|
Sri Lanka Rankings Update
Anil Mehul -- 12th to 7th singles, 104th to 126th doubles. Mehul is now unquestioningly in his prime, he can still get a bit better but only very marginally. From here on out it's really as much about the players around him as it is what he does, and making the most of his opportunities.
Girish Girsh -- 98th to 40th singles, 424th to 123rd doubles. Girsh really rocketed up the charts the second half of the year, beginning his move to the top and become a fixture in the Sri Lanka WTC team as the #2 singles and a key part of the doubles as well. I've always thought of him as just a bit better than Mehul; well, he's well ahead of Mehul's pace now(73rd in singles at the same age plus 8 weeks). I do schedule players differently now so that impacts it some. Girsh won his first challenger five weeks later than Mehul did, but has 8 challenger and 10 junior titles, while Mehul only recorded 3 and 9 respectively ... I still say Girsh will be slightly better but both in the same ballpark.
At any rate, Girsh is now embarking on what will be his 'King of the Challengers' season. For the most part he'll be playing only the biggest challenger events and looking to get into the 250s at some point when it proves useful. I'll still have some choices to make in terms of what tournaments he plays, but at some point this year he'll transition into the 'elite schedule' -- mostly Slams, Masters, WTC much like Mehul plays. That's always a bit rocky, but it's his time to prove himself among the best in the international tennis scene.
Prakash Mooljee -- 168th to 66th juniors. Mooljee found himself an excellent groove most of the year, amassing a ridiculous 42-2 singles record largely because his practices were going so well so that I didn't want to move him above Tier 4. Now he's midway through his junior (mis)adventures, and he'll be moving up to Tier 3 immediately, and higher probably. There's nobody both younger and higher-ranked, like last year, but there are about 3-4 that are just slightly older and significantly more accomplished. Mooljee is doing well, and looks to be at least a Top 10 juniors player as was Girsh. The task at the beginning of this year is to find a decent rhythm for him in terms of playing the right events so he can continue to have lots of practice time in between.
Anil Manohar -- 580th to 826th singles, 870th to 590th doubles. A rather amusing situation in which the 38-year-old Manohar essentially swapped singles and doubles positions. His trainer level now grades out to 4.211, a change of +.077 from last year. I'll probably keep him going for about 3-4 more years and retire him as about a 4.5 trainer in his early 40s. Finding the right time for that is basically a timing issue in terms of when I want the next junior after Mooljee, and bearing in mind that Mehul will probably be ready to be a max trainer for the player after that in about 10 years, in his mid-30s. Manohar still plays low-level futures, the occasional run to the business end but often losing in the early rounds. He's doing well enough to keep from being pushed down into the amateur ranks, but not by much.
|