Naomi Cavaday

Naomi Cavaday

Country (sports)	United Kingdom England
Residence	Chislehurst, Kent
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$157,970
Singles
Career record	134-77
Career titles	0 WTA (3 ITF)
Highest ranking	No.174 (10 May 2010)
Current ranking	No.192 (14 June 2010)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	-
French Open	Q1 (2008)
Wimbledon	1R (2006–2008)
US Open	Q3 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	22-27
Career titles	0 WTA (2 ITF)
Highest ranking	No.242 (8 February 2010)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	-
French Open	-
Wimbledon	1r (2007–2009)
US Open	-
Last updated on: 8 February 2009.

Naomi Kathleen Cavaday (born 24 April 1989) is an English tennis player from Sidcup, Kent. She is currently the British No.4, and is ranked No.199 in the world (as of 1 March 2010). Her current coach is Rob Smith. She was formerly coached by David Felgate, the long-time coach of Tim Henman. So far in her career she has won three ITF singles titles and one ITF doubles title and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No.183 (achieved 24 March 2008).

Personal life

Naomi's mother is a sport psychologist and her brother has played tennis at county level and currently plays in America for North Carolina State University. Up to the age of 13 years old Naomi studied at Bromley High School before getting a tennis scholarship to Queenswood School in Hertfordshire. She has also studied at the highly prestigious Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Naomi has taken a course in journalism and creative writing and has expressed an interest in becoming a sports journalist when her tennis career is over.

Career

Junior (2004 - 2007)

Naomi competed on the junior ITF tour from May 2004 to July 2007. She was a quarterfinalist at a total of nine tournaments, one of which was the 2006 Wimbledon girls' championships where she lost to Urszula Radwańska, 3-6 2-6. She reached the semifinals of the ITF Junior Cup Copenhagen, Danish ITF Junior Tournament and the Optus Nottinghill International and was a finalist in the Malta ITF Junior Tournament, Safina Cup, French Riviera International Junior Open and the Tournoi International Juniors de Beaulieu sur Mer. She won one junior singles title at the Istres International Junior Tournament in April 2006 where she also won her only junior doubles title in the same year. Her best result at the Australian Open Girls' junior tournament was a first round defeat at the hands of Alizé Cornet, 1-6 6-7⁽⁵⁾, in 2007. She participated in the French Open and U.S. Open junior Grand Slams only once, losing in the second round of qualifying for the French and the second round of the main draw of the U.S. Open where she lost Tamira Paszek, 6-4 4-6 0-6.

Her career-high junior combined ranking was world No. 23 (achieved 19 March 2007) and her win-loss records for her junior career were 55-21 in singles and 28-19 in doubles.

2005 - 2006

Cavaday made her debut on the ITF tour in January 2005 and in only the fourth professional tournament of her career she qualified and beat Isha Lakhani, 6-4 6-1, in the final to win the event. Nevertheless, she finished 2005 without a world ranking.

In January 2006 Naomi qualified for and reached the semifinal of the Tipton $10,000 event and at the start of February she competed in her first ever $25,000 ITF event in Jersey where she was beaten, 4-6 1-6, by Anne Keothavong in round one. One month later, Cavaday qualified for Sunderland $10,000 and reached the final where she was defeated by Gaelle Widmer in three sets, 1-6 6-3 1-6. This was immediately followed by a quarterfinal appearance in the $10,000 ITF in Sheffield and a semifinal appearance in another $10,000 event, this one in Bath, where she lost to up-and-comer Urszula Radwańska, 6-7⁽¹⁾ 3-6. In her very next tournament she yet again lost in the semifinal before receiving a wild card into the tier III DFS Classic qualifying draw in Birmingham, England. She won one tough three set match against Tatiana Poutchek, 7-6⁽⁵⁾ 3-6 7-6⁽⁶⁾, before losing another to Hungarian Melinda Czink, 6-3 5-7 5-7. This was followed by Naomi's first ever Grand Slam main draw appearance, courtesy of a wild card into home Grand Slam Wimbledon. She played Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama and lost 4-6 5-7. During September and October, Cavaday played in one $10,000 ITF tournament (where she lost in the quarterfinal) and three $25,000 ITF tournaments where she reached the semifinals, quarterfinals and second round. She rounded off her 2006 season in Australia with three more $25,000 ITF tournaments in Mount Gambier, Port Pirie and Nurioopta where she reached the quarterfinal of the first tournament and the first round of the other two. Her year-end ranking of 2006 was world No.401.

2007

During January and February of 2007, Naomi competed in two $25,000 ITF events in Great Britain and reached the quarterfinals of one of them. She then headed to the USA in March where she won eight consecutive matches to qualify for and win the $25,000 ITF in Orange, California. In April she reached the quarterfinal stage in another $25,000 tournament, this one in Jackson, Mississippi. She reached the semifinal of Palm Beach $25,000 in May before heading back to England and playing in the main draw of the tier III DFS Classic courtesy of a wild card where she beat Vasilisa Bardina, 6-2 6-1, in round one. She was then demolished by Marion Bartoli, 3-6 1-6, in the second round. She was immediately given a wild card into the qualifying draw of the International Women's Open, a tier II tournament held in Eastbourne, England. She was beaten in a tight two set match by Youlia Fedossova, 6-7⁽²⁾ 6-7⁽⁴⁾, in the first round. A third consecutive wild card allowed Naomi entry into the main draw of Wimbledon for the second year running where she was drawn to face a resurgent former multiple Grand Slam champion in the form of Martina Hingis on Court 2, the "Graveyard of Champions". The court almost held true to its name when Cavaday had match points in the second set but failed to convert them, eventually losing 7-6⁽¹⁾ 5-7 0-6.

After Wimbledon, Cavaday played one more tournament on grass, the $25,000 Felixstowe (where she reached the quarterfinal), before heading to the USA in preparation for the U.S. Open qualifying tournament. She was given a wild card into the qualifying draw for the tier II event Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven where she fell just short of qualifying, losing to Tatiana Poutchek in three sets in the final round. She then headed to the U.S. Open qualifying for the first time in her career where she also lost in the final round of qualifying in three sets, this time to German, Sandra Kloesel. After this, her ranking was high enough to enter her into qualifying for the tier III Sunfeast Open on merit. She won two matches to qualify before falling in the first round to Ekaterina Ivanova, 3-6 6-2 2-6. This was then followed immediately by Cavaday attempting to qualify for the tier IV Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships but again losing one match short of qualifying for the main draw. At the end of the 2007 season, she played four more $25,000 ITF events (reaching the quarterfinal of one, the semifinal of another and round two in the other two). She then attempted to qualify for the ASB Classic, a tier IV event in Auckland, where she lost to Ahsha Rolle in the final round, 2-6 2-6. Her year-end ranking was world No.196.

2008

From the start of 2008 until the French Open, Naomi competed primarily in $50,000 and $75,000 ITF events. She reached the semifinal of New Delhi $50,000 (losing to Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets, 1-6 3-6) and the quarterfinals of Patra $50,000 and Monzon $75,000. In May she competed in the qualifying tournament of the French Open for the first time in her career but lost, 3-6 5-7, in the first round to Stefanie Vögele. In June she received another wild card into the tier III, DFS Classic where she dominated Jill Craybas with her tricky serve and impressive forehand in the first round to win 6-0 6-4 before going on to lose in the second round to Indian Sunitha Rao, 6-4 3-6 1-6. Compatriot Elena Baltacha then beat her in the opening round of qualifying for the tier II International Women's Open in Eastbourne in straight sets, 2-6 4-6. Another wild card granted Naomi access to the main draw of Wimbledon for the third year running where she was drawn to face defending champion and 12-time Grand Slam finalist, Venus Williams. She led Williams in the first set but eventually lost, 6-7⁽⁵⁾ 1-6, in a match which led Williams to suggest that Cavaday could go far in the game with coaching from her father Richard Williams.

Following Wimbledon, Naomi hit a patch of bad form, winning only two of her next six matches including losing in round one of qualifying for the U.S. Open to Kristína Kučová, 6-1 3-6 1-6. Following this, Naomi did not play any more matches in 2008 due to a viral infection which saw her unable to train properly for the next three months and struggling to climb flights of stairs. It was the first serious setback Naomi had been faced with in her young career but she gradually recovered and began light training once again in November in preparation for the 2009 season. She said of the setback, "As an athlete it was very worrying". Her worldwide ranking at the end of 2008 had fallen to No.268.

2009

In her first event since the 2008 U.S. Open qualifying tournament, Naomi entered Wrexham $10,000 in January as a wild card and the No. 2 seed. She reached the semifinal before being overcome by fifth seed Claudine Schaul from Luxembourg, 2-6 0-6. The very next week she reached the quarterfinal of the $25,000 tournament in Sutton before falling to compatriot Katie O'Brien, 1-6 1-6. She then entered the $25,000 ITF event in Stockholm where she was beaten by Tatjana Malek, 2-6 1-6, in the semifinals. At the 2009 WTA International AEGON Classic in Birmingham she received a wildcard, and overcame Julie Ditty and twelfth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn to reach the third round.

WTA tour and ITF circuit titles (5)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tour Championships (0) Premier (0) International (0) ITF Event (5)

Titles by surface Hard (3) Clay (2) Grass (0) Carpet (0)

Singles (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	6 November 2005	Pune $10,000	Hard	Isha Lakhani	6-4 6-1
2.	18 March 2007	Orange $25,000	Hard	Karin Knapp	6-1 6-1
3.	3 May 2010	Brescia $25,000	Clay	Andrea Hlaváčková	6-2 6-4

Doubles (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	3 May 2009	Johannesburg $100,000	Hard	Lesya Tsurenko	Kristína Kučová & Anastasija Sevastova	6-2 2-6 [11-9]
2.	3 May 2010	Brescia $25,000	Clay	Anastasia Pivovarova	Iryna Kuryanovic & Valeria Savinykh	6-3 6-7(5) [10-8]

WTA tour and ITF circuit runner-up (5)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tour Championships (0) Premier (0) International (0) ITF Event (5)

Titles by surface Hard (3) Clay (1) Grass (1) Carpet (0)

Singles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	12 March 2006	Sunderland $10,000	Hard	Gaelle Widmer	6-1 3-6 6-1

Doubles (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	28 May 2006	Budapest $10,000	Clay	Georgie Stoop	Antonia Xenia Tout & Nataša Zorić	6-1 6-2
2.	23 September 2006	Nottingham $10,000	Hard	Claire Peterzen	Georgie Stoop & Emily Webley-Smith	3-6 7-5 6-4
3.	8 June 2007	Surbiton $25,000	Grass	Elena Baltacha	Karen Paterson & Melanie South	6-1 6-4
4.	6 February 2010	Sutton $25,000	Hard	Anna Smith	Irini Georgatou & Valeria Savinykh	5-7 6-2 [8-10]

Grand Slam performance timeline

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Career Win Loss
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	LQ	0-0
French Open	A	A	LQ	A	LQ	0-0
Wimbledon	1R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	0-3
U.S. Open	A	LQ	LQ	A		0-0

• "A" stands for any tournament the player did not participate in.
• "LQ" stands for any tournament where the player lost in the qualifying draw.
• The career record is only for the players main draw participation.

External links

• Naomi Cavaday at the Women's Tennis Association
• Naomi Cavaday at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Template:ITF junior profile