Q3 Rankings Update
1.
Nicolas Perez (25, ARG) - 15,280
Perez rules the tour these days with an iron fist. He's not invincible, but nobody much relishes their odds against him regardless of surface.
2.
Harald Wentz (25, AUT) - 9,890
Definitely a down year for him, but Wentz still has a solid cushion as the top 'challenger'.
3.
Tobias Velilla (24, ARG) - 7,085
Up and down, but he's got one Slam title and a final in the first three big ones this year. By majoring on the majors he's joined the highest echelon here.
4.
Chisulo Mpakati (24, ZIM) - 6,105
Not quite as consistent this year as in the past.
5.
Calisto Aviles (24, ESP) - 6,020
There's sort of a 'secondary four' here behind Perez, and right now Aviles just got to be the guy on the outside looking in as a result of Velilla's Wimbledon run. He's close, but I don't know that he can push Mpakati out of that 4th spot during the summer hardcourts.
6.
Il-Sung Jung (26, KOR) - 5,130
Ever the up-and-down, who knows what will happen performer.
7.
Ollie Haas (26, NLD) - 4,640
Slowly but surely drifting downwards as age begins to have more of an impact.
8.
Lucas Perez (25, ARG) - 3,940
The Other Perez is starting to have more of a regular impact, and now that he's managed to slide up a tier here that should continue to be a trend.
9.
Tim de Jong (27, NLD) - 3,450
Having a bit of a renaissance these past months, and it's keeping him solidly on the first page.
10.
Srba Dogic (26, CRO) - 3,395
Hanging around, and with Hart sliding out of the Top 10 it made space for Dogic. He won't be here long.
11.
Clavet Moniotte (27, FRA)
A new high for one of the contenders to take the next available Top 10 spot - if it were held today, he'd be the #2 seed in the Anil Cup.
12.
Amrik Kasaravalli (26, SRI)
Kasaravalli is of course also looking for that chance. He should be able to pick up points in the big events the rest of the year, and at the least get closer. His future is looking a bit better these days - I'll delve more into this at the end of the year but despite similar or more advanced age, he has a chance to outlast many of the top players by a bit. There's a lot of them with a short career spans ... but on the other hand the next generation isn't going to wait around long.
15.
Odimos Csollang (21, ROU)
The first member of the group of young guns to reach the Top 16, Csollang had a good run to the Wimbledon fourth round and would appear primed for a big summer. Few players will fancy their chances against him on the hardcourts.
16.
John Hart (30, IRE)
Let's take a moment to say one last good-bye. Hart will gradually drop further, likely losing hundreds more points by the USO. He has the exact same doubles ranking though as singles, and surely will soon be part of a different Top 10. I probably need to do a briefer doubles ranking rundown starting soon with as many players as we have going into that discipline.
17.
Sushant Chiba (32, SRI)
Just refuses to get the memo. I actually want him to lose more in singles at this point (to get Chittoor up in the #2 national spot) but I'm not gonig to actively sabotage him or anything. Doubles up to 149th, probably just going to keep playing them together in Slams and Masters when convenient. Sort of a new dynamic to work out there.
20.
Algot Hakanson (26, SWE)
Waiting for the elder statesmen to get out the way here basically. Won 72% of his matches last year ... and 72% so far this year. So he's consistently in the right ballpark he needs to be to move up.
21.
Fabio Cagide (22, ESP)
Expected a little bigger splash from Spain's #2 in the clay campaign. Perhaps that was unrealistic though - he did win the Barcelona 500 and reached the Madrid QFs. He's got quite respectable hardcourt ability, so he's not one-trick pony and could achieve more of a breakthrough at any point on the calendar really.
22.
Acke Kjaerstad (25, SWE)
Treading water, and I'm unsure whether he ever makes the next tier. Might get passed up as much by the risers as he does by the fallers.
23.
Ross Vicars (21, USA)
QF in Miami and has replaced all but one challenger result in his points allotment. Definitely eyeing Cincy and the USO as his possibilities if he's going to break out this year.
27.
Helmut Edlund (23, SWE)
Not supposed to be up here yet, dude. Well done! A raft of challenger results to replace, so now Edlund faces the challenge of consolidation.
29.
Pedro Perez (25, ARG)
This one I called. A third Perez from Argentina. I need help with nicknames. The final in Queen's Club, and winning the Munich 250 a couple months before that, really boosted him up from the crowd.
30.
Willy Weigl (23, AUT)
Doubles partner of Edlund, and fellow recent challenger graduate, Weigl faces the same challenge and is IMO not quite as good.
32.
Mark Smith (21, GBR)
Our new gatekeeper who was prepared for a tireless run through the grass season that still continues this week, then executed it to rise perhaps a bit prematurely. His struggle to stay up with the elite will be interesting to watch, but impressively done to get here in the first place.
35.
Tommy Fitzpatrick (22, IRE)
I really feel compassion for Fitz right now. He's lost in three consecutive challengers that I expected him to win, to players I think he should have beaten. Any more than one of those defeats is decidedly unlucky. Hoping he isn't running into a more serious long-term slump, but either way I'd expect him to be seeded and out of challengers by the USO. He's only 55 points shy of the needed amount as it is.
36.
Joao Narciso (24, BRA)
The perpetual yo-yo continues. Kasaravalli knows your pain Narciso, and I do think you'll eventually break out of it to greener pastures. Keep on keepin' on.
41.
Nasir Chittoor (21, SRI)
Why howdy there! Recent practice weeks have been super-frustrating as I keep getting drawn as the top player or two in Nasir's group. He's made a good charge here, but now things get interesting. There isn't quite enough time left to get him seeded for the USO, and then a bunch of points will drop off at the end of the year. I don't know what I'm going to do with that yet, but he'll keep pushing upwards for at least the next month or two. Balancing keeping the ranking up with xp gains is going to be dicey ... I'm going to need to be very careful and plan things out further in advance than I typically do. But it's been a very highly successful push these last months, so I'm pleased with the rise so far.
91.
Ritwik Intodia (21, SRI)
101.
Rakesh Kayeeda (21, SRI)
Soon as the rest of us get out the way I expect a more rapid surge from this pair.
115.
Helmut Hoetker (20, SUI)
Up more than 40 spots since last time, in large part to this dork beating Guha in the previously-mentioned match.
166.
Lubos Rucklov (20, CZE)
Rucklov appears to have stalled a bit, but that often happens at this stage and isn't anything to really worry about.
173.
Chiang-hui Cheng (19, TPE)
There've been some close matches, but Cheng is struggling pretty severely to get any traction in the challenger ranks. Lost five of last six matches
.
175.
Satyagit Guha (21, SRI)
Continuing to mirror Chittoor's activities and generally work his way up. Glad to be out of futures with him for sure. Doubles are at a new high of 60th after the Wimbledon run, and once he gets up a little higher there things will start getting interesting.
207.
Mike Corey (19, USA)
A few months ago, with a ranking almost 200 spots lower, I suggested Corey might try some higher-level futures events soon. That for sure happened with a number of wins. He's dipped into challengers a couple of times already, but without much success yet. Still, with the number of US futures events available, he won't be playing many more of them and definitely should be soon considered a regular on the challenger circuit.
1971.
Philip Arendt (21, DEU)
This recent hire needs to buy himself a serve, but has excellent speed and talent with good endurance. Behind the curve development-wise as he was run the first several years by the inglorious AI, and has weaknesses in strength and mentality. Makes it hard to forecast him precisely, but he definitely has the tools to be a good, interesting player still. The serve shouldn't need to come up too much for Arendt to make a quick dash through futures.
110(J).
Aleksije Konstantinovic (17, CRO)
Continued mixed results, but he's reaching fairly high. Juniors ranking has roughly halved over the last few months so he's doing something right. Konstantinovic still has another year at this level anyway, he'll be one of the older juniors next season so it'll be interesting to see how that goes for him.
165(J).
Joseph Charriol (17, MAL)
Rising gradually with continued JG4 success.
305(J).
Eduardo Yroz (15, CHI)
Definitely has gotten over the hump, well up from the high 700s with sustained success at the JG5 level.
308(J).
Raul Almaraz (17, PRT)
Aiming too high for his own good it would seem. Up some from 419th, but I'd recommended sticking with the JG4s until regular titles come.
465(J).
Kjell Falkeving (15, SWE)
Form was low before, but that problem has been rectified and as a result he's placed several hundred positions higher (was 1230th). Success in JG5s is becoming more consistent now.
1238(J).
Sebastien Bisteri (15, ESP)
Has dropped from 912th and it's unfortunately self-inflicted ... low form and aiming too high resulting in constant early losses.
1261(J).
Thanasis Theodopoulos (14, CYP)
Literally just hired this week. It's not often you see a player from Cyprus. Ranking list says there are ten active pros from the nation, none in the Top 500. Recommendation here is to play singles/doubles JG5s per usual until form gets up to appropriate levels, and then see what's what. Theodopoulos could be an interesting lower-level player to train but I'd keep an eye out for someone better. 3.2 talent, 3.3 peak endurance, strength is pretty good but subpar in other areas.
1283(J).
Josh Frobisher (14, GBR)
Hired in when he was super-young (14y 7w??), Frobisher is playing the right events but needs to play more to get the form up. Nice player in a lot of ways but at 3.1 endurance is going to be a bit rough. Ask Kasaravalli. On the other hand, 4.5 talent, peaks at 3.9 strength and 3.3 speed - better athlete than I've ever had fo sho - lowish mentality but starting that young, I can see making a run with him for sure. I'd keep him at least until someone better comes along ... but gotta keep that form (12.1) at 15 or higher. He'll stop losing eventually if you do.