[Brian Swartz]

2047 Preview

1. Girish Girsh(89%, 8.75, -0.03) -- Still the best player in the world, but not the champion or hardcourt player Iglar is.

2. Antonin Iglar(82%, 8.69, -0.04) -- 30 years old, and still my odds-on favorite for the top player this coming year given his resurgence the past several months.

3. Gustavo Caratti(90%, 8.41, +0.02) -- Still well off the pace of the top players, and this is as good as the Argentine is going to get. Like many other masters of clay, he doesn't have much chance of doing enough elsewhere to challenge for the top spot.

4. Anil Mehul(83%, 8.49, -0.13) -- This shows what was clear from last year's results; Mehul's definitely lost more than a step. He's got a chance of slipping past Caratti again, but that's about it.

5. Pierce Gaskell(81%, 8.34, -0.09) -- Gaskell's ability to stay relevant after finishing last year 6th surprised me. I'll be even more so if he manages to do it again.

6. Mugur Kinczllers(87%, 8.21, -0.13) -- Like so many do too early, Kinczllers clearly put significant work into his doubles game this season. No question he's headed the wrong direction now.

7. Bjorn Benda(77%, 8.21, -0.14) -- In a move not altogether shocking, Benda was fired by oprice just recently. He held onto Iglar and hasn't hired anyone else yet, which makes me curious about his plans. Regardless, Benda is plummeting even faster than those around him.

8. Theodore Bourdet(93%, 8.18, --) -- The math suggests Bourdet was simply lucky this year. He certainly should have been able to improve at least some, and I still maintain Poilblan is a better player. But Bourdet is the one who brought the results. This year, he has the challenge of trying to stay here.

9. Elias Trulsen(89%, 8.34, --) -- Keeping the same level would ordinarily be a sign of strength with so many seeing their game decline. The question for Trulsen though is can he do anything outside of Wimbledon. His level of play was atrocious compared to his ability, and there are questions about whether he intends to go doubles. Management was horrific at times. He definitely needs, and is very capable of, a bounce-back season.

10. Thiago Herrera(83%, 8.01, -0.15) -- Not a good year for Thiago, who looks for all the world like he's headed to obscurity.

11. Davide Poilblan(90%, 8.31, -0.01) -- Poilblan did move up this year(16th last season), but not as much as his slightly younger countryman. He'll probably edge into the Top 10 now, but I don't know that there's time left for him to go much further.

12. Garreth McCuskey(90%, 8.20, -0.03) -- McCuskey has all the extras but no baseline game. Another guy who has reached his best tennis and found it wasn't good enough. Marginal Top 10 possibility this year but not going anywhere worth writing about.

13. Agustin Herrera(92%, 8.18, +0.03) -- Yet another player who could, or could not, make the first page. Herrera's near his best, and doesn't have enough to make up for his slowness.

15. Tobia Alberti(87%, 8.19) -- Alberti didn't make last year's rundown, and is currently one spot shy of his personal high of 14th. Good athleticism and mental game, just not quite got there with the dedication or technical skills.

18. Peter Sampras(92%, 7.86) -- Sampras has had some big wins, but he has little athleticism, relies too much on his serve, and has felt the call of doubles unfortunately.

19. Prakash Mooljee(98%, 8.47, +0.29) -- The contrast to the pretenders elsewhere is striking. Mooljee has become fifth at worst, and I'd say third-best in the world while still 22. A couple months ago the first faint signs that he was receding from his physical peak showed up, and now they are unmistakable. Further gains will be more difficult, but he's got time. The sooner he is able to move past the inferior players ahead of him, the better of he'll be. Only Girsh and Iglar should be considered untouchable for him now ... and even they won't be for long. The step up in competition was very apparent last year; his 51 wins were just one shy of his average for the previous three years, but he lost more(15) than in those seasons combined(10). There should be fewer players able to take him down now though.

29. Shreya Ujjaval(95%, 8.31, +0.13) -- Ujjaval does appear to be on his way to the Top 10. Mooljee he's not, and clearly surpassed by the younger player now. It'd be nice if he worked on his serve a little more, but I would expect continued progress from him esp. now that he's in a position to get better draws.

51. Luc Janin(101%, 7.92, --) -- Forgot to mention him at the start of the year. This is as of week 4, start of the Australian Open. He's just turned 20 a couple weeks ago and is about to reach the Top 50. Scary.

85. Shyam Senepathy(99%, 7.05, +0.29) -- I really think he overachieved last year. He's just not where he needs to be yet, probably ever, to push for a Top 50 spot.

100J. Ritwik Dudwadkar(75%, 4.04, +1.06) -- The fun part, when guys improve more from aging than from training.