Predict the Wildcards

Dont know about brit, fren or asain

but aussie

Main
Evie
Sam
Christina
Casey
Lauren

Quali
Adriana
Lauren
Jaslyn
Tiffany
Lara
Monique
Nicole


but then again ranks and injuries could help other aussies get into the draw

Main Draw

Stosur
Evie
Dellacqua
Wheeler
Breadmore

Qualifying

McQuillan (direct entry)
Ferguson
Kriz (deserves one!)
Adamzcak
Giltinan
O Lukaswicez

Watson (injury ranking???)
Grahame (injury ranking???)


Slight Chance

Hewitt
Dittmann
Welford
Cupac
Sekulowski
Van Elden (I think she's coming good again)
D. Dominikovic
Horiatopolous




You can forget these names!

Sewell, Baker, Cheung, Musgrave, McShea, Stewart. Roberts, Szili

I think it's a tad too early to make WC predictions...I mean anything can happen til then. We've still got a lot of shuffling to be had from now until the end of the challenger series.

Barring injury, expect rankings to rise for Monique Adamcak, Nicole Kriz, Lauren Breadmore and Casey Dellacqua after the Oz challengers (they don't have much to defend at all)...also depending on how much they play, juniors like Dubravka Cupac, Olivia Lukaszewicz and Sophie Ferguson should all rise a few hundred spots hopefully. With the exception of Casey (who will undoubtedly get a MD WC) I expect all, or most, of these girls to get qualy WC's. Add Christina Horiatopoulos (if she doesn't I will personally hunt down TA personnel ), Daniella Dominikovic and Gabrielle Baker to the potential qualy list.

Anyway, players that have no chance IMO are Musgrave, Sewell, McShea, Dittmann, Van Elden and Roberts. Depending on how Bryanne Stewart goes in the challengers, she will also miss out. She has a better shot than the above players though because of her past history and (slightly) higher profile. Ditto Cindy Watson and Amanda Grahame. (BTW, for this group in this paragraph I'm talking QUALY WC's, none of them will get a MD one obviously)

Szili should NOT get one for ANYTHING. I think she has won 2 matches all year. I hope she can prove us wrong though by turning things around herself come October

TS said:

I think it's a tad too early to make WC predictions...I mean anything can happen til then. We've still got a lot of shuffling to be had from now until the end of the challenger series.

Barring injury, expect rankings to rise for Monique Adamcak, Nicole Kriz, Lauren Breadmore and Casey Dellacqua after the Oz challengers (they don't have much to defend at all)...also depending on how much they play, juniors like Dubravka Cupac, Olivia Lukaszewicz and Sophie Ferguson should all rise a few hundred spots hopefully. With the exception of Casey (who will undoubtedly get a MD WC) I expect all, or most, of these girls to get qualy WC's. Add Christina Horiatopoulos (if she doesn't I will personally hunt down TA personnel ), Daniella Dominikovic and Gabrielle Baker to the potential qualy list.

Anyway, players that have no chance IMO are Musgrave, Sewell, McShea, Dittmann, Van Elden and Roberts. Depending on how Bryanne Stewart goes in the challengers, she will also miss out. She has a better shot than the above players though because of her past history and (slightly) higher profile. Ditto Cindy Watson and Amanda Grahame. (BTW, for this group in this paragraph I'm talking QUALY WC's, none of them will get a MD one obviously)

Szili should NOT get one for ANYTHING. I think she has won 2 matches all year. I hope she can prove us wrong though by turning things around herself come October

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I agree its too early to make predictions, Szili for instance might dominate the Aussie $25k's! I think after November it should be pretty clear though who's in and who's not. Watson and Grahame if not getting into Aust Open qualies with injury rankings will definitely have to prove they are worthy of a qualifying wildcard by reaching a couple of Q/F's in the $25k's at least!

I wouldnt be ruling out Van Elden so quickly, she's having a great week in Enschede this week, maybe she's finally finding her game again.

I would be confident about Baker though, she has had a year almost the same as Szili losing in like 15 1st rounds or so.

Looking at the top 500 though, there isnt much joy for the Aussies.

I think the big question is whether Tennis Australia is going to throw Olivia L, and a few other juniors in again after last years schimozzle! I hope not, as 'the thrashing experience' hasnt done anything for any of their development. Even after this year Olivia and Daniela cant qualify or win a Junior Slam match, they havent made much progress at all. Giltinan/Ferguson though could justify getting qualifying wildcards, they seem to play at a higher level.

SM said:

i think the juniors should be given qualifying WC's again cos its not like if we give it to other vet's that theyre actually gonna qualify or anything..

young players like adamczak, d.dominikovic, cupac, fergusson, engels, etc should get exposure. whether or not it yields any major result IMO.

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Why should we give wildcards to players like Engels and Dominikovic when they havent played enough seniors matches all year to gain a singles ranking!

I'm sorry but I dont see any point in handing out wildcards at WTA/ITF events if so-called up and coming juniors dont make any effort themselves to play senior events!

Juniors like Cupac, Welford, Cheung etc are more worthy, at least they have gained minimal experience at senior level. Throwing Olivia, Daniela this year was the biggest joke of the century. Sure Daniela got a few games but only because Brandi was so rusty and framing half her groundies and making tons of errors, I think Daniela a held serve once the whole match! Even Jaslyn or an injured Beti would have faired better!

Ferguson was also too inexperienced this year! I believe she's worthy for next year, but that should have been her 1st wildcard not 2nd!

We are now having a lot of players between 250-500 retiring like Dowse, Belobradjic, Johnston, Clayton, Hunt, etc as they arent getting the acknowledgement and financial help needed to continue in tennis. Look at the rankings now, how many singles players ranked between 200-500 have been battling it around those rankings for more than 2 years? not many!

How quickly people forget that the Pratt's and Guse's took 6-7 years battling around 250-500 before cracking the top 100. If Tennis Australia won't support existing players ranked between 250-750 how does it expect them to continue playing and travelling and gaining the experience necessary to get that breakthrough and climb the ranks! Especially players ranked 230-350, they are only 1 big win away from playing a whole year of grand slam and WTA qualifying.

Need I keep reminding people that not even Dokic received a wildcard until she had proven herself in senior events and of course dominated junior Grand Slams! She wasnt given a wildcard until she had had a ranking in the top 300! If a junior is that good at 15 it should be simple for them to obtain a top 600 rank from the 6 Aussie challengers, and only after proving that should they be considered for a WC! Cos if they cant do that yet then they're certainly not going to be able to compete with a top 200 player in qualifying!

I mean if a singles no-hoper/doubles specialist like Sarah Stone can obtain a top 600 singles rank then surely any Junior with genuine talent can. So thats why I keep strongly objecting to any Aust Open wildcards given out to players ranked below 600 because they either arent good enough or are still too young and powerless!

Actually I am going to change my position to that which I have previously taken. I am one of those who has always said who cares if who gets the qualifying wildcards because they are all throwaways. However, after reading Ausboy's post I have to say I think he is on the right track. Why should the players who battle all year to make it to 250 to 500 miss out year after year on that WC to be continually passed by the juniors who are unranked or have such a high ranking it is irrelevant?? When do the girls in the 250 to 500 range get their chance? There is always going to be a fresh bunch of juniors to take those cards from them year after year.

I am more inclined to think that a play-off in a training camp in December should be used to determine all w/c's including for main draw. Top 4 get the main draw, next 8 get the qualifying. Of course this kind of thing is always thrown into disarray if someone who is deserving is injured. Basically I think there should be some kind of guidelines so every players knows what they need to do to get one of these wildcards instead of it coming down to what appears to be favourtism on behalf of the selectors.