Top Ten Rankings Update
1. Antonin Iglar(CZE, 28) -- 12,970
Iglar hasn't won a Slam this year, and his grip on the top spot is weakening again. He's already lost more matches than he did last season, and his athletic advantage is fading a bit. Still the best player in the world, but he doesn't look as invincible as he once did. In the next few weeks, however, he'll pass Haresign for 4th on the list of weeks at #1, which ought to end any debate about which player has the greater legacy between the two.
2. Anil Mehul(SRI, 29) -- 10,870
Having taken two of the first three Slams and reaching the final of RG, you can make a case for Mehul as the top performer so far this year. He's certainly not looking like a guy about to fall off the aging cliff.
3. Girish Girsh(SRI, 26) -- 9,560
Good, but not good enough to knock off Mehul yet.
4. Bjorn Benda(DEU, 31) -- 8,990
One wonders if he has another resurgence in him. Nobody has been this successful at 31 since Gorritepe, but he still seems better than the rest of the pack.
5. Gustavo Caratti(ARG, 25) -- 5,845
Caratti has made the big leap with his championship at RG, and now he faces the question put to all who dominate the clay: can he bring consistent quality results on other surfaces? A credible quarterfinal run at Wimbledon would seem to indicate there's a good chance he can. I expect the gap between Argentina's new standard-bearer and the top four to shrink in the second half of the year.
6. Pierce Gaskell(USA, 29) -- 5,140
15 Slam quarterfinals now. He hasn't won a single one of them. The law of averages would seem to make that all but impossible.
7. Thiago Herrera(PER, 27) -- 3,700
Caratti's emergence makes it even harder for Herrera to maintain his standing.
8. Cestmir Marcek(CZE, 31) -- 3,410
The slide continues. I don't see him on this list by year's end.
9. Radek Smitala(USA, 27) -- 3,340
Had a couple of years in the sun; now he's this year's early-exiter at Wimbledon.
10. Elias Trulsen(SWE, 26) -- 3,010
Moving up steadily, not like Caratti's more meteoric rise, but Trulsen gets my vote as the better player when all is said and done.
There are four players not far off: M. Herrera, Kinczllers, Mockler, and the rising Theodore Bourdet. Looks like shifting sands for the next year or so as players like Smitala, Marcek, and Mockler slide down and we find out who else has the goods to replace them.
Last edited by Brian Swartz : 05-20-2016 at 05:05 PM.
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