Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive.... those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience
Where is my reply! Doesn't look like Activeboard has much love for Opera. Anyway, let me type it again...
Just the point I was making earlier. Evans has around 9 weeks of tennis left this year, so if he plays as well as he did at the USO and enters the top events wherever he is eligible (and fills the gaps with Challengers) he is going to end up in the top 100 in any case. So either he is not confident enough that he can repeat that success right now (which can't be a good thing no matter how the next year shapes up), or else he is ill advised. Or else I'm too radical, I suppose.
-- Edited by Salmon on Thursday 19th of September 2013 01:32:57 PM
Where is my reply! Doesn't look like Activeboard has much love for Opera. Anyway, let me type it again...
Just the point I was making earlier. Evans has around 9 weeks of tennis left this year, so if he plays as well as he did at the USO and enters the top events wherever he is eligible (and fills the gaps with Challengers) he is going to end up in the top 100 in any case. So either he is not confident enough that he can repeat that success right now (which can't be a good thing no matter how the next year shapes up), or else he is ill advised. Or else I'm too radical, I suppose.
I don't think you have really thought this through. Evo is playing challengers in California in weeks 39, 40 and 41. In the first of those weeks he could have played ATP qualifying in either Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur but for following 2 weeks there is no ATP tour option open to him unless he was to get a wild card. In week 40 there are ATP 500s in Tokyo and Beijing where the original cut for qualifying is 113 and 89 respectively. In week 41 the only ATP event is the Shanghai Masters where the qualifying cut off is 106.
So if you had your way then post Davis Cup Evo would have probably had just one full day off (Tuesday) before flying out to the Far East on Wednesday to play one indoor ATP tournament and then taking another long haul flight to play two outdoor challengers in California. Personally I think he is much better off having 3 days back home after the Davis Cup, possibly with some light training, before going and playing 3 challengers in similar locations in similar conditions. I don't see how scheduling like this possibly indicates a lack of confidence that he can repeat his success of the summer or that he is ill advised.
-- Edited by RJA on Thursday 19th of September 2013 02:35:49 PM
I'm with RJA on this - taking what's on offer into account and the most likely way of picking up the points needed to break into the top 100 and then not even having to qualify for many ATP events, I think Evo's scheduling looks about right.
Sticking with Challengers for a bit when you have the potential to play at ATP level is not, in my opinion, anything like as unambitious as sticking with home Futures when you have the potential to play Challengers.
-- Edited by steven on Thursday 19th of September 2013 02:52:14 PM
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
The initial entry list for the Sunderland futures is out and with many of the usual suspects from the British futures scene playing elsewhere it looks like a good opportunity for some other guys to pick up points. Ashley Hewitt will be the top ranked Brit in the field.
-- Edited by RJA on Thursday 19th of September 2013 03:00:49 PM
The only challengers in Week 42 are in France and Argentina so it's probably a good move (unless he will travel back to Europe to play ATP qualifying?)
Nice to see a few players that have been struggling at a higher level are having a go at 15K's - Smethurst, Milton, Rice, Corrie etc which may be the correct type of tournament for them at the moment.
Interesting to see the LTA put on a home tournament and the majority of the regular players electing to play elsewhere. Goodall has entered so a decent run(QF or better) may get him back into the top 500.
PS anyone know when the LTA will advise on UK schedules for next year? I'm hoping they will upgrade quite a few of the men's 10K's to 15K and throw in lots more challengers and suspect they may downgrade more of the women's events to 10Ks
-- Edited by paulisi on Thursday 19th of September 2013 03:42:32 PM
Yeah, I noticed that. So in week 42 he'll probably come back to Britain or play in another Futures in the US? Well, it's like riding a tiger...
If he plays a Futures in week 42, he jeopardises his prospects in a Challenger in 43 (assuming he reaches the finals) unless he gets a direct entry, so that could lead him to choose a Futures in week 43, which would lead to missing a Challenger in week 44. So to break the trend, he either needs a direct entry into a Challenger (not easy in the US/West Europe) or take a week off.
In short, I don't think someone ranked in the top 300 should be playing Futures when other alternatives are available. He is surely going to make the Australian Open qualies, so it's more about being ready for that.
Actually, in the unlikely case that he does want to play a Challenger in week 43, he'll probably get a direct entry given that the options are in Tatarstan and Australia. But I still stand by my main point - he shouldn't be playing in Futures any more (unless it's another wedding in Texas, hah!).
To be fair to Dan, when he previously got stick on here about basing his schedule around a wedding, I think there was a lot of adding 2 and 2 together to get whatever was wanted.
I believe all that was known was he was attending a relative's wedding back home and was playing home futures.