Week 28 - Challenger (€42,500) - Portoroz, Slovenia (Hard)

Priesty · Challenger level

RE: Week 28 - Challenger (€42,500) - Portoroz, Slovenia (Hard)

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Looking forward to the second half of Kyles season. Still slightly frustrated by the general consensus that his schedule thus far is perceived by many on the board as shabby.

This time last year he had had a couple of futures wins and a couple of juniors doubles slams to his name, at the beginning of the year he was scrapping into futures main draws.

Careful analysis of his performances since Training with Andy in Miami show it has been pretty well thought out from a developmental perspective particularly if you ignore Kyles world ranking and focus on the quality of performance given the opposition and compare him to his level last year. ATP exposure and experience against in Chennai. Marsaeille and Miami resulted in first round elimination against the world number 25 ( now 33), 87 (CH 64), 46 (CH 26) all mature players with between 5-10 more years experience than Kyle plenty learnt no Bagels! He subsequently destroyed Futures fields in three consecutive tournaments with a hiccough in Bakersfield when ranked no 1. In fairness to Kyle Bakersfield is a bit of a shock to the system being to California what S****horpe is to Yorkshire ( or is it Lincolnshire) minus the thriving town centre! You wouldn't want to hang around.

Another respectable loss in Miami to the worlds no 46 (CH 26) before a tight loss in 3 sets in Mersin to Berrer a Wiley 34 year old ranked 122 but (CH 42). A great series of wins in Vercelli beating experienced players ranked 140 (CH 71) 172 (cH 116 ) and 132 before a tight loss in 3 following two sets going to tie breaks. Since that point he lost a futures tournement to the winner Torebko again 26 with a CH 182. Beat Brown in Helibrom WR 79 before losing to Martin WR 162 but as high as 119 in September.

Returned to England to prepare for Wimbledon and Lost in 3 steps to a 29 year old ranked 101 but (CH 29 in 2009) in Nottingham before beating the worlds no 109 (CH 47) and losing to Kyrgios the winner and subsequently vanquisher of Mr Nadal at Wimbledon (and there was a bit of groaning about that loss! Sorry coming over all Richard Wilson but that's a consequence of an invitation to join the Wisbeach mature dating site when logging on!!! Loses at Eastbourne to Querry wr 66 ch 17 despite a first set that went to a tie break and at Wimbledon to 27 year old Haider WR 95 (ch 75 ) again a second set lost on a tie break complete a pretty impressive first half of the year. The general level if competition has gone up a world ranking of 300 places and he has almost managed to maintain his WR.

Like many regulars as a fan it will be more fun watching him go deeper into challengers during the rest of this year but to be frank his developmental needs are different to the other Brits around him in their mid 20 s and have inched up their rankings by a series of good futures and challenger performances. I still feel Kyle will finish his teenage years in the top 200 which given this has definitely not been an objective this year bodes well for Kyle and British tennis when he begins to reach his peak at 22-23 years of age!

I wish him well today as I do all the other British players grinding out a living in what most be one of the most attritional and demanding ways to make a living in sport!!

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

This is the link to the Centre Court stream which should feature Kyle at somewhere around 5:30PM BST. There are some entertaining-looking matches on that feature Dan's possible QF opponent and the top seed.

www.tvole.com/

paulisi · Tennis legend

Interesting post Oakland - i guess it is down to how you perceive Kyle's schedule i.e is playing against higher ranked players and struggling to pick up points more productive than playing lesser tournaments against lesser players and building your ranking up.

indiana · Tennis legend

It is certainly an interesting and informative post from Oakland.

My own specific thoughts are a little different in emphasis from paulisi in that I see it more as an issue of experiencing bigger matches against top players being opposed to playing many more matches against a still very decent standard of opposition in challengers. It is the relative lack of competitive matches over the last four or five months and, linked to that, a lack of experiencing competitive situations that would for me be the possible concern rather than ranking points issues ( although all things being equal, ranking progress is still preferable, and he has overall still been moving in the right direction - it is more not how quickly he gets there, but how well equipped he is when he arrives ).

So, essentially I agree with Oakland that for Kyle, development must come above relatively short term ranking concerns.

The question really to my mind is whether exposing Kyle to this series of "events" and bigger time matches, which one would hope will come in time anyway, has been taken too far at the expense of much more continual regular matchplay development.

As Oakland has set out, Kyle has put in quite a number of impressive performances, which is good to see and highlights that he remains a really good prospect. But whether this has been the best way to go remains a real question mark for me.

One would hope this method of development has indeed been "pretty well though out", though I am not convinced that it hasn't at times been reactive and opportunist.

Maybe my concerns are largely misplaced. Individuals clearly differ, often quite markedly, and maybe for Kyle more high level / profile matches as against more regular decent level matchplay is better for him.

I really do hope to see him strongly progress over the coming years, and again Oakland is right that he is probably a number of years from reaching near his peak. But those are my general ongoing concerns.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

The match prior to Kyle has just started - and then just stopped again.

It is raining.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Looks like Kyle will be on very shortly as Kavcic is about to double bagel his opponent.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Sean and Ruben struggling - 6-3 4-0 down

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Kyle saves 3 BPs in the opening game to hold for 1-0*

PS I think the net is taller than the ball kid.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Tuesday 8th of July 2014 05:13:21 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Strong start. Kyle leads 3-0*

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Unbelievably bad line call in game 4 gives Semrajc an ace on Ad in. But Kyle keeps his focus and holds to love.

4-1*

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Oh dear. 3 UEs and a DF and we are back on serve.

4-3*

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Kyle struggling to win a point at the moment and serves consecutive DFs from 15-30.

4-5*

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

First set to Semrajc 6-4. It wasn't pretty.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Horrendous first set from Kyle...needs to forget those 5 games lost in a row and re-focus..