[Brian Swartz]

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1. John Hart - 91%, 8.84

Athletically only a little above-average, Hart has no peers technically. He's an elite player from the back and I don't often see a better serve (5.3/4.3). No reason he shouldn't continue to easily stay on top.

2. Sushant Chiba - 87%, 8.61

The elite mental game allows Chiba to still be better than almost everyone else, but he's just hanging on technically and what modest athleticism he did have is quickly going away. If he can avoid an early AO loss, he could well retain the #2 spot just by virtue of being competitive with the rest of the pack and having favorable draws.

3. Barry Molyneaux - 90%, 8.61

Elite strength and even better mentality than Chiba, Molyneaux is missing only consistency and, critically, ability to hang in the rallies. He's fast, but not fast enough to make up for that against the better-serving players. That's really his biggest weakness and it probably keeps him about where he is.

4. Brian Meikeljohn - 90%, 8.89

Meikeljohn has excellent mental skill, and I've still not seen anyone close to matching his incredible footspeed. Technique is now typical top-player fare, and that combination should make him a serious competitor for Hart. As I said years ago. Without the mismanagement, we wouldn't being talking about Irish ascendancy in such unqualified terms. But it appears he'd rather play on both tours - Brian is ranked 34th in doubles as well - and so the world's best player on paper continues to sabotage his chances of becoming that on the court.

5. Karl Kaspar - 84%, 8.27

The doubles diversion has sapped his ability to maintain his level, clearly. It's remarkable he continued to play as well as he has, but Karl is now leaving the singles fight to others.

6. Harald Balzer - 91%, 8.46

Balzer is a quality athlete with fairly good mental habits, and you seriously don't want to mess with him if the crowd favors his fortunes. A subpar serve is what holds him back at the top level, and he's a meteoric talent who won't be around long. All of that adds up to him never going any higher than 5th most likely.

7. Seamus Hughes - 90%, 8.57

Second only to his countryman in technique, Hughes unfortunately has cement feet even moreso than Chiba. Still, he's arguably the guy who should take Kaspar's spot behind the Top 4.

8. Ali Solberg - 93%, 8.60

The highest-ranked player who still has his best tennis ahead of him, at least in theory, Solberg is also a serious competitor for that #5 spot. The draw system is really the only thing keeping him from aiming higher this year, but a Top-4 berth in the future certainly seems like a strong possibility. Speed and mental game are quite good, and Ali isn't all-time great material but he checks all the important boxes. Rally skill is just a hair low ... but again he's a year away from his prime so that may well come.

9. Valery Stachovsky - 92%, 8.41

A gifted player whose serve is the envy of almost anyone from not-Ireland, Stachovsky isn't much of an athlete. He's focused on the indoor courts, which could make him a real WTF threat if he can slide up a spot. Relative to other top players though he has a real weakness on hard courts, and doesn't have the game to make up for it.

10. Isa Solheim - 93%, 8.47

Quite good in pressure situations, solid technique, reasonably mobile ... but the power game just isn't there for Solheim. Close to the full package, but not quite the whole thing. Still, Solheim should be a fixture in the lower reaches of the Top-10 for a few years. And for a Dane, that's rarefied air.

11. Mike Rhodes - 91%, 8.29

Mismanagement kills, and you have to do more than serve. Mike's first-strike weapon is the best in the game, and he still has quite impressive physical power. He's slow, mentally weak, and never bothered to figure out how to rally effectively enough to hang with the best. Ultimately those weaknesses count for qutie a bit more than the strengths, but he's nobody's idea of a safe opponent.

14. Jorge Campos - 91%, 8.01

Slow and technically subpar, I'm going with overrated here. Campos shouldn't be a threat to the Top 10.

15. Fabrizio Abinati - 92%, 8.32

Abinati is a solid athlete, just isn't quite there technically. Still could improve some and should be ranked a bit higher. Close ... but it's getting a bit late for him to make the improvements he needs to. Probably will sneak onto the first page for perhaps a year.

16. Srba Dogic - 96%, 8.26

Good power and better mental focus, Dogic is lacking significantly in baseline play but still has time. Dedication isn't all that impressive but it's good enough - Croatia's first Top-10 player since the decline of Svajnovic would appear to be in the near future here.

17. Tim de Jong - 96%, 8.23

de Jong is a natural (5.0 talent), his serve is at least good enough right now, and he has pretty good power. The rally skill is lacking, however. Another guy that should get on the top page eventually. It'll be interesting to see whether Tim or Srba ends up with the better career. From this vantage point it could go either way.

19. Nicolas Perez - 98%, 8.41

Hard work overcomes many obstacles. Perez is proof, as he's nothing special as an athlete but dedication to his craft (4.7 endurance) has him playing at a Top-10 level right now, just past his 22nd birthday. The success he found at the end of last year is no fluke, but he's not enough better than those ahead of him to make immediate further progress a gimme. Still, Nicolas seems primed to eventually give Argentina a serious run at having the next #1 after Hart. I don't see any serious rival at the moment.

20. Constantino Gonzoles - 95%, 8.49

Gonzoles is the flip side of that coin. He has fine physical gifts, and is a mental powerhouse. Constantino is also lazy, which shows in his technique. Probably slightly the better player right now, and he figures to have a fine career, but he won't hold a candle to Perez in the long run.

21. Samuel Aas - 93%, 8.24

A weak mind holds Aas back, but technique is strong and athleticism adequate. Still looking like an odd man out in this generation, just not quite as good as the others.

22. Clavet Moniotte - 97%, 8.10

Abysmal baseline play, partly due to too much time spent on doubles concepts, spoils an otherwhise fine French package. Moniotte already has a good serve, so how far he goes depends largely on how much he concentrates effort on that one glaring weakness.

** Note: This is a really good group overall, lots of 8+ improving players. Impressive generation.

26. Patrick Sanchez - 94%, 8.25

Best athlete in a generation that has some quite good ones. Too much doubles though, and the technical abilities just aren't there. Sanchez is an interesting curiosity, but too much ground to make up.

27. Stefan Baloch - 93%, 8.14

Baloch has been very well-developed, but lacks the endurance or athleticism to really threaten the best competition. It's rare that I see a player who doesn't have elite gifting but has been pretty much optimized - Baloch has quality technique from a somewhat limited skillset. That deserves a round of applause, and I'll be rooting for him to do well. A bit of a clay specialist who does well at home, so Rome could be a big event for him.

30. Matteus Ameen - 97%, 8.15

Solid across the board really. Ameen is missing only some technique improvements, and very average endurance is to blame for that I think. Another player who won't be a pushover at his peak and has been well-handled.

32. Guillermo Valturri - 94%, 7.94

Weak baseline play, solid serve with some power, but definitely a cut below the others.

69. Amrik Kasaravalli - 98%, 8.07

True to what Christy mentioned, Kasaravalli isn't as bad as his late-developing ranking would indicate. He's still behind the pace in terms of abilities compared to my other players, but the quality of competition plays a part here as well. That's a serious pack of players to fight through ahead, in terms of depth and variety probably the best I've seen. The lot of you in this thread have a good deal to do with it. As the lagging technique improves, Amrik will be making a push to break out of the Challengers around the end of this year or beginning of the next. Among the players his age, from what I've seen so far Perez is clearly a couple of cuts above but we're in the same ballpark as the others here.

1495. Nasir Chittoor - 87%, 5.64

Just slightly ahead of the pace of Dudwadkar(+1 raw skill at the same age), my best player from a technical training point of view, Chittoor has won both amateur events he entered. Only finished about 30th in juniors, but he was younger than most of the others on purpose and that played a role. Partering with Guha really bolstered him as they made it deep in many doubles events; on the other hand I screwed up a lot of weeks his first couple of years to slow him down. A power outage just this past week didn't help things either.

NR, 2212(D). Satyajit Guha - 89%, 4.92

If that looks like a big gap between two players who are basically the same age ... well, it is. Guha, as shown by his early singles exits, isn't quite ready for even amateur events. He's close though. The big elephant in the room is the fact that he's at 3.7 in doubles ability as he leaves the junior ranks. Scheduling will be interesting at times - so far the pairing has won both amateur events in doubles. I'll have to stagger some what events they enter, at times Chittoor's singles will push us to bigger events and Guha won't be ready for them, etc. Overall though, Guha's presence allows Chittoor to get experience more efficiently, and I continue to be intrigued by just how high I can get the 'lesser' player in singles, what his doubles career will look like, and so on. Eventually I'll need a proper higher-ranking partner for him.

Many questions to sort out, but for now we're progressing smoothly towards jumping into futures. If anyone wants me to look at any of the younger players you are training, I'll add a blurb on them as well.