I see Tom's current CH is only 429, and if he will be near 500 once this weeks points are added too, he should be able to go well beyond that if he plays further this year. It will be interesting to see if he starts trying to get into Challenger events, which would be the next aspiration. The challenge with challengers, as it were, is the points system - you can beat much better players than you have been regularly playing in ITF events in challenger qualifying, but not get any points for it. So perhaps before then, rather to look at some 25k tournaments..

paulisi wrote:

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He's down to play Germany for next couple of weeks, but will probably need to qualify. No point playing challengers until his ranking drops down to 400

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 I don't agree. But, as before, this is based on ex-players' views, and not everyone's the same. He won't be a better player by simply playing a few more ITFs. And if there are some ITFs he wants to play then fine. But he's 25. With his studies 'on hold'. Limited time. And if they won't make you a better player, and financially it hardly makes any difference, (because ITFs are practically all loss leaders), then why bother...Wonder if his club has some connections in Germany....

Yes, but so many former mid-range players say that their main regret is having wasted time, chasing small points, trying to hit a target not far away where everything (supposedly) will suddenly be 'easier', as opposed to riding the wave of playing well and trying to leverage up and giving it a go.
I don't think financially it makes that much difference - Tom will presumably have lost a packet going to the ITF 15ks in Portugal in summer - he lost twice in the first round.
And that's the problem - there's no guarantee. If you knew for a fact that you'd win the next two 15ks, fine.
But you risk losing the momentum and losing money too.
And for not very much. Better to lose money getting knocked out in the FQR of challengers, but playing well to win one or two rounds.
If Tom has given himself 6-9 months, say, before he has to decide about the next academic year, better to at least try to up the ante and see where he is at challenger level first. At least a couple of times.

The key is is he ready to start playing challengers and the answer is yes, no point in hanging around. Another great week for Tom

I think the logistics and cost of travel will also come into it. Also whether the tournament is at a club he knows and likes. Overall, I don't think it makes a huge a mount of difference which path he chooses, either way he is going to have to win a load of matches.  Good luck to him.

I guess that Tom's plans to travel to Germany (and his entries) were in place before he won the last two tournaments, so at the time, it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps if he was booked on either Ryanair or Monarch, he may have an excuse to pull out and change his plans.

Clearly there are differing opinions on what his plans should be post the Germany tournaments and we all love the diversity of those opinions on here. It will be interesting to see what path he chooses-