Interesting article, few points to make. 250 will be tough to achieve before the end of the year due to the 2 finals at the end of the year to defend, although it is definitely possible. Also, the article states that he plans to play those tournaments again. Last year it proved a bad idea, as he appeared to suffer from burnout the first few months of the year.

Maybe it would be better if he took a decent break at end of season, forgot about Aus Open qualies and started fresh next year with a view to getting back to around the 200 mark by Wimbly?

so his tourney schedule is: Glasgow 15K, Barnstaple 25K, Eckental 25K, Helsinki 25K, Shrewsbury 25K, then two futures in Czech Republic or India (I'd think he'll go for the Czech ones as there's 15ks while Indian ones are 10Ks plus accomodation, practise conditions, food etc is less than salubrious for Indian futures )

I guess he's keeping playing right till the end of the year because of those pts to defend from last yr....not defending either of those 15K finals would be a huge chunk out of his ranking. I don't think burnout was the issue at the start of this year...he pulled out of Aussie Open qualies due to "personal issues."

Burnout shouldn't be a factor next year cause although Josh has played a lot of tourneys in 2007, he hasn't played that many matches till September with the number of early losses he's had. Matt Smith got burnout after a 2005 season where he played close to 100 matches. Also he went on competing till 3rd week of Dec....Josh should have around a month's break.

It's good to see him aiming high, top 250 is a tough ask but little to defend...if he does well in Glasgow and gets a big run in one of those 25ks, he should be close.

I think he should play Aussie Open qualies, the prize money for losing in rd1 qualies pretty much covers the expenses so there's nothing to lose and the potential rewards are so high. Josh tends to rise to the big occasion, with his track record in slam qualies, if he's on form he's probably got one of the best chances of making a good draw count.