British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

1. Savannah Dada-Mascoll - the most unexpected history making breakout year. A relative unknown before September, by November she had become the headline of the college fall season. Achieved a 32-4 college record for the calendar year (34-5 inc ITFs). Her 13-2 college record for the fall semester includes wins over 9 ranked opponents including opening the semester with a shock upset over the then No 1. In October, she was Carolina region co-champion, which is the most loaded draw of the womens regionals. She rewrote Appalachian State history. In a dream fall semester, she became the program's first-ever NCAA singles qualifier, first NCAA singles match winner, first All-American, NCAA quarterfinalist, and capped it all by achieving the highest singles ranking in program history by some distance: No. 5 nationally. When asked what she would have said if she had been told when arriving on campus in August she was going to achieve what she has the past few months she replied, I wouldn't have said anything; my jaw would have been on the floor. Savannah Dada-Mascoll is not just a player who had a great year - she is the embodiment of what Player of the Season should represent: excellence, resilience, and history-making achievement. Her journey from unknown to national All-American is the kind of story that inspires teammates, fans, and the future of college tennis. Vote for Savannah Dada-Mascoll: because this season wasn't just remarkable - it was unforgettable.

2. Ben Jones - has won the joint most titles of any player this season with 9 as of 08/12. All of those are doubles titles, 5 at M25 level and with 7 different partners. Plaudits for being our player with the equal most titles!

3. * Mimi Xu * - in her final year as a junior, reached the semi-finals of junior Wimbledon while mostly concentrating on making a successful transition to senior tennis. She won the best title of her senior career at the W100 in Wrexham and has raised her ranking from around WR500 at the start of the year to around WR250.

4. Hamish Stewart - Hamish also was prolific in winning titles this year, taking 8 in total as of end of November; 1 singles and 7 doubles at ITF level. He also managed to significantly improve his rankings, at the age of 26, almost halving both singles (to around 338) and doubles to 249) in a year where he made significant strides. Expecting more from him in 2025, but those 8 titles get him on the list.

5. Jake Fearnley - Starting the year at WR99, Jake maintained a top 100 ranking throughout the year, despite struggling in the second half of 2025 as he embarked on only his second year on the main tour. He reached a CH of 49 and was GB #2 for part of the year, having won his first main draw matches at ATP500 and ATP1000 level in 205, as well as rounds at the Australian, French and US Opens.

6. GB ITF men's singles players - at least began the year as ITF players, almost all then below WR 350 - as of 01/12 more ITF singles tities than any other nation ( 61 with Italy second on 58 ), with a particularly impressive record in M25s ( 36, with France second on 25 ). We started the year with 9 players in the top 350, with the then essentially ITF players (a number have advanced to challengers as the year has progressed), then making that 12 in the top 400 and 19 in the top 500. We are ending the year with 21 in the top 350, 25 in the top 400 (more than double), and 29 in the top 500 (for so long in the past 20 seemed an elusive target), with 16 of these 29 achieving CHs in 2025. All in all, remarkable.

7. Arthur Fery - after returning from a long spell of injury, Arthur began the year by winning the M25 title at Roehampton, unseeded and without losing a set. In August, he won his second title of the year and his first at challenger level at the Barranquilla CH75. In between, he won his first main draw match at Wimbledon and secured a win on his debut at the Davis Cup. He ends the year having qualified for an ATP250 for the first time and at a new CH inside the top 200.

8. Victoria Allen - having reached WR 671 as an 18 yo in 2019, then largely out of the collective consciousness for a number of years, particularly with being at college in the US, the now 24 yo has had a really good proper initial pro season. W35 Quebec City singles title plus 4 doubles titles, the highest being W50 Nottingham (with Millie Rajecki). Began the year unranked, as of 01/12 she has a singies ranking of 436 and a doubles ranking of 328, both close to her CHs. GB #14 in singles.

9. Oliver Crawford - after a largely uneventful first season since switching which saw him start his second year ranked down in the 400s he's given us more a sense of what he's capable of in his second year, breaking back into the top 200 for a CH 183 in September and reaching his first Challenger final since becoming a British player and the third of his career

10. Lui Maxted - one of the standout players this year; hes another player who took 8 titles, 3 in singles. But his ranking shot up from below 1000 to just in the top 500 in singles and similarly in doubles; in fact, apart from Toby Samuel, Lui is the highest rising singles player of all of our men and women, in terms of absolute rankings - well over 600 places. And the board took to him. he was nominated 3 times for player of the month, in the top ten or so of players to get multiple nominations.

11. Jan Choinski - from WR 173 at the start of the year has risen to a CH 125 and GB #4, claiming 4 Challenger singles titles including 2 at 125 level in a few weeks in September and October. Particularly looking at second half of the year, he seems still on the up.

12. Wake Forest University Brits (Luca Pow & Charlie Robertson) - Charlie and Luca made outstanding contributions in helping Wake Forest win the NCAA championship, the ACC regular season title, the ITA national indoor championships and a record 40 team wins. Charlie went on a 2 month unbeaten run and gained a reputation of being the most clutch player by regularly winning the team point that gave Wake Forest victory. Luca went on an incredible 21 match unbeaten run in the midst of 30 wins in the Spring and backed that up in the autumn by reaching the NCAA singles QF giving a calendar year college record of 42 wins 7 losses.

13. * Brooke Black * - Starting at around 1275, she managed to rise over 550 places to near 700, and did more in doubles with a 700 plus position rise. And she did this on a partial schedule, she only played 28 singles and 25 doubles matches. No spectacular titles or wins, just solid, consistent progress over the season.

14. George Loffhagen - started the year WR 579 with a CH 333, by October he hsd soared up to WR 200. Won his first challenger singles title, Segovia 75, plus 4 M25 singles titles. Can go missing for a time between tournaments, and it seems at times within matches, but has reaffirmed what a talent he has with the ability to go a fair bit higher.

15. Emily Appleton - who I believe is one of our most hard working players, competing virtually every week in both singles and doubles. This year she achieved new career highs of 347 in singles and 77 in doubles, ending the year at 376 and 87 respectively. In doubles she won a 75K level tournament and made the final of a WTA125

16. Billy Harris - one of our hardest working players, Billy has struggled to get past the first round for much of the year after an initial good spell in India in February - but in September he finally won a title at Challenger level, the CH75 in Cassis. Up until that point, he was the highest ranked player without a challenger title. Despite a generally difficult year, he ended the year with the much the same ranking as he started, at around WR125.

17. Cam Norrie - Cam began the year in poor form, slipping down to WR91 at the beginning of May, but he started to turn his year around after that. He reached the fourth round of the French Open and the quarter finals at Wimbledon before capping the year out by beating WR1 Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters and reaching the final of the Metz ATP250. All this has lifted him to a year end ranking of WR27.

18. Luke Johnson - Luke won 3 doubles titles in 2025, all partnered by Sander Arends: the ATP500 in Barcelona, the ATP250 in Hong Kong and the Monza CH100. Luke and Sander also reached the Quarter Finals of the French Open, beating Cash/Glasspool in the previous round. He achieved a career high of WR28 in July and, despite missing several weeks over the summer due to injury, ends the year ar WR38, a rise of 20 places from the end of 2024.

19. Jack Pinnington Jones - still just 22 yo, won his first Challenger titles, Nottingham 50 and Winston Salem 75 plus RU in the Ilkey 125. Also a straight sets R1 win at Wimbledon over Tomas Etcheveery, then WR 53. Big rankings jump forward from starting the year at WR / CH 376 to then reach a CH 177 and at 01/12 be WR 205 and GB #10. He's not anywhere near the Billy level for tournament activity and still seems a bit inconsistent but when he has been on, he has often been very on, a big performer, and with 287 points from 10 positive counters he ranks GB #5 for points per counter.

20. Alice Gillan - the 27 yo ended last year at WR 616 with a CH 614. She steadily rose 150 places to a CH 466 in July, being WR 491 at 08/12. Won 2 W15 singies singles titles, in Spain and Malta, though her best week was probably being RU in the Nottingham W35 in May where she beat former WR 26 Tamira Paszek (then WR 389) before ultimately losing in a 3 set final to the top seed Marni Banks WR 321.

21. Harry Wendelken - 2025 has proven a breakthrough year for Harry, someone a lot of people thought could go far. In October 2025, he won his first challenger title, the CH50 title in Crete (Challenger 6) where he came through as a lucky loser, beating players like Dennis Novak and Zapata Miralles. From a start point of 673 he rose to 315 in the rankings, halving his ranking over the year. One of several British challenger title winners and he deserves the plaudits like the others!

22. * Hollie Smart * - Aged 16, moved from JR 250 to 76 and making small waves in senior tennis too where in the Nottingham W35 in May she reached the singles MD QF from qualifying, beating 2 top 600 players including Ranah. Won both the U16 and U18 LTA Nationals doubles titles in April, won a J300 doubles title in Spain in September, and in December reached the Bradenton J300 singles QF, beating 2 strong seeds on the way.

23. Joe Salisbury/Neal Skupski - on one level, this has been a stunning year for the lads. Joe rose from 33 to 10 and Neal from 18 to 9 in the world. In making that happen, they reached two finals of Grand Slam events, the French and US Opens. They capped that off with an unbeaten run at the ATP Tour Finals before a final loss there. Joe even managed to reach the Wimbledon mixed doubles final. Of the 5 biggest mens doubles events in the world, they were in 3. If theyd won just one of those, we wouldnt be bothering with wildcards, theyd quite possibly be players of the season, period.

24. Johannus Monday - in his first full year on tour moved up from WR 371 to WR 236 at 08/12 ( with a CH 212 in October ). Won 2 M25 singles titles early in the year and, after a tough looking / learning few months, in October reached a Challenger 100 final in between 2 Challenger 75 SFs.

25. Blu Baker - Blu missed all of 2024 dealing with elbow surgery, a ruptured eardrum and mononucleosis. He had previously reached 608 in the rankings. In 2025, he came back and put it all behind him. Two M15 singles titles and an M25 doubles title later, hed won 69% of his singles matches this season and fought back to 673. An amazing effort and surely he will be well into the top 500 if he keeps fit into 2026.

26. Liam Broady - WR 788 in the first rankings of 2025 after injury and a worrying concussion incident, Liam.spent much of the year putting in the hard yards, trying to refind himself, on the ITF circuit, winning 4 M15/M15+H titles along the way but still tough work, and he was still WR 605 as late as June. In November though it was a joy to again see so much more the real Liam when from qualifying he reached the Lyon Challenger 75 final ( his first challenger final in over 2 years ), beating WRs 103 and 128 along the way before losing to Struff WR 100. Was up to WR 305 on 08/12. Welcome back, Liam, here's to much more in 2026.

27: Joshua Paris - A new Ch, place in the top 100, 2 wins and 5 runners up makes a successful season for one of our upcoming doubles players.

28. Ryan Peniston - the LTA article posted by The Addict inspired me to go and nominate Ryan - he makes a full house of British Challenger winners now nominated, winning one of the Crete Challengers , Crete V, and also winning two M25 titles as he rose from 455 to 217 (halving his ranking) over the year and getting back into the AO qualies list for this coming event. At age 30, a great comeback after injury thwarted what could have been the highlight of his career

29. Greg Slade - ditto, The LTA article from The Addict's post, reminded me the breakthrough year that Greg had, reaching a Wimbledon final in the quad doubles and improving his singles ranking from 18 to 9 over the year. He also won back to back singles at the Bolton ITF events in the Spring, a great season for Greg.

30. * Katy Dunne * - in only her fourth tournament back from injury after three months out Katy reached the final of the W35 in Sharm from qualifying, beating three seeds on the way, including the top seed Tara Wuerth WR243. With 24 points from the tournament this will give Katy a massive jump in the rankings from 847 before the tournament to around 674 (OER prediction)

*-* denotes players in December PoM vote as well and therefore may end up not needing a wildcard

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Ok, we are done - this is the final list of wildcard nominations, only change now will be if someone qualifies later this month in the December Player of the Month. 

With these 30 and the 22 already into Player of the Season, plus 5 of the 10 December PoM nominees who aren't in this wildcard vote OR qualified already for PoS, we have a total of 30+22+5 = 57 contenders potentially for player of the season. This may increase slightly if anyone else not qualified gets nominated for the December PoM vote.

In two weeks time, that list will be down to 28 who will go for PoS in earnest!!