So, going live with these votes - but don't worry, no one will miss out as I am leaving them longer. This first round will last 30 hours and so it will close at 3 pm Wednesday 31st Dec. The final will then be posted at that time, and also run for 30 hours through to around 9 pm Thursday 1st Jan.
15 players in each group in this round - top 6 plus any ties will go through to a 12 player plus final.
From that final, 5 will qualify for the Player of the Season vote that starts at the weekend
The groups are drawn randomly but it was linked to the way in which they were nominated - the eagle eyed will see how it panned out - but we have equal numbers of women and men, in essence, in each group.
You may see your favourites clashing - that is inevitable in such a big field but with 6 plus going through, there is a good chance everyone will see their favourites survive to the wildcard final
1.Savannah Dada-Mascoll - the most unexpected history making breakout year. A relative unknown before September, by November she had become the headline of the college fall season. Achieved a 32-4 college record for the calendar year (34-5 inc ITFs). Her 13-2 college record for the fall semester includes wins over 9 ranked opponents including opening the semester with a shock upset over the then No 1. In October, she was Carolina region co-champion, which is the most loaded draw of the womens regionals. She rewrote Appalachian State history. In a dream fall semester, she became the program's first-ever NCAA singles qualifier, first NCAA singles match winner, first All-American, NCAA quarterfinalist, and capped it all by achieving the highest singles ranking in program history by some distance: No. 5 nationally. When asked what she would have said if she had been told when arriving on campus in August she was going to achieve what she has the past few months she replied, I wouldn't have said anything; my jaw would have been on the floor. Savannah Dada-Mascoll is not just a player who had a great year - she is the embodiment of what Player of the Season should represent: excellence, resilience, and history-making achievement. Her journey from unknown to national All-American is the kind of story that inspires teammates, fans, and the future of college tennis. Vote for Savannah Dada-Mascoll: because this season wasn't just remarkable - it was unforgettable.
4. Hamish Stewart - Hamish also was prolific in winning titles this year, taking 8 in total as of end of November; 1 singles and 7 doubles at ITF level. He also managed to significantly improve his rankings, at the age of 26, almost halving both singles (to around 338) and doubles to 249) in a year where he made significant strides. Expecting more from him in 2025, but those 8 titles get him on the list.
5. Jake Fearnley - Starting the year at WR99, Jake maintained a top 100 ranking throughout the year, despite struggling in the second half of 2025 as he embarked on only his second year on the main tour. He reached a CH of 49 and was GB #2 for part of the year, having won his first main draw matches at ATP500 and ATP1000 level in 205, as well as rounds at the Australian, French and US Opens.
8. Victoria Allen - having reached WR 671 as an 18 yo in 2019, then largely out of the collective consciousness for a number of years, particularly with being at college in the US, the now 24 yo has had a really good proper initial pro season. W35 Quebec City singles title plus 4 doubles titles, the highest being W50 Nottingham (with Millie Rajecki). Began the year unranked, as of 29/12 she has a singies ranking of 440 and a doubles ranking of 327, both close to her CHs. GB #15 in singles.
9. Oliver Crawford - after a largely uneventful first season since switching which saw him start his second year ranked down in the 400s he's given us more a sense of what he's capable of in his second year, breaking back into the top 200 for a CH 183 in September and reaching his first Challenger final since becoming a British player and the third of his career
12. Wake Forest University Brits (Luca Pow & Charlie Robertson) - Charlie and Luca made outstanding contributions in helping Wake Forest win the NCAA championship, the ACC regular season title, the ITA national indoor championships and a record 40 team wins. Charlie went on a 2 month unbeaten run and gained a reputation of being the most clutch player by regularly winning the team point that gave Wake Forest victory. Luca went on an incredible 21 match unbeaten run in the midst of 30 wins in the Spring and backed that up in the autumn by reaching the NCAA singles QF giving a calendar year college record of 42 wins 7 losses.
13. Brooke Black - Starting at around 1275, she managed to rise over 550 places to near 700, and did more in doubles with a 700 plus position rise. And she did this on a partial schedule, she only played 28 singles and 25 doubles matches. No spectacular titles or wins, just solid, consistent progress over the season.
16. Billy Harris - one of our hardest working players, Billy has struggled to get past the first round for much of the year after an initial good spell in India in February - but in September he finally won a title at Challenger level, the CH75 in Cassis. Up until that point, he was the highest ranked player without a challenger title. Despite a generally difficult year, he ended the year with the much the same ranking as he started, at around WR125.
17. Cam Norrie - Cam began the year in poor form, slipping down to WR91 at the beginning of May, but he started to turn his year around after that. He reached the fourth round of the French Open and the quarter finals at Wimbledon before capping the year out by beating WR1 Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters and reaching the final of the Metz ATP250. All this has lifted him to a year end ranking of WR27.
20. Alice Gillan - the 27 yo ended last year at WR 616 with a CH 614. She steadily rose 150 places to a CH 466 in July, being WR 491 at 29/12. Won 2 W15 singies singles titles, in Spain and Malta, though her best week was probably being RU in the Nottingham W35 in May where she beat former WR 26 Tamira Paszek (then WR 389) before ultimately losing in a 3 set final to the top seed Marni Banks WR 321.
21. Harry Wendelken - 2025 has proven a breakthrough year for Harry, someone a lot of people thought could go far. In October 2025, he won his first challenger title, the CH50 title in Crete (Challenger 6) where he came through as a lucky loser, beating players like Dennis Novak and Zapata Miralles. From a start point of 673 he rose to 315 in the rankings, halving his ranking over the year. One of several British challenger title winners and he deserves the plaudits like the others!
24. Johannus Monday - in his first full year on tour moved up from WR 371 to WR 234 at 29/12 ( with a CH 212 in October ). Won 2 M25 singles titles early in the year and, after a tough looking / learning few months, in October reached a Challenger 100 final in between 2 Challenger 75 SFs.
25. Blu Baker - Blu missed all of 2024 dealing with elbow surgery, a ruptured eardrum and mononucleosis. He had previously reached 608 in the rankings. In 2025, he came back and put it all behind him. Two M15 singles titles and an M25 doubles title later, hed won 69% of his singles matches this season and fought back to 673. An amazing effort and surely he will be well into the top 500 if he keeps fit into 2026.
28. Ryan Peniston - the LTA article posted by The Addict inspired me to go and nominate Ryan - he makes a full house of British Challenger winners now nominated, winning one of the Crete Challengers , Crete V, and also winning two M25 titles as he rose from 455 to 217 (halving his ranking) over the year and getting back into the AO qualies list for this coming event. At age 30, a great comeback after injury thwarted what could have been the highlight of his career
29. Greg Slade - ditto, The LTA article from The Addict's post, reminded me the breakthrough year that Greg had, reaching a Wimbledon final in the quad doubles and improving his singles ranking from 18 to 9 over the year. He also won back to back singles at the Bolton ITF events in the Spring, a great season for Greg.
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Tuesday 30th of December 2025 09:46:03 AM
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Tuesday 30th of December 2025 11:00:41 AM
The randomness of these groups hasn't been kind to me. All my shortlisted options are in this group. But one stands out above all the rest.
Vote Savannah!
For all the reasons in my narrative, how could I note vote for her? She came from seemingly nowhere to be the talk of the Autumn college season. And her spring season was not too shabby either with just 2 losses.
There are several players here who deserve to be in the final, but my vote goes to Cam for the way he came back strongly in the second half of the year after looking at one point like he was going to quietly slip out of the top 100.
The randomness of these groups hasn't been kind to me. All my shortlisted options are in this group. But one stands out above all the rest.
Vote Savannah!
For all the reasons in my narrative, how could I note vote for her? She came from seemingly nowhere to be the talk of the Autumn college season. And her spring season was not too shabby either with just 2 losses.
I did think of you when I saw the way the groups formed! Sorry!!
The randomness of these groups hasn't been kind to me. All my shortlisted options are in this group. But one stands out above all the rest.
Vote Savannah!
For all the reasons in my narrative, how could I note vote for her? She came from seemingly nowhere to be the talk of the Autumn college season. And her spring season was not too shabby either with just 2 losses.
Personally I am definitely the opposite re the groups, with at least 3 in the other group who I would have voted for ahead of Savannah, and that's good for you, because here I am persuaded to vote for Savannah She just gets my vote ahead of Cam and Harry.
She just gets my vote ahead of Cam and Harry.
