So am I right in saying James has cracked the top 500? If so, can I remind people of Edwards comments of.....well, not bothering!!!
Every increase up the rankings obviously creates more and more opportunities. 1oo is a rough guide to playing on the ATP tour, 300 the Challengers and a ranking of 600 would get you directly into virtually all Futures events. 500 dosen't mean anything of significance.......nothing at all......I have wondered why on earth its written about so often here yet, when I saw the latest James Ward result the first thing I thought was "Ah, he's cracked the top 500 then!"
Does this mean reading this site has got to me......is there any hope left
My fault mainly, I'm afraid - since I started doing the top 500 table for the GR site (the precursor of the top 25 table today), I've been referring to the number of Brits in the top 500 as a measure of the depth of the men's game - e.g. the fact that we hit a medium term high of 20 in Oct 2005 and two years later, we were down to just 7, 2 of them retired. Nobody had broken up into the top 500 in between and a lot had almost got there then fallen away, so in that sense it was looking like a big barrier for players to cross.
Also, I'm sure I once read that getting to the top 500 enhanced players' status within the ATP in some (fairly minor) way, but I can't remember how and I have't been able to find the reference again, so I might be imagining it.
I don't see anything wrong with (briefly) celebrating someone getting to such a round number, but you're right about the approximate levels that really matter and I'm certainly not surprised that it's not seen as a big deal by the players.
It probably doesn't mean he's got there anyway btw - the current no. 500 does have 52 points, but from less tournaments.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!