The grasscourt season is upon us and its time for the Lawn tennis Association to decide which British players will get the chance to have a 'wildcard' into Wimbledon. Its fair to say that the grass does allow the 'Brits' there best chance of winning a few matches in the tennis calendar, however its surely time to see youngsters get a chance to play rather than allowing the 'oldies' to earn a few extra dollars courtesy of the wildcard system. A player can earn over £10,000 just by entering into the singles and doubles tournaments at Wimbledon and losing in the first round! Perenial under achievers such as Delgado, O'donoghue, and Mackin need to be turned away from these tournaments if there ranking is not high enough to enter directly and youngsters should be given the chance to show how they can perform. For once Britain genuinely has a rising star in the womens game in the form of Naomi Cavaday. Narrowly losing to the experienced Ai Sugiyama in last years tournament, Cavaday has risin over 300 places in the rankings in less than a year and is on the verge of entering the ladies top 200!, quite an achievement as she is still only 18!. Only 3 British women lie inside this barrier these being Keothavong, O'Brien and South all of which have struggled with consistency this season. Cavaday however has won her first $25,000 ITF challenger title as a qualifier in the USA in February and has had consistent performances on this level of tournament, a step up from last years more regular $10,000 tournaments (the lowest on the WTA tour) Cavaday has been working at the Nick Bolleteri Academy and if she can have a consistent performance at tournaments in Surbiton, Edgebaston, Eastbourne and Wimbledon this summer she could become the next British number one player and get closer to that elusive top 100 spot, which would allow her direct entry into most of the top tier WTA events. Other names to look out for this year are Georgie Stoop, Natasha Khan and Anna Fitzpatrick all youngsters in the British camp eager to impress on home soil. Elena Baltacha is also back to full health and after good success in recent weeks in Korea is steadily improving her world ranking. On the mens side, hopefully Alex Bogdanovic will beable to show his full potential soon and join the likes of Henman and Murray in the worlds elite. Bogdanovic is a consistent performer on the challenger tour however has struggled to gain wins on the ATP full tour. Other men to look out for are Jamie Baker and Richard Bloomfield. It could be in doubles where Britain finds most success this summer with both James Auckland and Jamie Murray have had lots of success this year. Although they have both recently struggled on the clay, the grasscourt season should suit then more.
Lets hope the rain stays away for the British Grasscourt Season and come on you youngsters!
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