poll, which junior to reach the highest ranking in the mens game??

CourtCrazy · Social player

RE: poll, which junior to reach the highest ranking in the mens game??

The Knight · Challenger qualifying

great to hear your opinions CourtCrazy, not sure many of us had picked out Broady as the one to watch, he possibly hasn't played enough tournaments really to gain the attention that the others do, plus there was a feeling his progress had slowed somewhat. I think what you said about Golding is spot on and what quite a few of us would assess of him

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Many thanks, CourtCrazy. It is so difficult to get information about the juniors, when you are not able to get to see most of them at all. Just looking at their results can be so misleading as you never know how much these are affected by luck or extraneous circumstances. You can't beat first hand information!

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I totally agree Madeline. It is really hard to form an opinion when I never watch these guys. I saw a bit of Ollie Golding on TV at Wimbledon, but nowhere near enough to form an opinion. I'm not certain that anybody can say with much accuracy how well a junior will develop, unless the child in question is truly precocious like Nadal or Murray. The LTA certainly never rated James Ward, yet he is now out number two player.

I wonder if anyone expected great things from James Blake when he was 16 or 17? it took him several years to progress to the top level from there, though I do realise that he went the college route. I think in countries like France and Spain, they are not too concerned about exactly who will make it. They have enough good coaches and facilitiies to go round and such depth in numbers that inevitably some of them will get to the top.

Some friend of mine think we keep our kids in the juniors for too long. When they start playing the adult game, they struggle with the levels of power....

I'm looking forward to the season starting again!

Steve

indiana · Tennis legend

I do agree it is so difficult to tell which top juniors will come through.

And great as it is to see prodigies coming through smoothly from the junior to the senior ranks, never discount that some develop later, some develop early, seem to plateau and then come again.

Who is the 2010 ATP World Tour Newcomer ? Some bright young guy that has smoothly joined the senior circuit and surged up the rankings ? No, Tobias Kamke of Germany, aged 24, who started the year WR 254 and is now WR 67. He says : "Every year I have my goals and I reached them before I expected to this year. We make new goals every week with my coach. I'm No. 67 now and I didn't expect that at the start of the year." We have such as Cox, Evans, Milton, A Ward, Rice and Smethurst in the 300s and 400s at ages 20 and 21, similar or indeed mostly better than Kamke at the same age. They can yet come through as Kamke and as others in the past, while many top juniors now from many countries we know from experience just won't make it or will plateau ( indeed maybe seemingly reverse a bit ) and then come again later.

As steve said, look at our James Ward too, indeed Tim Henman didn't exactly come through quickly, we can be too quick to decide a guy isn't going to make it.

The real thing as steve says is to build a structure that gives you the numbers of decent players from which a few special ones will emerge. At the moment among 1993 and 1994 boys, we have 3 guys that look really good, Golding, Morgan and Broady but at the moment some gap before the next best. For all 3 to really make it would be a pleasant surprise, will 2 ? will 1 ? who knows, maybe yet some unconsidered young player will advance strongly in the next few years past some or all of them. But the more numbers you create at all levels, the more should ultimately succeed.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Maza1987 wrote:

it's really a flavour of the month thing with this type of stuff.
so i went with edmund.
but if you wouldve asked me after wimby, obviously i would of went with golding.
and if you asked me maybe 1 month ago, i would have went with broady.
things may change again for me after the next 3 big juniors tournies. lol

-- Edited by Maza1987 on Monday 29th of November 2010 01:28:59 AM

and now i would like to change my pick to george morgan.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

That was my first thought - but the poll is which one will do the best in *senior* tennis - and that is still up in the air, I suppose. We'll have to wait and see (but the waiting and seeing should be interesting)

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Hmm - and now George has won the Orange Bowl. If we had started this poll a fortnight later I bet he wouldn't have been so low in the voting!

steven · Tennis legend

Madeline wrote:

Hmm - and now George has won the Orange Bowl. If we had started this poll a fortnight later I bet he wouldn't have been so low in the voting!

We're a fickle/suggestible lot! wink

steven · Tennis legend

Btw Colette Lewis from zootennis has responded to Guy McCrea's request for comments by saying that our new no. 1 junior "has great court sense, anticipates well, is creative, has a good serve, & is tactically sound. Movement needs improving."

She is talking about George there, but she could just as well have been describing Laura!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Good. Movement can be improved, I'm not sure court sense, anticipation and creativity can.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I wonder how much the crap weather worked in his favour? I bet there weren't many competitors who have played as much tennis as George in wet and windy weather! Congratulations to George, anyway! Let's hope he makes a good transition into the men's game. I can see he already has a handful of ranking points.

Has his win been covered in the media at all? I think it merits at least a one liner.

On an unrelated point, the list of Futures and Challengers for 2011 on the ATP website is nowhere near quality of the SteveG website. Its a shame, but SteveG must have spent several hours a week uploading results.

steven · Tennis legend

stevemcqueen wrote:
Has his win been covered in the media at all? I think it merits at least a one liner.

It's got more coverage than we cynics might have expected:

BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/9280316.stm
Daily Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/8199701/George-Morgan-win-in-Miami-hints-at-fruitful-future-for-English-tennis.html
Daily Express - http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/217250/Orange-Bowl-championships-Bolton-s-George-Morgan-on-his-way
ESPN - http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/62282.html

Maza1987 · Challenger level

i went from golding to broady to edmund to morgan and now im back to broady.
let's see what george and kyle do in oz to change my fickle mind.