Getting pretty excited about Kyles next match up, plenty of time for Anderson, I agree with previous posters in that he has the best all round game of the guys over 6.5 feet in height. Hopefully the surface will take the edge off his serve, but a great opportunity for Kyle to develop.

I am not one for moaning about players in development, Kyle has been so steady in his upward trend he has left many of his more celbrated contemporaries for dead. He has been successful in sustained incremental improvement in his game, it is always good to reflect on where he was this time last year and realistically he is at least two years away from his peak years. No real PR hiccups, no crass interviews, I just hope he stays fit. Onwards and upwards I feel is the general trend.

Jaggy1876 wrote:

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indiana wrote:

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Since when was top 40 a definition of an ATP level player ??

Does seem far far too restrictive and I wonder as to the supposed status of the majority of players in your average ATP 250 tournanent. That majority are not top 40 anyway. We apparently have ATP level tournaments being routinely played with relatively few ATP level players.

But it is a definition though that rather conveniently ties in with some recent very strange ( to my mind ) doubts re Kyle and Aljaz's ATP statuses.

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 Maybe because you can't play Challengers when you are top 40 Indiana. Let's see what happens though. When Kyle and Aljaz are regularly going deep in ATP 500 and Slam tournament we ll revisit this topic. For now the facts are there and it is what it is.

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Actually it is Top 50 players that can't enter Challengers without a WC.  Been doing my nerdy bit and came up with this from the ATP Rulebook.

2) Players positioned 11-50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings twenty-one (21) days prior to the first Monday of the ATP Challenger Tour tournament are prohibited from entering but may receive an ATP-approved wild card in order to compete in the Challenger tournament. The Challenger Supervisor will make wild card determinations consistent with the limitations outlined below. Players positioned 11-50 are also prohibited from entering, accepting a wild card or competing in ATP Challenger Tour tournaments that offer less than $75,000/64,000 in on-site prize money plus Hospitality.

At the end of the day, we all have our own criteria as to what classifies a player as a "top" player and discussing those differences of opinion is always fun.  So is a player ranked 41-50 an ATP player or Challenger player ?  All I can say is that after tomorrow's match with Anderson, I hope that distinction wont matter any more

Go Kedders

Coup Droit wrote:

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I agree that Kyle has had a bit of luck in his two first round draws - they weren't the hardest. And, of course, he may possibly get thrashed in the next match.

But what I think people sometimes forget is that many/most of the other players who are ranked 10-40 will have had a serious bit of luck in some of their big counters, it's just the way things go.

On a British forum, as opposed to a French forum, people seem to be more black and white about how they view results/players. I've mentioned it before - it's quite noticeable - and I think it's because GB fans only have one or two guys in each category, so that player's matches/weaknesses/whatever are really put under the microscope.

On a French forum, a player who is ranked 45 in the world may play a lousy match, or have awful overheads, and people won't focus too much on it - everyone accepts that all the players play lousy matches, or have technical issues, and they'll remember when their players ranked 11, and 21 and 25 also had poor matches etc., and they came through it.
And they've got so many more players to focus on, that the lousy match doesn't seem so lousy anyway. I'm not saying they won't analyse it (there's sometimes very technical analysis on the forums) but there's more perspective about the path and the process, in my view, that comes with having so many more players, at all stages.

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 Yes, Kyle has had a fortunate draw so far, but this is just payback for the tougher assignments he has had in previous weeks. 

CD, I think your comments re the perceptions of home players on British and French forums offers some insights into the differences of the mindsets of the English and French.  The English and especially the English media just love to slag a person off after a poor performance.  The French are more relaxed about this and accept that people in all walks of life will have good days and bad days.

I think of it quite simply re level of players:

1-50 - ATP level players who can get into all ATP events they choose to

51-100 - hybrid, the mixed zone. Can play most/many ATP events, also can and do choose to play Challengers eg Dan this week.

101-200 - Challenger players, can get into some ATP events but ply their trade in Challengers

201-300 - another mixed zone, can get into many if not most Challenger events but also play Futures - Brydan a classic example recently

301- down - Futures level , yes they might try their hand in Challengers qualies and get the odd weak field at that level but these are Futures players.

Right now Dan, Kyle, Aljaz are in the mixed zone and possibly about to move up to ATP level. Aljaz played a bunch of challengers recently and Dan is playing one next week and week after.

Brydan and Cam are in the challenger and future mixed zone, evidenced by Brydan mixing and matching this season and he is close to being a challenger level player but not quite.

Rest of our guys are clearly Futures players who give it a go now and then - the guys going to Korea and playing qualies in challenger events are evidence of that. Again, one or two might make the jump but for now are futures players

indiana wrote:

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JonH wrote:

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Biggest match of Kyles career today in grand slams at least?

 

No. In last year's US Open he reached a stage further and played a certain Novak Djokovic for a place in the QF. Kype had beaten John Usner at the L32 stage.

Though just two Slams ago to be fair some might have thought / convinced themselves otherwise reading some comments.

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 good win for Kype over that Usner chap!

Ps amazing how quickly I forgot that result!

I am supposed to be working out in the gym on a Saturday morning, but I seem to be getting much more exercise, jumping up and down to livescores than I ever would in the gymnasium.

#VamosKedders