James Ward has navigated one of the difficult barriers of men's professional tennis. Moving from 500 to 275 in one year has been a hard slog with tournament appearances nearly every week, but where in the past he may go deep one week and straight out the next he has found more consistency and claimed his first Futures Titles.Ward is one fo the Brits who is able to play on all courts and sufaces though prefers Outdoor Hard. Next year requires the step up to Challenger level and some ATP qualies.
Daniel Evans has had a great year on the court and a difficult one off the court. Perhaps if he had not got himself banned form LTA funding whilst he was in his purple patch he could have gone even higher. A greta leap up the rankings and three Futures Titles, breaking into the top 500 by year end is a major improvement. Perhaps underperformed in the junior slams?
Josh Milton became the king of Futures L32. Needs to step up next year and go deeper into futures tournaments but has quietly crept into the worlds top 750 and regularly beaten oppnents of calibre.
Burnham Arlidge came from nowhere to become one of the most improved tennis players worldwide (by ranking improvement and results versus higher ranked opponents)
Andy Murray became one of the big 4 this year. Back to back Masters Series titles, a maiden Grand Slam final and some fantastic wins over Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. He has added extra bulk to his physique, zip to his serve, greater speed, strength, accuracy and a better temperament.
In the end though, I decided our best male is also our most improved male.
He had so much less scope for improvement than any others this year, but hiis second half of the season was so dramatic, and I am sure outstripped virtually anything anyone here was expecting.
From a top 10 player with great prospects for the future, he moved up several levels and became a deseved member of the Big Four.
