Week 41 - ATP Masters 1000 - Shanghai, China (Hard) - doubles

Jan · Hall of fame

RE: Week 41 - ATP Masters 1000 - Shanghai, China (Hard)

Jan · Hall of fame

6-2 to KA in the 3rd cry

steven · Tennis legend

History repeats itself again

(3rd time James has been a set up against Anderson only to lose in 3) That's why Anderson is top 20 and James top 120, I guess.

L56: (Q) James Ward WR 119 lost to (16) Kevin Anderson (RSA) WR 16 (= CH) by 3-6 6-3 6-2

James did very well to qualify here though

LouieG · County player

Provisionally 110 now, do we think James will make the top 100?

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Double drat, he was a set up when I last had time to look.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Bovver bovver bovver, I was so exited when I left. I guess as steven says that's why KA's top 20, he can win dirty and has the confidence to turn round a losing match against a lesser ranked opponent.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

As has been said, that's the difference in rankings. Unlucky James but this doesn't take anything away from a good week, qualifying for a Masters tournament and beating comeback-Troicki.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Absolutely. He's up to 110 in LR and 107 in the race. I'll take that. CH I think.

paulisi · Tennis legend

LouieG wrote:
Provisionally 110 now, do we think James will make the top 100?

Very little to defend until Feb/Mar. One or two decent tournaments going forward would probably be enough. Will need net 70-80pts.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

James played an excellent first set but couldn't keep his level up, and KA got better. A very creditable performance against a top 20 player. Plenty of positives though, and there will more opportunities to push forward with his ranking next week. I wonder if he is going to be playing the European Challengers in November? He does have around 40 points to defend before the end of the year. A couple more good performances and he'll be close to making the cut for the Aussi Open...

goldenboy · Club Coach

shame James couldn't keep up the first set efforts, though Anderson is no mug.

interesting to see what James does next. Wonder if he'll try to qualify for one of the ATP250s next week else a couple of weeks rest/training might be best, given he's been playing and travelling a lot!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

LouieG wrote:
Provisionally 110 now, do we think James will make the top 100?

In Sim's predictions, I had James at WR 80 (I think) for the end of the year, so YES, absolutely, and if he could get a move on, that'd go some way to making up for a disastrous punt on Goodhall . . . cry

Seriously, it's great to see him mixing it with the big boys. He's got some reasonable counters in reserve so his ranking is a bit more stable (which takes some of the pressure off). And why not ? it's never a straight line but it's all moving in the right direction . .

LouieG · County player

I'd love Ward to end up with a better career high than Andrew Castle

RJA · Hall of fame

goldenboy wrote:
shame James couldn't keep up the first set efforts, though Anderson is no mug.

interesting to see what James does next. Wonder if he'll try to qualify for one of the ATP250s next week else a couple of weeks rest/training might be best, given he's been playing and travelling a lot!

I would hope that he plays qualifying for one of the ATP 250s next week (or a week off if he feels that he needs one) then qualifying in Valencia and finally qualifying in Paris. After that he should put his feet up for a few weeks and then have a few weeks of preparation for next year. The only guys who should be playing deep into November are those who have a bad season, or have been out injured, and are desperately chasing points. A bit of time off and proper preparation for next year is much move valuable than another 50 or so points from a couple of challengers even if those points would take him into the top 100.

RJA · Hall of fame

LouieG wrote:
I'd love Ward to end up with a better career high than Andrew Castle

biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin