steven wrote:

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Bob in Spain wrote:

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QF : Billy Harris WR 952 v Juan Ignacio Ameal (ARG) WR 1002 (CH 552 July 2015)

Ameal has just taken out the 8th seed 1&2 so is clearly on form.

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Excellent R2 win for Billy He has played Ameal before, edging him 6-4 5-7 7-6(8) (wasn't that the match that went on for hours?) in R1 here only last week.

 

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Good spot.  Didn't realize that.  Let's hope Billy can repeat his win from last week and make his first ever SF.

It went on for 3 hours 30 mins last week.

Good point, Bob. Beware those folk that just spout out stats

Certainly Ewan and Ali would be top 1000, being just outside even now.

Though again if all those players from different nationalities weren't going to college then it would be tougher to break the top 1000 ( and other levels ) with ranking points generally harder to obtain at futures level. I wonder how GB's undoubted increase in such college players over the years compares with many other countries. I'd imagine on the high side even against most European countries given our greater US links and perhaps language though so many people do speak English, but I don't really know.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 6th of July 2017 07:57:39 AM

L16:  (1) Laurynas Grigelis (LTU) WR 251 defeated (Q) Ewan Moore WR 1047 by 3 & 2

Bob in Spain wrote:

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indiana wrote:

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It also looks possible that we may need a Ewan R2 win to save us having both the men's and women's #25 outside the top 1000 at the same time.

That certainly hasn't happened in the last year or at the quarterly points Steven has recorded over recent years so maybe not for quite some time.

To be fair, if so, it will still be close in both cases, and the men are rather queued up on 10, 9 and 8 points. And there is I suppose nothing really particular about #25, but it is an interesting tracker point and of course linked to the top 25 tables. And it's not great if both our #25s are out of the top 1000 and also almost both in single figure ranking points.

As Steven says that's unless someone comes in next week with challenger level points that would add next week and change things.

But looks all down to Ewan to beat the top seed in R2 here to avoid this fate. You better win, mate  

Anyway that's the lower ranks and depth that have concerned many. But meantime at Wimbledon, what a day !!

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I wonder how much this stat is affected by the numbers of people now taking the US College route.  I get the feeling that this route is more popular now than a few year ago and so we lose (temporarily) a number of the younger players who would otherwise be climbing the rankings ladder.  As examples, there is no doubt in my mind that both Ewan and Ali Gray would be substantially higher in the rankings had they played a full season instead of being at college.  As I don't follow the college tennis scene that much, I don't know if there are too many others in the same situation but I strongly suspect there are, on both the men's and women's side.

 

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I've talked about this in the past (I call it 'the Borwell effect', though she's not solely responsible!) and I think it continues to be a more significant effect on the women's side than on the men's side.

With a sudden increase in the numbers going to college in the US, you'd expect the number of Brits in the top 1000 to drop temporarily but if college was a good thing, you'd then expect that to improve again (and perhaps more to make the top 500 and better) once the first group of players graduated and had been on the pro circuit full time for a year. 

However, that won't be the case if, after 4 years of college, those who could have made at least the top 1000 decide to specialise in doubles (which playing at college always seems to encourage) or to do something else entirely. That's bad for us as GB (singles) tennis fans, in terms of having fewer players to follow on the pro circuit, but of course it could be argued that it's better for the players themselves if they otherwise have just been hanging around in the 500-1000 range for a few years.

SF:  (1) Laurynas Grigelis (LTU) WR 251 vs Billy Harris WR 952

Yay, well done Billy

These 6 points so far on top of last week's point certainly will demolish his CH 915 from May. Takes him for now up to GB #19 and a live ranking of 828.