Hmm, Kyle certainly doesn't hang around too much if it appears he senses things not right and /or he's landed with Greg Rusedski !

Yes his ranking has been flattish which in itself is no biggy at this time, but a bit more of an issue has been that over the first half of the year he has had less to defend. His year to date is more reflected in his race position of #71.

He has had some very good looking performances in defeat to absolutely top players such as Wawrinka, Djokovic and Nadal but lacks top 50 wins this year - only two this year by now in June - vs Pouille, then WR 15 who retired a set and a break down and vs Evo, then WR by 44 ( Evo himself for instance has had 6 top 50 wins this year though that's it for now! ). Also a few rather bad losses when it just didn't seem to be happening. There has been a bit of a lack of consistently bringing near his best to the table for whatever reasons. His best actually looks rather good and that is encouraging, with some elements showing improvement, but the overall wins have not been there as would clearly be hoped for.

Overall I hardly think it's crisis time, but it is about the most serious looking stall Kyle has had in a previously impressive consistent upward progress. He may now indeed need something / someone new to help re consistency of performance, though what is not technical may possibly more ultimately come from within.

Kyle is 22 and already featured in the top 50. I love the fact he is so good on clay indeed already arguably one of the best British players on clay ever, perhaps Andy has been better over the last two years, I don't think Alijaz counts from a development perspective. Kyle is no slouch on hard, and has a junior Wimbledon SF on grass to his name.

Dan didn't even come close to that sort of pedigree at 22 (even at 27) and I will never forget Kyle taking Dan apart to win a Challenger final in Dallas which was the point at which they both really stepped up to the ATP tour only 18 months ago. Much though I loved watching Dan play, although talented at no point has he possessed a weapon to touch Kyles forehand or serve, his skill set is much more about changing the tempo of a point, particularly taking pace off.

At no point in his career has Dan ever looked fit, top 20 and beyond is all about fine margins and Dan is just not intellectually or emotionally wired for the top 20 let alone top 10. Dan was always overweight for an elite athlete, had more of a fit amateur who liked a pint, a bit of a dewlap and some handles. Kyle in comparison respects the fine margins, recognises them and over the next 4/5 years will incrementally shave them. This is his first year as a full time ATP touring pro, he is just learning to live that way and how to start working on the margins. Andy has been a fabulous mentor and I have every confidence Kyle will continue to commit. We see the outcome of how the players live their lives and not the mundane day to day.

Comparing Dan (love him) with Kyle is not really like for like and a bit of a distraction when looking at top 10 potential. Kyles progress compares very well in terms of his rankings trajectory by age with the likes of Dominic Thiem. The fact that you can see weaknesses in Kyle's game for me means there is just more potential for improvement. Given Kyles attitude and temperament assuming, he stays fit, the only outcome I can see is a top 20 player possibly top 10 by the age Dan is now.

Bob in Spain wrote:

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So Dan is facing a length ban, Hilts is probably out of a job and 2 days later Kyle fires his coach. Coincidence ?

To be fair, I think there have been massive improvements in certain areas of Kyle's game under Ryan Jones, most notably for me on the backhand. His movement has also improved although there is still room for more improvement in that area.

Kyle still needs to improve his net play among other things and there is no doubt that Hilts is "King of the Volley Game", having witnessed that first hand on training camps in La Manga. So maybe Kyle sees this as a chance to work with a volley specialist.

Or maybe I am putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5. Just to be 100% clear, this is all pure speculation and I have no insider information at all.

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 speculation but interesting nonetheless!  It is also where my thoughts went..

Bob in Spain wrote:

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So Dan is facing a length ban, Hilts is probably out of a job and 2 days later Kyle fires his coach. Coincidence ?

To be fair, I think there have been massive improvements in certain areas of Kyle's game under Ryan Jones, most notably for me on the backhand. His movement has also improved although there is still room for more improvement in that area.

Kyle still needs to improve his net play among other things and there is no doubt that Hilts is "King of the Volley Game", having witnessed that first hand on training camps in La Manga. So maybe Kyle sees this as a chance to work with a volley specialist.

Or maybe I am putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5. Just to be 100% clear, this is all pure speculation and I have no insider information at all.

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Mike Dickson of the Daily Mail is tweeting that Kyle is working with Mark Hilton this week in Atlanta.  I wonder if this is now permanent, or perhaps a short "test" period leading up to the US Open to see if they gel together.

Personally, I think this is an ideal fit for both Kyle and Hilts right now, so I hope it works out.  Certainly hasn't done Kyle any harm this week.

Kyle has now made the main draw of Montreal being promoted from 1st Alt. Apparently Stan Wawrinka has withdrawn from both Montreal and Cincinnati.

In total looking at counting ranking points from the start of the year to this stage Kyle has virtually replicated 2016.

He ended 2016 WR 45 with 1,001 points ( 551 from 14 counters prior to the US Open plus 450 from 4 counters US Open to the end of the year.

Next Monday he will have 1,007 points ( 557 from 14 counters this year and those 450 from 4 counters last year ).

Being just ahead of that first 8 months' points he has understandably held around the same ranking as at the end of last year. He is currently WR 45 ( live ranked 44 with some players who could pass him ).

Last year then brought that strong back end from the US Open ( 180 points ), Beijing ATP 500 (110), Shanghai ATP 1000 (70) and Antwerp ATP 250 (90) that raised his ranking from WR 84 going into the US Open to WR 55 immediately after it and that year end WR 45. This year he will have to overall repeat just to basically hold that year end ranking and improve on it if he is to rise. Got to get more matches into the win column to have a chance of that.