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Two and a half weeks since last I posted in here. It's been a fun period personally ... and I've also been distracted by another project. That's what I got as far as excuses. Anyway the year has ended so it's time to spam the thread. I'll give an overview of the end instead of going back through specifics, some of which I don't recall.
World Team Cup
This is always a priority. When we left off, we had the USO and then the QFs here coming up. Germany, on clay, was potentially difficult but we did well, beating them 4-1. Over the years this has been our most common result; lose the doubles, win everything else. The Germans have a couple of strong players -- both just inside the Top 20 as of year-end -- but Mooljee and Ujjaval handled them.
Italy was next and they put up more of a fight. Gillo Fangio outlasted Ujjaval in a classic on grass in day 2: 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(10), 6-4. That 4th-set breaker was our chance for the upset there. Then we lost the doubles and were just one more loss away from being eliminated. It was up to Prakash Mooljee to stop Fangio, and he did that in four tight sets. Ujjaval finished things off on the last day and we survived 3-2, moving on to the final.
There we would tangle with France, and legend in the making Mateo Kaspar. The world no. 1 won both of his outings, with Mooljee getting him 6-2 in the first set before Kaspar established dominance the rest of the way. They weren't up to the task in doubles though, and the French #2, Davide Poilblan(world no. 24) showed that he is clearly past it in getting bulldozed both times. For the second straight round we barely get it done, defending our world championship 3-2!
It was an exciting tournament. There were times in all three knockout rounds that I thought we might lose, which is rare. We're still the best in the world due to the balance that we get from Anil Mehul's increased doubles play and Shreya Ujjaval being a quality #2 singles, though nothing like what Girsh was. We are no longer able to dominate, that's for sure -- and Dudwadkar can't replace Ujjaval soon enough for my liking.
Final 2051 National Rankings
These are actually after the first WTC round of '52.
1. Sri Lanka -- 2715
2. United States -- 2356
3. Spain -- 2241
4. France -- 2114
5. Argentina -- 2087
6. Sweden -- 2035
7. Germany -- 2022
8. Croatia -- 1998
9. Italy -- 1980
10. The Netherlands -- 1860
We've pulled out to a dominant lead again after a second straight world championship and 6th in the last 7 years. It's a stretch that is fully the equal of anything ever achieved before. 4th through 9th are so competitive that nobody is in the same place they actually were at the end of last year. Very fluid there, and the USA is still ahead of the rest but they did us a lot of favors with an upset QF loss to the Netherlands that pretty much shocked everyone last season. Our overall spot at the top seems safe unless they can put together a couple of good consistent years.
2052 Draw
Group 2 this year, and we could fail to win our group again this year. Little question we'll advance though. Third-ranked Spain is a rough go, and wouldn't you know it we've drawn them on clay. Could well lose that one. We just finished bullying #11 Ukraine 4-1, with a five-set doubles setback the only blemish, and #15 Peru doesn't figure to challenge either. Without a Top-50 singles player, they're doing well to merely be in the top level of competition.
It'd be nice to beat Spain, but we'll get through group play regardless and that's when the real fun begins.
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