Training groups/Academies

RJA · Hall of fame

RE: Training groups/Academies

Spectator · All-time great

Thanks for the link to the article about the three young Yorkshirewomen. What a tremendously impressive group! Hope they continue to do well on both academic and sporting fronts.

Spectator · All-time great

Just struck looking at the Champaign results and Steven's marvelous chart by the successes this year of the "Gosling 3" - all of whom have advanced over 200 places and done so from a higher level, where large increases are tougher than they would be from a lower base. Well done to the Gosling Team!

More generally, the average movement of the top 25 is +108. If you take out retirements (JB) and semi-retirements (AF, AB, JG ) even leaving in players who have had illness or injury (OG, AM), it's 162. Not bad. (And, of course, all due to get even better after this week!)

PS: The women's figures would also be impressive (though couldn't really be compared, as many of the gains have come from a lower base) - but I'm not sure how one would get precise figures because of the assorted new entries from UNR positions. Is there a statistical convention for UNR?

-- Edited by Spectator on Thursday 14th of November 2013 06:02:11 AM

steven · Tennis legend

The only thing I ever managed to come up to deal with UNRs was to treat those unranked at the start of the year as having had a ranking equal to the number of ranked players at that stage + 1. That's what I use for the percentages at http://bit.ly/18vdxBu, which are based on how much closer to no. 1 (or further from no. 1 if negative) players have got since the start of the year.

That method is not very satisfactory for all kinds of reasons (e.g. on the one hand, this method still tends to overrate rises from a low base and from UNR a bit, while on the other hand, some of the men's new entrants have negative percentages this year because the number of ranked players globally has gone up from 1985 to 2183 since the start of the year) but it's hard to come up with anything better without making it a lot more complicated.

I should probably also say (stating the fairly obvious, I know!) that taking an average of the movements of the current top 25 alone is likely to make things look a bit rosier than they actually are because rises for players who have entered the top 25 should be offset against falls for those who have dropped out, but it has undoubtedly been a very good year for the men in the rankings, so I'm certainly not disagreeing with your comments, and you are right that the Gosling 3 in particular have had a stand-out year!

Salmon · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
From a disgusting article in the Daily Mail after Katie lost to Kraijeck at Wimbledon 2007. And no, it's not tongue in cheek or a joke. Attitudes are thankfully changing

"O'Brien, you may recall, is famous for being double handed - playing Wimbledon with one and sitting exams with the other. That was three years ago when taking A levels in mathematics and French as well as competing (and losing, of course).

She was praised for her hard work and versatility when, of course, she should have been condemned for allowing education to get in the way of sport. Where exactly do maths and French fit into the requirements of a leading sports person when accountants can be employed to add up the millions and the common language is English?

You would never have found the likes of the adolescent Steve Redgrave, Wayne Rooney or Ricky Hatton, to name but a few, anywhere near a pen and paper and invigilator.

That's the trouble with our young women tennis players. They are too brainy. Too interested in improving themselves when all they should be concerned with is improving their serve, backhand or conditioning."

What did I just read! disbelief

Salmon · Tennis legend

But Rooney is a proper man of letters, isn't he? 28 years old but he has already written three books!

LOL

Josh · Challenger level

Who are the 'Gosling 3'?

Rice, Corrie and...

steven · Tennis legend

Josh wrote:
Who are the 'Gosling 3'?

Rice, Corrie and...

They've been tweeting about Dan Cox as if he is one of theirs. George Coupland is too, I think, again going by their tweets.

indiana · Tennis legend

I would say that a much more accurate way to look at top 10 / top 25 progress over a certain period is to compare the average rankings at the end of the period of these in the top top 10 / 25 with the average rankings of these in the top 10 / 25 at the beginning.

As Steven says, to use the same group at the beginning clearly inflates the overall progress, particularly with these breaking in at the lower end of the range.

Should still look good for the top 25 men in the last year.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
I would say that a much more accurate way to look at top 10 / top 25 progress over a certain period is to compare the average rankings at the end of the period of these in the top top 10 / 25 with the average rankings of these in the top 10 / 25 at the beginning.

As Steven says, to use the same group at the beginning clearly inflates the overall progress, particularly with these breaking in at the lower end of the range.

Should still look good for the top 25 men in the last year.

Your wish is my command

Current Avg Ranking for Top 10 : 260.7

Last Year Avg Ranking for Top 10 : 302.2

Current Avg Ranking for Top 25 : 423.6

Last Year Avg Ranking for Top 25 : 473.9

For "Last Year" read the equivalent ranking list 52 weeks ago. So the Top 10 average had come down by 42 places whilst the Top 25 average has come down 50.

indiana · Tennis legend

I had considered doing the calcs, but thought why bother when there are various candidates ready and willing to do so.

Thanks, Bob !

As we felt, been going very much in the right direction, but good to see the figures.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Just looking at the locations for the High performance centres and all bar Bolton are in the south of the country. Nothing in Scotland or yorks/NE any reasons?