I see Dan Little has moved up to the No 1 slot at Utah, playing there in the PAC12 means some tough math ups, he now has a national rank of 98 and although Utah recently took a hiding by both Stanford and Cal in the Cal game he was leading Tom Fawcett (No 6 nationally) in the no 1 game having taken the first set.
Both Jack Molloy and Ben Draper getting easy wins for Cal at the 3 and 4 slot.
Emily Arbs drop to No 4 has coinsided with a prolonged unbeaten streak for Stanford who polished off Oregon with Emily cliniching the match.
It doesn't look great does it with the girls rankings looking like they are slowly drifting down however, not bad rankings for our girls given where they are playing in their line ups only Lauryn plays in the number 1 slot, Emily our highest ranked play is thrashing her opponents at 4 but her ranking will continue to drop until the NCAA tiurnament and the other girls are down at 3.
Just out of interest, are any of these GB players due to finish their studies this year. I wondering who we may see in the ITF ranking events next year.
-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 11th of April 2018 03:13:08 PM
Sabrina will on the ladies side, Emily Smith to me has been around for ages but transferred from Rice so I still think she has another year of eligibility. Apart from Sabrina maybe I dont think any other seniors will hit the tour with any realistic chance of breaking the top 800. Give it another couple of years.
The boys are stronger but again most have at least another year of eligibility and no one is ripping it up to the extent Cam did which would warrant an early exit for the pro tour. Both Ryan Peniston and Andrew Watson are seniors at Memphis and I am sure both will give futures a go with a chance of being top 500. The wildcard would be Josef Dodridge trying his hand on the doubles tour.
I would be suprised if that impacts things much if at all unless they started late and it gives them another year of eligibility, particularly as they took the time out to play a higher level of tennis and generally miss the September to December term.
ODU have had a good season so far, winning the vast majority of their matches in both singles and doubles. I always keep an eye on their results as I met Holly at Felixstowe just before she went to college.
Stanford Women have just won the PAC12 regular season they have been unbeaten since the return of Melissa Lord at No 2 has resulted in Emily Arb dropping to No 4 where she is joint leader of the team in wins at 21-6. They hammered Nor Cal rival Cal 4-0 in their traditionally close last game of the season and now as No 1 seed get a bye to the QF of the PAC12 tournament which starts on Wednesday. Although ranked 20 their three losses this year without Melissa who plays no 2, ie strengthens the team at every position below when she plays were close ones to Texas, Vandy and Florida
Our other PAC12 team with a strong British presence ie Cal Men's team are very much in a rebuilding phase with 7 freshman and Jack Molloy has excelled as the best of the group playing No 3, next year will be a whole lot tougher when the seniors leave unless Cal recruit an ITF junior top 10 player who can jump in at the top of the order. Potentially things are panning out nicely from a developmental perspective for Jack with the no 1 players on the other top teams in the PAC 12 all being the equivalent of strong futures players/stepping up to Challenger level. He needs to get out there and play some futures this summer in preparation.
Dan Little has done a great job pushing his way into the No 1 slot at Utah, although the big guns of Cal, Stanford and no 1 UCLA have been too much he has put in some decent performances, his loss against Oregon's Thomas Laurent in 3 sets being an example. I get the impression he didn't really expect to do quite this well so quickly in College. Hopefully he can retain the No 1 slot next year, he would still only be a junior, if so he too should probably get out there this summer and play some futures!
Critical few weeks coming up with performances in the conference tournamrnts and then NCAA team tournament providing opportunities to get rankings up and perhaps secure at large selections for the NCAA singles and double tournaments.