Its sad to hear about the retirement of Tim Henman and let's hope he gets the praise he deserves for an outstanding career. 

But let's look to the future. Andy Murray looks likely to replace Henman with ease in the men's game but what about the ladies? Is there anyone who can play on the WTA Tour at a consistently high level and consistently beat players ranked in the top 100? I don't mean a one-off like Samantha Smith who thinks a fourth-round performance at Wimbledon is the pinnacle of a career, only to hardly win any games afterwards.  We need a star, a battler, a quality player. Enter Naomi Cavaday.

The 18-year-old from Chislehurst, Kent has been the most promising woman player from Britain since the 1980s when Jo Durie was able to compete against the world's very best. I'm not saying Cavaday will reach the top 20 in the world during her career, but at least she has the chance to make a living on the Tour and a regular spot in the world's top 50 should be what the Brit is hoping for, or perhaps even higher.

'The 18-year-old Kent has been the most promising woman player from Britain since the 1980s'


Cavaday came to prominence in the summer of 2006 when trying to quality for an event in Birmingham. After only playing a few $10,000 events, the lowest level on the tour, Cavaday was given the chance to try and qualify for her first WTA Tour event. She justified her wild card with an outstanding and unexpected win over the former top 50 ranked Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus.

Cavaday was then ranked then outside the top 500, and nobody knew who she was. She followed up that win by narrowly losing to Melinda Czink of Hungary in the final qualifying round. But she showed promise, enough to get her a wild card into the Wimbledon draw two weeks later.

She couldn't have faced a tougher opponent at SW19 than Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama, a regular in the women's top 20 world rankings over the last decade. Cavaday coped well and lost in two close sets 7-5, 6-4, again showing plenty of maturity. Would this be the end of the Cavaday career? Defying the norms of British tennis, surprisingly not.

The young Brit continued for the rest of the year to battle it out with lesser known players on the ITF circuit, winning second round and quarter final places in $10,000 and $25,000 events across the world with regularity, gradually improving her ranking which by the end of the year had reached a career high of 401, already putting her in the top 10 British ladies on the tour.

This year has been a revelation for Cavaday. Still technically a junior and still playing in some junior events she started 2007 as she had ended 2006, competing in British events before moving to the U.S. for a number of slightly bigger tournaments. She knew she would have to work hard and qualify for most of the $25,000 and $50,000 events across the pond.  She did just that in her first tournament in Orange County. Cavaday, ranked only 343 beat one of America's top juniors, Alexa Glatch, in qualifying before obliterating the whole field in the main draw to win the tournament in fantastic style. She had wins over former top-30 player Krisitna Brandi and world number 121 Abigail Spears and current world number 55 Karin Knapp of Italy. She had made a name for herself.

Cavaday continued her progression by winning numerous matches against higher-ranked opponents in Pelham, Jackson and Palm Beach. She may have not won the tournaments but she certainly made her mark and by June had made the top 250, a career leap of over 150 places in less than six months.

The grass court season in England came around again and Cavaday went to Birmingham and Eastbourne in search of her first big win - and she got it. Cavaday defeated world No 61 Vasila Bardina, her best win to date and the way she won was even more exciting, a 6-2, 6-1 crushing of the Russian youngster. In the second round she came up against Marion Bartoli, who was to become the Wimbledon finalist, and after a good start she was easily beaten 6-3, 6-1.

Still this was a good learning curve for the Brit. The Wimbledon draw was released the following week and Cavaday was up against - wait for it - former champion and multiple Grand Slam winner Martina Hingis. Could the draw have been any more cruel?

At least Cavaday could go out and hit a few shots and try her luck. And she did just that. Hingis, just back from injury, looked rusty but Cavaday was playing well. She won the first set on a tie-break but after failing to convert two match points in the second set, Cavaday started to tire and was whitewashed in the final set to go down 7-6 5-7 0-6 . 

Cavaday has played as much in the last few months and had a notable victory in New Haven against Natalie Vierin of Italy in qualifying, although she failed in her next match against Tatiana Poutchek who got her revenge for her loss at Birmingham last year.

The good news for Cavaday, however, was that she had just squeezed into the qualifying event at the final major of the year, the U.S. Open.  Being ranked around the 230 mark meant she was near the cut-off point, but with players withdrawing late through injury, Cavaday got her place and made full use of it.  After a good 6-4, 6-0 win in the first round she last night defeated Ana Perianu of Romania in three tight sets, winning the decider on a tie-break.

The young Brit now has a final qualifying match against Germany's experienced 28-year-old Sandra Kloesel, a seasoned professional. Cavaday has already guaranteed herself a place in the world's top 200 when the rankings are released at the end of the U.S. Open and if she can go further in the tournament she can really boost her ranking further and enter more main draws where both bigger points and more money lie in wait.

Cavaday sure has a lot of talent and promise, let's hope she uses it.