Genuine Top 100 Potential

MD · Social player

Genuine Top 100 Potential

john · Top national player

Nice post, welcome to the board.

I think some of the posters who take a particular interest in the Juniors, Arka in particular, would be best placed to assess our Juniors' chance of making it to the top. We have plenty of guys doing well on the Junior circuit but its just so difficult to tell how they will do when they make the transition.

Of the guys on the full circuit right now, I'd say Bogdanovic and Baker probably have outside chances of making it to the top 100 at some point, Slabba still has some way to go before he's a regular on the Challenger circuit so he's not there yet.

The worrying thing is there isn't one real standout guy who you can look at and say is tearing things up so much he's got a great chance to be a top player but I think George Morgan is probably closest. I believe his results are the best a young player has had since Andy Murray in this country.

Drew · Jun 4, 2008

Hi MD and welcome to the to britishtennis.net forum !!!

Excellent first post...good sign for the future

This question has been asked more times than I can care to remember...never an easy answer.

I was thinking that some players skirt around the top 300-400 and then in their mid 20's get a boost and get into the top 100. So looking at that scenario we have Slabba at 21 years old who still has the time and I believe the talent to be top 100. I would think that Boggo could probably get back their again. Not sure about Bloomfield...more hope for Baker, Goodall and James Ward I think.

There are plenty more guys early 20's who I could name but to move on to the youngers I think Dan Evans has the most potential. Followed by Cox. Im just not sure of their drive at the moment.

You also have to look at the likes of Seator, Alex Ward, Kasiri...its a bit of a lottery Im afraid for me.

I would not be surprised if we had the likes of James Ward, Slabba, Skupski, Evans, Cox all in around the top 200 fairly soon.....but top 100...thats an awful big step.

-- Edited by Drew at 22:30, 2008-06-04

Shhh · Challenger level

I think you are being a bit too optimistic there Drew, I dont think so many will do so well. I agree with what John wrote above but, in answer to MD I think thast none of our current 17/18 year olds have set the world alight yet and I doubt there'll be point scoring opportunities for many over the next month as the draws will be beyond there level. I hope however that at least one (if not two or three) may pull clear of the pack in the second part of the year as the next belt of home futures kick in.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Bogdanovic definately has the game to make the top 100; this we already know. It's whether he's got the mental stability to do so that is the question, but he's the best shot we have at the moment.

Baker doesn't have enough weapons to make top 100 I don't think, and while you can make it without them, you then have to be a clay courter, which he isn't, so I think top 100 may be out of his reach.

Slabba's is improving, but there's nothing in his game that stands out as being different and better to everyone else around the same ranking he is... big serve, big forehand, average backhand etc... needs to find something he doesn't seem to have to go top 100... top 200 will be the limit for him I'd think

From the juniors? Too early to say but none of them looks certain to make it the likes of Tomic, Young, Monfils did when they were/are cleaning up the Grand Slams - the results don't suggest that any of them can make it though

DJ · County player

This is a very interesting thread you've started, MD; welcome aboard.

Tiny · Improver

I Think out of the two age groups (89's and 90's) we will have at least one person in the top hundred and either doubs or singles. And to be honest i think Ricey has the best potential to do both top hundred doubs and singles. I have played him when he has played his best tennis and no one outside the top 200 would have beaten him. Plus he has such a big game that could drive very far forward in the mens game.

I beleive this is something that a person like cox will always struggle with, because of his height. Same with evans, althought he has alot of talent i think he will only get to top 200 or even 300. But this is still a very good position to get to in tennis.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

Welcome to the site. It a very hard to tell who will make the grad nowadays.

we are definatly held up by our lack of clay court ability as there are some many points avalible on that surface. Also i think that the ammount of world wide professional players is increasing so it will be mucher harder to be top 100 today than say ten years ago.

i still believe Boggo has the game to make the top 100, although i never belive he will be a good grand slam player.
of the rest current crop i dont see any others making it. Jamie Baker would be a possibility, but his game has to devlop further and he has to generate more wepons. he still only has 1 competive win over a top 100 player and to be fair that was only Peya.

i dont know the younger generation that well, Ward looks promising, but seems to struggle going deep into events. we will have to wait and see i guess.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Welcome, MD.

Boggo obviously has beaten enough top 100 players to prove that he is good enough, but he won't even get to the top 120 again unless he develops some consistency. Baker's still young (not tenniswise, but surely mentally) so he can improve a lot.

And we can always that hope one of Rich, Josh, Slabba, James Ward, Marray, Skupski and Morgan Phillips will do a very late turnaround and get there someday. Not much chance, but it's not impossible.

john wrote:
The worrying thing is there isn't one real standout guy who you can look at and say is tearing things up so much he's got a great chance to be a top player but I think George Morgan is probably closest. I believe his results are the best a young player has had since Andy Murray in this country.

15 year old Coxy's results were much better than Morgan's, in my opinion, even without considering the fact that Morgan's age and height has helped him a lot. Not saying that Morgan's a bad player - most contrary and he definitely has a chance.

Anyway, I think Cox, Evans and Willis and possibly Smethurst (in that order) have the best opportunities. Cox at least (and maybe Evo, too) would have made the top 550 happily by now (if you're beating top 500 players regularly, you'll join them soon) but his coaches don't want him to because the usefulness of losing in the first round of Junior tourneys on your worst surface is well known.

I, at least, don't believe that height is a factor that will keep you out of the top 100 (unless you are 5 feet 2 or something like that!) if you are good enough. You can always offset that disadvantage of having a weaker serve by being quick on court etc. which is normal for people with smaller frames.

Alex Ward could be good, too, but I want to see him win a few more matches first. Also, I won't count out Ed Corrie or Dyce becoming good enough for the pro game when they are out of college.

I'm not in favour of saying whether anyone is top 100 material before they start winning matches at Futures, so let me not go below this level. But George Morgan (born 1993) and Liam Broady (born 1994) are one of the best in the world in their age groups - although they both were born in the early parts of the year and hence have a big advantage over many other players. We'll see how good they are in one or two years, I guess.

Robxon · Lower Club Player

Greenleaf, you keep going on and on about Dan Cox regularly beating top 500 players. This year he has not beaten anybody ranked in the top 1000!.

He has entered 7 qualifying events for Futures this year and has only qualified twice. He may in the past be winning matches but he has only ever reached 922 as a career high of 10 points.

Whether Dan goes on to be a top 100 player or not (and I sincerely hope he does) his development has currently stalled. I don't know why but there again I have never spoken to him or his coaches.

I also don't understand why you are so down on Junior Grand Slams. If the option is playing a futures (or qualifying) when there are probably very few spectators, surely thes events are bigger occasions.

Salmon · Tennis legend

This year he has beaten Fattar and Seator (off the top of my head). The tournaments in Turkey were always a disaster, though - do we see Spanish boys coming to play Futures on grass or Americans travelling to South America?

I've no problem against anyone playing Junior Slams, but once you're winning matches at Futures, they count for nothing. The point about spectators you make is fair, but it's probably far more important to test yourself against quality players than it is to play in front of spectators.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 17:45, 2008-06-05

MD · Social player

Hey - thanks for all your thoughts and sorry for not responding sooner. First chance to log in. SInce Evo has a wild card at Queens, that may give us some indication as to what he might be capable of in years to come.

XCW4EVA · County player

haha, id forgotten all about Coxy's trips to turkey, he was really banging the points in over there!

Salmon · Tennis legend

I wish I could forget about them...

bobobobo · Improver

Height is going to have a massive factor on players potential. when you look in the top 100 you will see only a few exceptionally talented players such as rochus are much below 6 foot. I also believe favourite surfaces will have a big factor as a large majority of the top players are clay specialists. But at the end of the day it will come down to two factors - talent and desire, and i believe a group of youngsters like smethurst and willis along with ward and baker can make it

-- Edited by bobobobo at 19:23, 2008-06-10