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Old 07-12-2016, 10:43 AM   #421
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Sri Lanka Rankings Update


Anil Mehul -- 1st to 2nd singles. The decline this year is punctuated by the fact that Mehul has now lost nine matches, the same amount he lost all season in both years that he finished #1. Assuming that he doesn't somehow pull a rabbit out of his hat, he has 7 Grand Slams(tied for 6th all-time with a ton of players), 8 Masters Shields(10th place has 11), 3 World Tour Finals(tied for 4th), and spent 60 weeks as the world's #1(10th is Alastra at 89 weeks). A mix of results there, but overall enough to make him worthy of an honorable mention when considering the best players in tennis's storied history.

For now, he'll keep doing whatever he can to maintain his standing. It's hard to see him dropping out of the Top 4 at worst anytime soon. Long-term though, I'll know it's time for the next phase of his career when Mooljee surpasses him in the singles rankings, which will probably be at least two years from now. At that point, Mehul will switch to a doubles focus and preparing for training duty after he retires. He still has a very significant role to play as an elite singles player right now, he's just done being the best.


Girish Girsh -- 2nd to 1st singles. Having ascended to the mountaintop with a strong 45-5 record and his first Slam title, it is Girsh's time. His attention now turns to the task of strengthening his grip and staying here as long as he can. Matches against Iglar and Caratti will be crucial going forward.


Prakash Mooljee -- 36th to 25th singles, 222nd to 249th doubles. It hasn't been a good pairs year for Mooljee who is just 1-5 in such matches, but he has made the jump to elite status permanently now. He's now got a mix of professional and challenger events in his ranking. That transition will continue and he'll move up a few spots, but there's a huge gap between the players from 10th-17th and those 20th and below, several hundred points. It's unlikely he can bridge that gap this year -- he'll probably end up around 20th and try to keep chipping away at it. There will be some interesting scheduling choices this year.


Shreya Ujjaval -- 33rd to 35th singles, 71st to 79 doubles. Ujjaval's unblemished record of failure at the third round of Slams keeps him hanging around just outside the break into the big-time.


Shyam Senepathy -- 135th to 132nd singles. Could have moved up some had he not collapsed against Smitala at Wimbledon -- that probably cost him about a dozen spots or so. Senepathy is inconsistent and a mid-level challenger player right now.


Ritwik Dudwadkar -- 243rd to 210th juniors. Dudwadkar pretty much reversed the slippage from the beginning of the year, and is right back where he was to start it. He'll need to win a couple more Tier-4s, maybe three, before moving up in competition. That will take much of the rest of the year, but he's starting to win more consistently at this level now so definitely by the end of the season if not before he should be ready to take the next jump up.


Manager Ranking -- 2nd(unchanged), 41k to 42.1 k points. Continued gradual progress. I've now got the third-highest points total ever recorded in this world, but am still well back of the top spot.
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