Here we go, a long 5 weeks and 23 bumper nominations.
Two groups of 11 and 12 respectively. I have kept the groups aligned to how they were nominated with a small adjustment at the end to allow for roughly even numbers of men and women in each group (7 and 4 and 7 and 5 respectively)
Vote for your Player of the Month and, if possible, please so who and why!
The top 3 from each group (plus ties) will go through to the final - so quite brutal and no room for messing around or not voting!!
This semifinal voting will CLOSE IN 24 HOURS FROM NOW SO AT 4PM MONDAY. THE FINAL WILL POSTED SHORTLY THEREAFTER.
Here are the group contenders:
1. Andy Lapthorne - reaching the semis of the NEC Wheelchair Masters, beating David Wagner (WR 3) along the way and pushing second seed, Sam Schroder, all the way. Andy surpassed expectations here and it is a great end to the season for him.
3. Alfie Hewett - wins the Wheelchair Masters title, unbeaten in the week, beating the top 8 players in the world to the games most prestigious prize! Add that to the doubles title as well and Alfie has had a perfect week and month!
5. Giles Hussey - for reaching the final in a 25k, and despite losing in 3 sets, driving 3 hours and going straight back on court to win a QR1 challenger match. Oh, and did I mention that he has broken into the Top 500 as a result of this. Also reached the final of the Challenger 75 doubles in Drummondville
7. Jack Draper, for reaching his first ATP tour final (beating WR 27 and 28 on the way), after living up to his #1 seeding and winning a close final against David Goffin in the Challenger 75 event the week before.
9. Gabia Paskauskas (born 2006) - for doing the double, winning the J200 singles AND doubles titles in Malaysia, her first such titles, and very likely breaking into the top-100 for the first time
11. GB Junior Girls BJK Cup Team - for coming third in the competition on clay.
13. Oliver Okonwko - ranked 1862, just beaten Harrison ATP 514, in his home US college town, in a third-set TB; gets two more singles ranking points - only got his first one a month back. AND, completely unexpectedly, has made the final in the doubles (also, he has a wonderful dad)
15. Sarah Tatu - building on her gradual development over the year and reaching the W15 semi-final in Spain, from qualifying, beating the 3rd seed (600 places above her) on the way
17. Joe Salisbury - for winning the ATP finals for the 2nd year in a row. Building on their semi in Paris, Joe and Rajeev won all 5 matches in Turin, taking 3rd place in the team rankings for the year and moving Joe to year end 7th in the indI usual rankings.
20: Anna Brogan - In her only match during November, she narrowly lost to the No 4 seed, who was ranked 90 places above her in the WTA rankings.
21. Scott Duncan and Marcus Willis - for winning their first Challenger titles at Maspalomas and achieving new career highs in the process.
My own top three personal contenders came together in this group. I hope and suspect others will vote for Jack D and Joe S, who are right up there.
My vote is going to Alfie Hewett - he won the top prize in wheelchair tennis, you cant beat winning the Masters, and he also won the doubles title here and ascended to WR 1 with doing so in singles.
I voted for Joe. For me winning the Tour finals is the ultimate achievement so it was a no brainer. Especially after he and Ram had struggled for much of the year
I was torn between Joe S and Jack D. I feel like Joe has lost out so far this year because his great performances have happened in the same months as absolutely exceptional ones from others (Dan E and Billy H, if I recall correctly.) But... Joe is already qualified for Player of the Season as doubles #1, while Jack reaching his first ATP250 final, after a sustained run of good matches following a tough patch, is a big milestone. So my vote went to Jack.
I was torn between Joe S and Jack D. I feel like Joe has lost out so far this year because his great performances have happened in the same months as absolutely exceptional ones from others (Dan E and Billy H, if I recall correctly.) But... Joe is already qualified for Player of the Season as doubles #1, while Jack reaching his first ATP250 final, after a sustained run of good matches following a tough patch, is a big milestone. So my vote went to Jack.
Thanks Tanaqui - a very tough vote this month!
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Sunday 3rd of December 2023 09:19:35 PM