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Post Info TOPIC: Down to 14 GB players in the top 500
steven


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Down to 14 GB players in the top 500
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As some of you know, I do a table on the Rusedski message board that tracks the rankings, whereabouts and progress of GB players in the top 500, so I couldn't help but notice this week that we are back down to just 14 players in the top 500 after hitting a high of 20 for just one week in late October last year.


Detailed stats since then are:


- down from 3 to 2 in the top 100
- we still have 4 in the top 200
- down from 11 to 9 in the top 300
- down from 16 to 12 in the top 400
- down from 20 to 16 in the top 500


Those dropping out of the top 500 since then are:

- Mark Hilton down 870 from 212 to 1082 (retired from singles)
- Jamie Delgado down 242 from 259 to 501 (concentrating on doubles as he gets older)
- David Sherwood down 324 from 291 to 615 (retired/injured, not quite sure)
- Andrew Banks down from 456 to oblivion (he'd already retired a year ago)
- Colin Fleming down 27 from 478 to 515 (hit career high in the 300s now back at uni)
- Matthew Hanlin down 771 from 500 to 1271 (just coming back from a long injury)

Of course, there are always going to be players who drop out because they retire or get injured (it's just a pity there are so many at the moment, with Greg and probably a couple of others to go next year too), so the more worrying thing is that NO new Brits have entered the top 500 this year.

Slabba (now 599 and may drop dramatically in November when Satellite points come off), Hutchins (now 612), Rushby (now 652, though he's the exception here because he's still on the way up - 652 is a career high ) and Phillips (now 662) have all looked like they might have a chance of making it but haven't managed to show more than the odd flash of good form this year.

Of course, there's some consolation in the fact that Andy and Boggo have made such good progress, with Martin, Josh and Jamie B all up around 100 places or more on the year too, but we need more fortnights like the last one, don't we! 



-- Edited by steven at 08:01, 2006-10-09

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GB top 25s (ranks, whereabouts) & stats - http://www.britishtennis.net/stats.html
Madeline


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It is worrying, isn't it. Rob Searle and Chris Eaton have both had dramatic rises this year, but still have a way to go to the top 500, Rob on 886 and Chris on 782. They may make the top 500 next year - but then, how many more will drop out?

Of course we may get a new young star shooting up the rankings like Andy did - we can but hope!

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Sheddie


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It's not good to see so many Brits dropping out of the top 500, the big disappointments there have to be David Sherwood and Andy Banks. Banks' retirement was such a shame, as he was basically forced to due to lack of funds and is now spending his time coaching and working in a bar. He was one of our most talented young players, starting to make some real progress. I thought it was ludicrous that year, when he reached the final of the Wimbledon wildcard playoff and didn't get a wildcard as he lost to Boggo. Apart from that year, there have always been 3 wildcards handed out from the playoffs. If Banks had received the wc he deserved that summer, the Wimbledon money could have kept him going.

Steven, I'm assuming you do know what's actually happened to Sherwood

I'm very hopeful that Slabba, Morgan Phillips and Andy Kennaugh will crack the top 500 next year. All three had big breakthrough years in 2005 [Phillips' has been more this year] and it takes time to consolidate and work on raising your game to the next level and finding the form to beat top 500 players on a consistent level. When on form we've seen that Slabba can outpower top 500 players - Rob Smeets 6-2, 6-1 [wr:250], Olivier Vandewiele [wr:513] so he definately has the ability to get into the top 500, the same for Phillips. I think the fact that all the futures in GB have been upgraded to 15Ks has made things tougher for some of our upcoming players as the fields are now so much stronger.

Hopefully Chris and Rob can get to 550 or thereabouts by the end of 2007. They don't have that much to defend and Chris has been giving players ranked 300-500 really tough matches down under, he's been edged out of lots of 3 setters. I'm also hopeful that Dan Cox will crack the top 1000 next year and that some of our other top juniors will start to emerge as real prospects - Iain Atkinson, Ed Corrie, Dan Evans, Simon Childs etc.

The big positives for British tennis this year [apart from the continuing rise of Andy Murray of course !] have been Boggo, Martin Lee, Bloomers, Goodall and Jamie Baker. It's also good to see Jonny Marray and James Auckland showing such good form in the latter quarter of the year, the big question is can they continue that consistently as both struggled in the first half of 2006 after strong ends to the 2005 season. The another massive plus for British tennis is the number of players starting to break through in doubles: Auckland and J-Mu have cracked the top 100 and I doubt it'll be long before Jamie Delgado follows. Martin Lee could be well towards the top 100 by the end of the season and Goodall, Hutchins, Marray and Jim May have all made big strides aswell.

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