Player Discussion (Men)

talp · Junior player

Player Discussion (Men)

Shhh · Challenger level

One thing that does seem to be happening is that a small pack (Josh, Bloomers, Alex, Chris Eaton and James Ward) are moving up the rankings together. Jamie B. is still getting back to form whilst Boggo plays a small level above. This can only be good if they end up gee-ing each other along, its certainly happened with the girls.

There could well be a similar group form a couple of levels down amongst the 17-20 year olds though there is a bit of a gap between the two.

We've 7 players competing at challenger level this week which, apart from home tournaments, has been quite rare recently. I honestly believe about 6 of them may get through the first round with about half of that amount going further. Bearing in mind none of them defend any points this week, there does appear to be an upward trend but, to reach top 100, is it enough?

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i guess we dont have a sperate thread as it is a continuing thing as we discuss the various tournaments and entry lists as they appear.

Is is encouuraging to see several players at challenger level again as we had a bit of a dry patch at the level for a while (and would have 1 more if boggo wasnt taking a week off). Some are rising up to compete at this new level such as slabba and ward, others are kinda stuggling a bit and have slipped for various reasons, like bloomers and baker.

Boggo is, i feel, still quite some way ahead of the others, he slipped back a lot due to injury and a big loss of confidence but seems to have got him self back on track again. he has earnt double the points of any other brit save andy this year, in what hasnt bene regarded as a greta year for him,. and i expect him to still be Brit No 2 next year.

i dont really know what the youngsters we have coming through are like, but there certainly seems to be a few issues with disciple that need tobe sorted, tennis must be one of the hardest sports to succed at so i think you need full focus.

talp · Junior player

Ward , Eaton next year i feel will shine - 4 players in top 200 i think next year.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Barring injuries, I'd say that at the end of 2009, the British top 10 will look something like:

Murray
Bogdanovic
Slabinsky
Ward
Cox
Baker
Eaton
Goodall
Bloomfield
Evans/Seator

Boggo is still the best of the rest, and Slabinksy is the best of the others at challenger level at the moment - I think Ward and Cox will move up the rankings towards the top 200 next year as well, while Baker, Goodall and Bloomfield will stay around where they are now, with Baker the most likely to move up, although I'm not convinced about how high he can go without a real weapon. Eaton will be around the same point, but that will depend on him being able to find a way to win on slower surfaces and defending something from Wimbledon next year, as the 50 points are going to be crushing to his ranking. Evans or Seator will round out the top 10, which hopefully will be around the 400 mark.

seagull · Hall of fame

I see Neil Harman wrote in the Times today that out of the GB Top 10 onnly Baker has gone down in the rankings this year (for obvious reasons). Things certainly seem brighter than a year ago.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, plenty of blue in the 2008 column on the top 25 table - the top 25 mean are all up except Baker (illness), Tigger (retired), Kasiri (gone AWOL), Blake (not having a good year), Rushby (rumoured retirement), Brewer (only down a little) and Hewitt (ditto) and nearly half (12) are up more than 100 places.

Of course, taking the current top 25 conveniently leaves out the big fallers who have left the top 25, but it is looking better than at this time last year, and I think we called the bottom quite accurately a few months ago.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

whilst its encouraging that all of the top 10 bar JB are higher now than when they started the year, its also a bit diapiting thatall the more established brits (alex, rich, josh and of course jb) are all down on their career highs.
hopefully yhat only temporary tho.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

steven could you add career highs to your table? i know you * if they reach one, but might be nice to see (if it will fit)

i dont know how much time it would take to add in, but surely after cancelling the olympics pick em (its only once every 4 years after all!) i am sure you have the time

steven · Tennis legend

It's very easy, given that I've got the data already (because it's needed to star the current career highs), it's just a case of not wanting to make the table any wider.

Anyway, let's have a go -have a look at http://www.britishtennis.net/gbtop25m/current.htm and let me know what you think (preferably on the top 25 table thread where I'll post this explanation too) - I've taken on the CH "*" column and added an actual CHs column with a CH in bold (and gold) meaning the player is at their CH and non-bold meaning they aren't.

When they aren't at their CH, a green number means they are very close to their career high, amber that it is just about within range and red that they are seriously on the slide.

At the moment, the thresholds are set to 10% and 25% away, but that could be changed to something like within 10 and within 100 places if people would prefer that.

P.S. We didn't CANCEL the Olympics pick 'em, we were never going to hold it in the first place. furious

-- Edited by steven at 21:16, 2008-08-04

Salmon · Tennis legend

No, within 10 and within 100 won't be a good idea, I think? 10 places outside the top 500 means nothing.

Actually I'm not very much in favour of indicating how close or far away from their CH a player is, but probably that's just me! The whole concept of adding a CH column is great, though.

talp · Junior player

looks like few players will be moving up this week