lost motivation theres no one to blame but Adriana and not the ppl handing out WC's, she shoulda got off her arse and worked harder after she was fortunate to use the WC as a yardstick of where shes at

I think wildcards need to be distributed to players that have shown signs of improvement over the last year. Whether thats a 16yo who's risen from 600 to 400 or a 30yo whose risen from 300 to 250 age shouldnt be a factor until they have reached 31-32.

I look at all the AIS dropouts and I think most of those girls were given too much too soon. A player needs to prove that they can handle the lifestyle, i.e the travelling, having to budget very tightly, living out of a suitcase, being away from family etc.

You look at the journey women (playing 10 years +) Australia has produced over the last few decade or so, there havent been many!

You've got Smylie, Stubbs, Guse, Barclay, Pratt, McQuillan, Dittmann, Musgrave, McShea, Bradtke(retired at 27).

Basically hardly any long time professionals that didnt reach the top 50!

Only Musgrave, Guse, McShea, Barclay and Dittmann! You could probably add Cindy Watson too.

You look at latter list and it was only Guse that got constant support and its probably what helped her crack the top 60 in her late 20's.

I agree, Dominikovic doesn't deserve a WC this year.

Adamczak does tho.

Monique should be given a go, I think she deserves it after her great improvement this year (and it could've been even better). But at the same time a stint in qualies would be better because she could realistically take on a few of the top 200 girls. In fact she could very well be one if she plays her cards right...certainly has the ability :)

I think Dubz ( Dubravka Cupac ) should be givin a go :yeah: