Don't forget Rhett was a highly ranked junior and never really transitioned to seniors. He only seems to be playing sporadically, but hopefully this might be the incentive to give it a proper go.
He was only ranked JWR 71 - it's not that high (given that junior rankings revolve every two years or so and therefore a junior top 100 ranking bears no relationship at all with an adult ranking i.e. because there are zillions of top 100 youngsters over a decade say, and comparatively few adults).
I'd be interested to know his training base and set-up.
He played pretty much non-stop for the first half of the year - 10 tournaments over 5 months. And then a big gap. Similar things last year (although different time period).
And almost exclusively in China (little bit of India/Australia/Vietnam thrown in). Hasn't played in Britain since late 2014.
Linked to having Jamie Greenhalgh as his coach maybe...
Rhett takes another career best ranking scalp just a day after taking the last one to make his first 10K semi-final, and he did it from a set and 2-4 down AND an early break down in the 3rd!
Tx, freerider, I believe that his coach is from New Zealand, and Rhett was born there/went to school there. Quote from an article last Decemeber:
"Purcell, 19, was born in Gisborne, schooled in Hawke's Bay, London and Sacred Heart in Auckland and plays tennis under the British flag, including at Junior Wimbledon last year. Although he's not getting into any debate about who he should represent if his tennis takes off on the professional circuit."
Still don't quite understand why it's practically 99% China where he plays. Maybe Greenhalgh works at an academy there and Rhett is based with him and a group go round the events in China ?
China is surely an easy place live cheaply. Food doesn't cost much, I'd imagine you might be able to get fairly cheap accommodation as well. Also could you argue the fields are weaker than Europe/America?
Rhett's junior ranking is not one to scoff at if you value college tennis in any way. At CH of 71 he would have had his pick of American elite college tennis programs although I agree not a weighty starting position for transition to the main tour via the futures route.
Recently had a chat with a coach in the U.S. who despite being relatively mature loves playing (fair to say lives to play) as high a level of competitive tennis as possible, has won regional Southern California tournaments and generally coaches to earn money to eat and play. He was raving about the Vietnamese futures events in terms of opportunity, affordability and a generally fantastic experience for him.