Cav's Place

If I was glad to have been proven wrong about the outcome of Simona Halep’s appeal, the hard-fought defeat in the first match after her return revealed a level of fitness that was, unsurprisingly, not where it used to be, and the injury that forced her to retire from the next match proved that she tried too much, too soon. Not that the second tournament was too big, of course, Trophée Clarins being in the lowest category of WTA tournaments, but she should have most likely focused more on training and given herself more time to recover.
At least she has done that since then, but let’s see if it was enough, since her second attempt to return should have been at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open, starting on October 26, yet she has suddenly announced that she’ll also take part in the new WTA 125 tournament from the same location, which starts tomorrow… And a quick glance reveals an unusually strong list of participants for what should be a minor tournament, with a stated aim of “developing future women’s tennis stars, and [providing] an exciting new competitive opportunity for […] elite local women players, along with other “rising stars” from mainland China, Asia and internationally“. I mean, out of the 28 players who entered the main draw directly, only two are from Hong Kong, and one each from China, Japan and Thailand. And most are over 25, many over 30… And McCartney Kessler, as in Simona‘s opponent from her previous match, is among them, though they won’t be able to meet before the semifinals, her opponent in the first round being Arina Rodionova… Who seems to be playing her best tennis this year, becoming the oldest woman to make a first appearance in the top 100.