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Week of Dec 9th - W35 Solapur:

Main Draw:

Ekaterina Makarova (213)
Sofia Costoulas (BEL,291)
Ankita Raina (299)
Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (301)
Sahaja Yamalapalli (307)
Naho Sato (JPN, 330)
Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ,334)
Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah (FRA, 344)
Anastasia Kulikova (FIN, 356)
Emma Lene (FRA, 388)
Diana Marcinkevica (LAT, 411)
Rutuja Bhosale (425)
Valentini Grammatikopoulou (GRE, 442)
Ekaterina Yashina (465)
Thasaporn Naklo (THA, 476)
Eliessa Vanlangendonck (BEL, 488)
Viktoriya Morvayova (SVK. 497)
Hiroko Kuwata (JPN, 503)

QD (Indians - notable mentions):

#3. Zeel Desai (573)
#6. Vaishnavi Adkar (658)
#8. Riya Bhatia (719)
#9. Tanisha Kashyap (888)
#11. Akanksha Dileep Nitture (937)
#15. Madhurima Sawant (1118)


Alternates:

#12. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi (ITF-1252)

Kulikova will be a dangerous floater in this tournament.

I feel Vaidehi should have skipped league and played this event instead. She appears to be in good form. She could consider making a good push for the French Open if pro tennis is her top priority

ericcw wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2024 9:28 pm I feel Vaidehi should have skipped league and played this event instead. She appears to be in good form. She could consider making a good push for the French Open if pro tennis is her top priority

That league event for which you posted details is in next week ( week of Dubai tournament), Solapur W35 is week after.

Looks like Vaidehi took a conscious decision to skip this week after playing a lot of weeks in Australia ( where she also had some niggle towards the end). She is there in the early entry list of W50 in Navi Mumbai the week after.

I meant Vaidehi could have rested 2 weeks and played Solapur instead of rest 1 week, play TPL, rest 1 week

I am not 100% sure but players get decent money for playing these leagues for much lower effort than pro tennis.

Vaidehi is someone who is not as well funded as some of our other players. So, maybe this extra money will help her towards playing more tournaments outside India. Just a guess.

I see. Noble gesture from TPL. I hope more players consider choosing TPL over pro tennis for the league weeks.

Noble gesture. They would be earning much more due to TV telecast and all.

Just saw this article-

Tennis Premier League: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza reunite in season 6 auction

It does not say anything about Vaidehi but it says Ankita got Rs. 5 lakhs and Sahaja Rs. 7.8 lakhs. So, maybe Vaidehi would have got around Rs. 5 lakhs which will help her fund 4-5 weeks of stints abroad at least.

I do not know how Ankita and Sahaja who are mentioned here are still playing in Dubai qualies. Maybe they have an understanding that they will join the league after they finish their stint in Dubai.

I hate all these leagues eating into our player's off season training and all but players continue to play these as they are providing some much needed funds support for our players.

Few withdrawals from main draw at Solapur next week including Rutuja.

Ankita is likely to be top seed, Sahaja third seed and Shrivalli seventh seed with her lower ranking now.

Zeel and Vaishnavi will be in the main draw too. With 4 wild cards and hopefully 4-5 qualifiers, we can see 13-14 Indians in main draw in Solapur.

sameerph wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 4:37 pm
Vaidehi is someone who is not as well funded as some of our other players. So, maybe this extra money will help her towards playing more tournaments outside India. Just a guess.

Are you sure? Someone who has funding problems generally has the do or die attitude to make every opportunity count.

She is not in the entry list for Navi Mumbai as well.

I am pretty sure that Vaidehi is not well funded. Only this year she has started travelling abroad, but mainly in Asia and this Australia tour was mostly her first tour outside Asia.

Really do not know why she is taking both these weeks off. Is the injury which forced her to pull out 2 weeks back in Australia that bad ? We will have to wait and see if any explanation comes thru.

Entry list for Solpaur has changed quite a bit since as many as 5 players have withdrawn from the main draw list. Fangran Tian is the highest ranked UTR player but she hasn't played since July due to injury and just got back to pro-tennis last week at the AO Asia Pacific wildcard playoff to play in doubles with Rutuja (where the pair lost in 3 sets in the opening round). So, I am not sure if her form is the same as it was 6 months ago.

Anastasia Kulikova withdrew after all . Now, we have Ankita, SRB, Sahaja, Zeel, Vaishnavi in the direct MD acceptance list. If the Special exempt spots are not awarded, Riya and Tanisha will secure a direct entry too.

Fangran Tian has a pretty high UTR. On the up?

She was a top collegiate player at UCLA. Has had some but not spectacular success on the WTA/ITF tournaments.