Emily Webley-Smith

Emily Webley-Smith

Country (sports)	United Kingdom England
Residence	Wimbledon, London
Born	(1984-07-14) 14 July 1984 Thornbury, Avon
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$124,259
Singles
Career record	204–198
Career titles	0 WTA (2 ITF)
Highest ranking	No. 241 (16 May 2011)
Current ranking	No. 247 (6 June 2011)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	–
French Open	–
Wimbledon	2R (2004)
US Open	–
Doubles
Career record	116–122
Career titles	0 WTA (7 ITF)
Highest ranking	No. 231 (6 June 2011)
Current ranking	No. 231 (6 June 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	–
French Open	–
Wimbledon	1R (2004, 2005, 2007)
US Open	–
Last updated on: 6 June 2011.

Emily Webley-Smith (born 14 July 1984) is an English professional tennis player. She is coached by Jeremy Bates. She is currently the British no. 7 and ranked 247 in the world (as of 6 June 2011). So far in her career she has won two International Tennis Federation singles titles and seven ITF doubles titles. She has also reached the second round of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon, on one occasion in 2004.

Personal life

Webley-Smith was born in 1984 in Thornbury, Avon, which is now in South Gloucestershire. Her mother, Jane, is a PE teacher and her father, Mike, an amateur footballer and cricketer. She also has a sister named Hannah. Her first introduction to tennis was playing swingball in her garden and in the cricket grounds where her father was the club captain. Were she not a tennis player, she would like to be traveling the world as a translator or playing hockey for England. Webley-Smith describes herself as "individual, deep, emotional, optimistic and resilient".

Injury problems

Problems with Webley-Smith's right ankle began in 2002 when she broke it whilst on court competing in the qualifying tournament for the $25,000 ITF event in Cardiff and underwent surgery to repair both the bone and the damaged caused to the ligaments. She was unable to compete on the tour for six months.

In November 2003 she needed a second operation on her ankle to remove cartilage which had come loose; an operation which was successful and enabled Emily to play injury-free tennis for almost two years and reach her career-high world ranking of no. 262 in June 2005.

However she had to take yet more time out later in 2005 when she began experiencing sharp pains in the same ankle while warming up for an ITF tournament in Puebla, Mexico. She had treatment on the ankle again and returned, with limited success, to competitive tennis in Spring 2006 before having surgery for a third time to remove fluid from her ankle.

She began recovering well before septicaemia left her with an agonisingly swollen ankle and unable to walk for five whole weeks. Webley-Smith said of the time, "My ankle was the size of a football. I remember the doctor trying to take my sock off and I was screaming. I was taking what they call an 'elephant dose' of antibiotics and the strongest painkillers they could give me". She returned full time to the circuit in August 2006.

In 2009 she also began to have trouble with her wrist after injuring it during an ITF event in Tanjung Selor in Indonesia, just a number of weeks before Wimbledon. It recovered well enough in time for Webley-Smith to compete in the Wimbledon qualifying rounds however she reaggravated the injury later in the year and was unable to compete again until February 2010.

Career

Junior (1998–2002)

Webley-Smith played her first junior ITF tournament in February 1998 and her last in July 2002. Over her junior career in singles, she reached a total of four quarterfinals, two semifinals and the final of the Slazenger Appletise Winchester Junior Tournament. She competed at Wimbledon juniors a total of four times; in 1999, 2000 and 2001 she lost in the qualifying stages but in 2002 she reached the second round of the main draw. Her career-high singles ranking was world no. 119 (reached on 29 April 2002) and her win-loss record was 31–31.

In doubles she won three tournaments, was a runner-up in another and also reached one semifinal and seven quarterfinals. Her doubles win-loss record was 22–27 and her career-high ranking was world no. 95 (achieved 30 July 2001).

1999–2002

Webley-Smith played her first match on the ITF tour in October 1999, a match which she lost 0–6 0–6 against Melanie Schnell from Austria. It was her only professional match in 1999.

In 2000 she played a total of six tournaments. She lost in the qualifying rounds of four $10,000 events in Great Britain (Bournemouth, Frinton, Hatfield and Sunderland), lost in the first round of another (in Glasgow) and was also beaten in the first round of the $25,000 event in Felixstowe by countywoman, Jane O'Donoghue, 4–6 3–6.

The 2001 season began well for Webley-Smith as in her very first tournament of the year she qualified and reached the quarterfinals of the $10,000 event in Jersey before being beaten by Anne Keothavong, 3–6 6–7⁽⁴⁾. Unfortunately for Emily she was unable to continue this form for the rest of the year, losing in the qualifying stages in every other tournament she entered with the exception of the $10,000 Sunderland ITF where she was defeated again by Keothavong, 3–6 4–6. She also played in the main draw of her final ITF tournament of the year as a lucky loser but was again beaten in round one. She ended the year ranked world no. 712.

Webley-Smith had a varied year in 2002, with limited success on the ITF tour but also her first appearance in a Grand Slam at Wimbledon where she lost in the first round of qualifying to Nina Duebbers, 1–6 2–6. She only reached one ITF quarterfinal in 2002, at the $10,000 London event in August. In October, Emily broke her ankle during a qualifying match for a $25,000 ITF event in Cardiff and did not compete again that season. Nevertheless, her year-end world ranking rose to world no. 673.

2003

Webley-Smith played her first professional match since breaking her ankle in 2002, in April at the qualifying event for the $10,000 ITF tournament in Bournemouth where she lost in the second round. In May she reached two consecutive quarterfinals of $10,000 events in Spain: Monzón and Almeira. In June, for the first time in her career she was given a wild card into the DFS Classic qualifying draw, a tier III tournament in Birmingham where she was beaten by Bethanie Mattek in straight sets, 3–6 4–6. She then received another wild card into Wimbledon qualfying and again lost her first round match, 2–6 1–6, to Sada Noorlander. Two more consecutive quarterfinal appearances in ITF tournaments immediately followed this, Waco ($10k) and Vancouver ($25k), and one more in August in a $10,000 event in London. She ended the year with a singles ranking of world no. 469.

2004

2004 started slowly for Webley-Smith; she won only two of her first ten matches on the ITF circuit. However in March she reached the quarterfinals of the $10,000 tournament in Patras before losing to Ekaterina Dzehalevich, 2–6 0–6. In this same tournament, she reached the doubles final partnering compatriot, Chantal Coombs, and lost to Martina Müller and Vladimíra Uhlířová, 6–7⁽⁷⁾ 3–6. Two months later in May, she reached two more ITF quarterfinals consecutively in Mérida and Surbiton. In June she was given wildcards into the qualifying draws for the DFS Classic (tier III) and the Hastings Direct International Championships (tier II), where she lost in the first and second rounds of qualifying respectively.

This was immediately followed by another wildcard, this one into the main draw of Wimbledon. In her first ever main draw Grand Slam appearance she managed to survive rain delays and defeat Frenchwoman Séverine Beltrame in straight sets, 7–6⁽²⁾ 6–4, to reach the second round where she faced the no. 31 seed, Amy Frazier. The final result did not go Webley-Smith's way though as she was defeated with a final score of 2–6 6–3 6–8. Webley-Smith spent the rest of the year on the ITF tour but did not progress past the second round in any tournament she played. Her year-end ranking for 2004 was world no. 272.

2005

Webley-Smith began the 2005 season well on home ground by reaching the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF tournament in Tipton where she had to retire during her semifinal match against fellow Briton, Katie O'Brien. She continued competing on the ITF circuit for the first half of the year and reached the quarterfinal stages in two more $10,000 tournaments, in Tampico and Ho Chi Minh City. In June she was given a wild card into the qualifying draw for the tier III WTA tournament, the DFS Classic where she lost in the first round of the qualifying event. This was followed by a wild card into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she was also beaten in the first round, by Meilen Tu, 5–7 3–6. She reached only one more ITF semifinal that year, in the $25,000 event in Lagos where she lost, 2–6 4–6, to Anne Keothavong. Her year-end ranking for 2005 was world no. 385.

2006

Webley-Smith spent much of the 2006 season out of action due to suffering from septicaemia as a result of her long-term ankle problems which began in 2002. She was forced to retire in only her second match of the year in February and was unable to compete again until August when she reached the semifinals of a $10,000 ITF tournament in London and the quarterfinals a $10,000 tournament in Istanbul. She was beaten by compatriot Naomi Cavaday in either the first or second round in three out of four consecutive $25,000 tournaments in September, October and November that year. As a result of her injury problems, Webley-Smith's final ranking of the year fell to world no. 713.

2007

Webley-Smith spent the first three months of 2007 competing in $10,000 ITF tournaments. In April she was a semifinalist in a $10,000 tournament in Obregón in Mexico and in May she reached two $10,000 quarterfinals in Mazatlán and Irapuato, both also in Mexico. She was awarded a wild card into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she lost in the first round, 2–6 3–6, to Jenifer Widjaja. She reached only one more quarterfinal that year; in Wrexham ($10,000). Her year-end ranking was world no. 595.

2008

The 2008 tour started slowly for Webley-Smith as she began the season with four consecutive losses. However in July she reached the quarterfinals of a $10,000 ITF tournament in Atlanta, Georgia and then immediately went on to reach two consecutive $10,000 ITF finals in Evansville, Indiana and Saint Joseph, Missouri. In late September and early October she reached two more $25,000 ITF quarterfinals and just a few weeks later she reached two consecutive ITF semifinals: in Port Pirie ($25,000) where she was beaten by Melanie South, 1–6 4–6, and in Muzaffarnagar ($10,000) where she lost to Sanaa Bhambri, 0–6 0–6. She reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 ITF event in Kolkata in November and finished the season ranked world no. 475.

2009

In February 2009, Webley-Smith returned to the ITF circuit and in March she won the first ITF singles title of her career in Spain by beating Elena Chalova in the final, 6–0 7–6⁽⁵⁾. She then headed to Indonesia for a series of three tournaments but in the third of these she injured her wrist and was forced to retire in round one. Returning to the tour in mid-June, Webley-Smith was given a wild card into the qualifying tournament for the AEGON International where she lost 0–6 6–7⁽⁶⁾ to María José Martínez Sánchez. A second consecutive wild card allowed her entry into qualifying for her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to Gréta Arn. In August she reached two ITF finals, winning the first to give her the second ITF title of her career and losing the other. Webley-Smith spent the rest of the season competing in Australia and reached two $25,000 quarterfinals before reinjuring her wrist in November. Her year-end season ranking was world no. 332.

2011

In the spring, Webley-Smith made her first $50,000 ITF singles final in Gifu Japan, where she finished runner up to Sachie Ishizu.

WTA tour and ITF circuit titles (9)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tour Championships (0) Premier (0) International (0) ITF Event (8)

Titles by surface Hard (8) Clay (0) Grass (0) Carpet (0)

Singles (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	10 March 2009	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria $10,000	Hard	Elena Chalova	6–0 7–6(5)
2.	9 August 2009	New Delhi $10,000	Hard	Alexandra Kolesnichenko	6–1 6–1

Doubles (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	18 October 2004	Bolton $10,000	Hard	Sarah Borwell	Hannah Collin & Anna Hawkins	7–5 1–6 6–2
2.	28 August 2006	Istanbul $10,000	Hard	Ria Dörnemann	Irina Khatsko & Mariya Malkhasyan	Walkover
3.	20 September 2006	Nottingham $10,000	Hard	Georgie Stoop	Naomi Cavaday & Claire Peterzan	4–6 6–4 6–2
4.	13 August 2008	London $10,000	Hard	Megan Moulton-Levy	Martina Babakova & Manana Shapakidze	6–1 6–1
5.	9 August 2009	New Delhi $10,000	Hard	Alexandra Kolesnichenko	Ashmitha Easwaramurthi & Dalila Jakupovic	6–2 6–4
6.	9 October 2009	Mount Gambier $25,000	Hard	Olivia Rogowska	Erika Sema & Yurika Sema	6–1 5–7 [10–7]
7.	11 September 2010	Madrid $10,000	Hard	Naomi Broady	Jennifer Ren & Marta Sirotkina	6-2, 6-3

WTA tour and ITF circuit runner-up (11)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tour Championships (0) Premier (0) International (0) ITF Event (10)

Finals by surface Hard (9) Clay (1) Grass (0) Carpet (0)

Singles (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	22 July 2008	Evansville $10,000	Hard	Megan Moulton-Levy	3–6 4–6
2.	29 July 2008	St. Joseph $10,000	Hard	Amanda McDowell	1–6 0–6
3.	15 August 2009	New Delhi $10,000	Hard	Poojashree Venkatesha	6–7(8) 2–6
4.	01 May 2011	Gifu $50,000	Hard	Sachie Ishizu	1-6 3-6

Doubles (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	29 March 2004	Patras $10,000	Hard	Chantal Coombs	Martina Müller & Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–7(7) 3–6
2.	30 August 2005	Bucharest $10,000	Clay	Antonia Xenia Tout	Corina Claudia Corduneanu & Lenore Lazaroiu	1–6 2–6
3.	23 August 2006	London $10,000	Hard	Laura Peterzan	Jane O'Donoghue & Karen Paterson	3–6 3–6
4.	14 March 2007	Sunderland $10,000	Hard	Ria Dörnemann	Anna Hawkins & Jane O'Donoghue	4–6 7–6(5) 3–6
5.	1 May 2007	Los Mochis $10,000	Hard	Danielle Brown	Maria Fernanda Alves & Jennifer Elie	3–6 0–6
6.	22 December 2008	Delhi $50,000	Hard	Megan Moulton-Levy	Hwang I-hsuan & Zhang Ling	3–6 6–7(4)
7.	2 May 2009	Balikpapan $25,000	Hard	Zhang Ling	Yayuk Basuki & Romana Tedjakusuma	3–6 3–6

Grand Slam performance timeline

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–0
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–0
Wimbledon	Q1	Q1	2R	Q1	A	Q1	A	Q1	1–1
US Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–0

• "A" stands for any tournament the player did not participate in.
• "Q" followed by a number 1-3 denotes which round of the qualifying tournament was reached.
• The career record is only for the player's main draw participation.

External links

• WTA Profile
• ITF Profile
• LTA Profile
• ITF Juniors Profile