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Brian Swartz · 09-19-2022, 06:29 PM

World Team Cup Preview

So it's down to Level 4 for the first time in more years than the game's history even lists. I had to look back through the thread to find the answer: apparently I promoted up in 2037(?) for the first time. We're heading into 2089. Over 50 years since we sucked this bad. I don't have the right words to describe that.

Our opponents in Group 3 will be Chinese Taipei (46th), Tunisia (86th), and Uzbekistan (72nd). We're 48th. Based on last year's performance, they are all better than us. As much as I'd like to say 'we're bouncing back up right away and heading to bigger and better things', the goal here is to avoid finishing last in this group and stay in Level 4 ... because if we do finish last, there's a chance of us being kicked out of the World Team Cup entirely and having to wait for an invite back in.

That's right, we've hit rock bottom and there's a considerable chance we'll just keep on digging. If we get Datar into the doubles, that will help. If we can get Sushant Srivastava into singles, that will help more - but even that might not be enough. Chandrasekharan is more of a long-term 'he might be beneficial in a few years' guy, and Raychaudhari even longer away of course. The Sri Lanka players in the Top 1000 of singles are:

283. Manoj Datar - 125 pts. 20 of which he just got from the win in the playoffs.
467. Anant Sankait - 77 pts. 28 years old and on his way down (as is Datar of course)
551. Sushant Srivastava - 61 pts.
590. Manoj Pallavan (28) - 56
830. Anil Kodi (24) - 31
953. Manoj Chowdy (24) - 24

As you can see there's no immediate help walking through that door. Kodi and Chowdy are both talented players with sub-3 endurance and subpar athleticism under the absentee management of the AI. As usual, that means their serving ability is little more than a theory. We're in serious trouble if we ever have to rely on them. Srivastava is 1-2 good tournaments from being WTC-eligible though, and he's just good enough to maybe be a threat to sneak a win or there. He's actually caught up to Datar in terms of his current playing ability; just need the tournament success now for his ranking to reflect that reality. So the sooner he gets in, the better it will be all the way around; the World Team Cup is great for xp of course so it would be a positive for that reason alone.

I can see us finishing anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the group; Chinese Taipei has a top-200 player so beating them is unlikely. Promotion is not in the cards; this is about survival and not making things worse. If we can do that, then we can start thinking about beginning to build again.

09-19-2022, 06:29 PM	#1286
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	World Team Cup Preview So it's down to Level 4 for the first time in more years than the game's history even lists. I had to look back through the thread to find the answer: apparently I promoted up in 2037(?) for the first time. We're heading into 2089. Over 50 years since we sucked this bad. I don't have the right words to describe that. Our opponents in Group 3 will be Chinese Taipei (46th), Tunisia (86th), and Uzbekistan (72nd). We're 48th. Based on last year's performance, they are all better than us. As much as I'd like to say 'we're bouncing back up right away and heading to bigger and better things', the goal here is to avoid finishing last in this group and stay in Level 4 ... because if we do finish last, there's a chance of us being kicked out of the World Team Cup entirely and having to wait for an invite back in. That's right, we've hit rock bottom and there's a considerable chance we'll just keep on digging. If we get Datar into the doubles, that will help. If we can get Sushant Srivastava into singles, that will help more - but even that might not be enough. Chandrasekharan is more of a long-term 'he might be beneficial in a few years' guy, and Raychaudhari even longer away of course. The Sri Lanka players in the Top 1000 of singles are: 283. Manoj Datar - 125 pts. 20 of which he just got from the win in the playoffs. 467. Anant Sankait - 77 pts. 28 years old and on his way down (as is Datar of course) 551. Sushant Srivastava - 61 pts. 590. Manoj Pallavan (28) - 56 830. Anil Kodi (24) - 31 953. Manoj Chowdy (24) - 24 As you can see there's no immediate help walking through that door. Kodi and Chowdy are both talented players with sub-3 endurance and subpar athleticism under the absentee management of the AI. As usual, that means their serving ability is little more than a theory. We're in serious trouble if we ever have to rely on them. Srivastava is 1-2 good tournaments from being WTC-eligible though, and he's just good enough to maybe be a threat to sneak a win or there. He's actually caught up to Datar in terms of his current playing ability; just need the tournament success now for his ranking to reflect that reality. So the sooner he gets in, the better it will be all the way around; the World Team Cup is great for xp of course so it would be a positive for that reason alone. I can see us finishing anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the group; Chinese Taipei has a top-200 player so beating them is unlikely. Promotion is not in the cards; this is about survival and not making things worse. If we can do that, then we can start thinking about beginning to build again. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 09-19-2022 at 06:35 PM.