Entries Week 41 - 07/10/2013

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Entries Week 41 - 07/10/2013

Salmon · Tennis legend

You have to back yourself to do well in such situations, to be honest. No one wants to be stuck in Futures forever and it's a risk that you have to take at some point of time. If you can't back your talent to step up a level, will you really fight back when you are a set down on Centre Court? (I'm not saying that it's the case with Cox, obviously, because the last thing anyone should accuse him of is giving up easily.)

I would say that Mr. Evans is making the same 'mistake' by not backing his unmistakable talent and playing Challengers, instead of Tour qualies, where he has just as much a chance of being successful. Simply being ranked higher doesn't make anyone a better player but playing against the top guys arguably does*.

Of course there are many constraints, like you say, and being ranked higher always works wonders for sponsorships, but unless it is a dilemma between quitting tennis and not, you have to be prepared to take risks. Or else you'll soon be old and no one will be funding you in any case.

* Actually it's more complex than that, I'm sure. It's not like Evo's groundstrokes suddenly became better after spending two hours on court against Nishikori. It's more of a mental thing and understanding your game better.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Post scriptum: This is not about any particular player, but if you don't have enough confidence to beat players ranked 50 places ahead of you, you'll not make it in tennis in any case.

Now look at Kyle Edmund. That's a boy who backs his talent.

RJA · Hall of fame

Salmon wrote:
I would say that Mr. Evans is making the same 'mistake' by not backing his unmistakable talent and playing Challengers, instead of Tour qualies, where he has just as much a chance of being successful. Simply being ranked higher doesn't make anyone a better player but playing against the top guys arguably does*.

I can't really agree with this. His objective at the moment is top 100 by the end of the year and playing challengers is probably the best way to get there. All being well he will soon be playing qualifying in tour events.

RJA · Hall of fame

Salmon wrote:
Now look at Kyle Edmund. That's a boy who backs his talent.

Yes, but look how he is scheduling at the moment. A mix a challengers and futures that allows him the chance to play against players ranked well ahead of him but also allows him to continue picking up points and getting wins under his belt. Cox seems like he will also mix challengers and futures for a while and Evo is hopefully at the stage of mixing challengers with some main tour events. Smart scheduling is about getting the balance right.

Salmon · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
Salmon wrote:
I would say that Mr. Evans is making the same 'mistake' by not backing his unmistakable talent and playing Challengers, instead of Tour qualies, where he has just as much a chance of being successful. Simply being ranked higher doesn't make anyone a better player but playing against the top guys arguably does*.
I can't really agree with this. His objective at the moment is top 100 by the end of the year and playing challengers is probably the best way to get there. All being well he will soon be playing qualifying in tour events.

seagull · Hall of fame

Corrie is playing the USA futures but Cox isn't so suspect he is going back to Europe

seagull · Hall of fame

Looks like an LTA trip to Israel this week as well with a good few youngsters playing there.

RJA · Hall of fame

paulisi wrote:
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

Last year they announced the January / early Feb events in mid October. The full Calender for the first half of the year wasn't released till much closer to Christmas

korriban · Challenger level

I think 3 US West Coast Challengers in 3 weeks is an eminently sensible approach for Dan Evans at this point, rather than an Asian ATP qualifying route and having to travel/change countries/languages over the 3 weeks "on his own". From a continuity perspective it makes sense (language, training, travel), and there's probably a financial angle too for him, the LTA and other GB players who also happen to be making this trip. I also think there's an argument that he might do best with Challengers in terms of points collection, and by no means will the US Challengers have weak fields either.

Snippets from various posts on this Board suggest he will end the year with another Challenger swing of 3 tournaments in 3 weeks, most probably in Asia, although the US also offers 3 IH tournaments in 3 weeks around the same time.

There is a thought also that after his first 3 week Challenger tour in the US, his new representatives, Lagadere, may be able to swing him an ATP MD WC in Europe, most probably in Moscow or Basel. The timings for Moscow look horrible, because he would be on a plane from the West Coast of the US, straight to Moscow (I make that 10 or 11 time zones), and it's probably only something he'd do if he happened to lose early in US Challenger #3. If he went deep in that tournament, I don't see why he'd even bother. Basel is the following week, giving him time to recover, so makes much more sense.

If it were my call, I'd do exactly what Dan is doing.

-- Edited by korriban on Friday 20th of September 2013 07:46:35 AM

Salmon · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
Salmon wrote:
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.

I admit that I don't follow entry lists like I once did, but am I missing something here? Had he bothered to enter, Evo would have been 5th Alt at Tokyo and 6th Alt at Shanghai. Wouldn't it take a minor miracle for him to not get through, given how many people rack up injuries/niggles by now? On top of that, KL/Bangkok qualies are going to be very weak, there is no doubt about that.

You can argue about the utility part, but I fail to see how he couldn't have strung in some tournaments in Asia. Unless there's something I'm missing, I suppose...

On a different note, it's good to see that Cox is resting/training this week.

freerider · Futures level

maybe evo plans on going to one of these us training camps after the three challengers too?

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I don't think it was a difficult decision for Dan to make. He has had great success in the US over the last couple of months, and I think that will continue. Sacremento and Tiburon are both $100k events with 100 ranking points and $15k for the winner. This is plenty! I don't know what his thinking is for the rest of the year - if he gets the wildcard for a European event, he may want to remain in Europe. If he does get the wc, that will be 4 weeks of tournaments, he'll then need some time off.

I'm hoping that the USTA will be streaming these tournaments!

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, like korriban, I think series of good competitive challengers make eminent sense for Evo.

No harm in the odd ATP qualifying though I don't see it as any priority. Indeed, I would be rather concerned if Evo was foregoing such challengers at this stage that he and/or folk about him were getting a bit carried away by recent successes

philwrig · Hall of fame

According to the tournament website Robbo has a WC into Osaka.