Week 38- Challenger- Bangkok 2 ($35,000) Thailand, (Hard)

seagull · Hall of fame

RE: Week 38- Challenger- Bangkok 2 ($35,000) Thailand, (Hard)

seagull · Hall of fame

3-EATON, Chris GBR/GOODALL, Joshua GBR d. ALVES, Thiago BRA/BHAMBRI, Yuki IND 76(4) 61

helki · Futures qualifying

Unfortunately, in the SF match Goody & Eaton lost to the Ratiwatana's 6-3 3-6 [4-10]. cry

SMC1809 · All-time great

Steven, doesn't James get a smiley for last weeks efforts?

steven · Tennis legend

SMC1809 wrote:

Steven, doesn't James get a smiley for last weeks efforts?

I'm afraid not - he was seeded to qualify and then played a lower-ranked player in R1, so effectively R2 was where he was seeded/ranked to get to.

I always do it this way when a qualifier was seeded to qualify in the first place and plays a lower-ranked qualifier, LL or WC in R1. The only way to get the smiley you're talking about when you have only beaten lower-ranked players is if one of those players beat a seed (or other higher-ranked player) before they got there.

Hopefully the 8 points will be adequate compensation for not getting a smile

on the table. LOL wink

Shhh · Challenger level

steven wrote:
Hopefully the 8 points will be adequate compensation for not getting a on the table. LOL

James won 9 pts last week surely?

steven · Tennis legend

Shhh wrote:

steven wrote:
Hopefully the 8 points will be adequate compensation for not getting a on the table. LOL

James won 9 pts last week surely?

Pressed the wrong key - it's correct on the table.

lilygotsilly · Newbie

Can someone clarify why in the world they play two challenger events back to back followed by and ATP event in the same location??

James · Satellite level

lilygotsilly wrote:

Can someone clarify why in the world they play two challenger events back to back followed by and ATP event in the same location??

They may have considered that for the majority of players who locate themselves mainly in Europe and the US it can be expensive to travel to East Asia and often completely illogical if it is for only 1 week. However if there is the opportunity to play 3 events in succession without too much travel in between it is both convenient and better economically.

The challengers may also be a way to ensure qualifying at the ATP event isn't merely a procession of doubles specialists as can be the case with ATP250 events.

steven · Tennis legend

lilygotsilly wrote:

Can someone clarify why in the world they play two challenger events back to back followed by and ATP event in the same location??

In order to make it worth the trip for as many players as possible, I assume. The Challengers did seem to be strong (by the standards of Asian Challengers) and 23 of the 32 players in the second Challenger's main draw stayed on to play qualifying and/or main draw in this week's ATP event, so it seems to have worked.

lilygotsilly · Newbie

@James, Steven - Thanks so much - didnt think of it that way - so in other words this is a new concept and maybe kind of a "test" or "experiment" to find ways around the world economical state at the moment. A win win for the players and the tournament and probably eventually the TV guys.

I also know that tournaments in asia is relatively new and still under the guide of the ATP as compared to older tournaments and established countries. So the ATP is going to watch out for their own which makes sense.

Am I correct in assuming this has never been tried before?

One further note -- alot of challenger events have initiated or been moved to that third week in september - right in the middle of this Bangkok Triumvirate - so competition amongst tournaments is high at this time of year and the draws are pretty thin now in places such as Slovenia, Slovakia and Turkey. the Triumvirate seems to be a great way of attracting a better draw without dishing out the extra prize money.