An interesting concept - a year-end tournament for the seven highest-ranked ATP players under 21 + one WC: http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/05/italian-tennis-federation-wants-to-host-under-21-tournament/58492/#.VzqrT-T-uC5
Sounds a really good idea - and it's great that they're thinking about what happens after the Big Four, growing an awareness of younger players, helping people to make the transition, etc. Fascinating, though, insofar as the news story seems to assume, though the ATP may not, that you couldn't qualify for both this and the WTFs.
Then again, the AP account is somewhat depressingly sloppy all around - couldn't anyone just have checked the ranking lists?
-- Edited by Spectator on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 05:34:29 AM
My big fear with this is that the younger players who are transitioning, getting in a lot of matches which they would of course need to do to get so high in the rankings, while at the same time are still developing physically, are already having too many demands placed on them. Rest in the off season is important particularly with the younger players and it is short enough already.
Whilst I'm sure the event could prve to be a great money spinner, I think this is a bit of overkill.
Good point, BiS - but presumably it could be timed so as not to cut too much into the off-season - perhaps at the same time as the WTF, and if you qualify for one, you skip the other?
WTA already do something similar. It has been such a huge success that obviously no one realised it exists!
What ages is that one for? The top U21s in the women's game are a lot let likely to prove future stars that those on the men's side.
It's for 'Rising Stars' - a nebulous definition at best - best definition I have seen for it is: under 23 and not yet having won a title in the top 3 tiers of the women's game, and also not yet having made the top 10 in the WTA rankings.
They also have a 'Future stars' event which is for ages 14-18, by invitation, but is used more to get young players from developing tennis nations some exposure - so Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia all sent representatives last time.
WTA already do something similar. It has been such a huge success that obviously no one realised it exists!
What ages is that one for? The top U21s in the women's game are a lot let likely to prove future stars that those on the men's side.
It's for 'Rising Stars' - a nebulous definition at best - best definition I have seen for it is: under 23 and not yet having won a title in the top 3 tiers of the women's game, and also not yet having made the top 10 in the WTA rankings.
They also have a 'Future stars' event which is for ages 14-18, by invitation, but is used more to get young players from developing tennis nations some exposure - so Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia all sent representatives last time.
Ta ISF! I have to say that the men's version sounds a lot more appealing to me but I'm not sure how much that's down to the more clearly defined format, how much due to my personal more detailed following of the men's side and how much due to the current crop of youngers coming through in that age bracket in the men's game.
The "Rising Stars" one is the one where people can vote on at least some of the candidates, no? If that's correct, I think its nebulousness - and the sense that it could be a "who can organise supporters best" contest - never made it particularly appealing. The ATP format sounds much more sensible.
The "Rising Stars" one is the one where people can vote on at least some of the candidates, no? If that's correct, I think its nebulousness - and the sense that it could be a "who can organise supporters best" contest - never made it particularly appealing. The ATP format sounds much more sensible.
Yes, very prescient, as that is exactly what has happened. It has been a bit like Eurovision voting, or, indeed any fan vote on the WTA where either Aga or Simona are in the nominees, the others might as well not take part as the vested interests of the most rabidly organised fan bases pile in irrespective of the merits of other entrants. So it has been with the 'Rising Stars' event so far. Ons Jabeur made last years edition - a player for whom I have no small amount of sympathy given the extreme political interference in her career, but she was not a worthy choice there on merit. The level of tennis on show has mostly been well below normal tour play, and below even that excused by exhausted players at the end of an arduous season.
The ATP iteration sounds like an improvement, but generally I personally think that every event, every week of the calendar at large, is potentially a future stars/NextGen/Rising Stars event. If the truly best opponents are excluded by design and the field has been thus de-stacked to remove them, it's still nice to win something like that, but is it not, by very definition, devalued?
Barring one, the GB men's Nextgen cohort have been very quiet in the past few months - Jay has clocked up some amazing results and got many people excited, and rightly so. And George Loffhagen had a super run in Uganda.
But the rest of our 21-and-unders were conspicuous by their absence.
Suddenly, though, we seem to have had an uptick.
18 year-old Paul Jubb has set the forum alight with his results, and story. And will now be 750 or so in the world, on the basis of a couple of months.
16 year-old Jack Draper (next-nextgen) is slaughtering the opposition in Slovakia and will arrive on the ranking scene with a blast, not a whimper. George Loffhagen is showing it wasn't a fluke, and adding to his total extremely nicely for a 2001-born.
Finn has a marked a few points, and some decent scores. Aidan has got his first win for a while and, again, a decent score.
Ryan Storrie made the finals of the 25k in Ireland.
Ewen Moore made the finals of the 15k in Slovakia.
Jonny Gray is having a good run in Belarus.
Even players like Joel and Alexis seem to be playing well and close to having a bit of a break though.....
-- Edited by Coup Droit on Friday 10th of August 2018 09:28:05 AM
Jay is currently 19th in the "Race to Milan" which effectively is 18th as Zverev will qualify for the WTF in London. Jay would hopefully be in with a great shout next year*, as some in the race will age out and be too old as well as Jay getting into higher ranking tournaments.
*one or two amazing runs would see him rocket up there this year though.
