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Old 07-10-2019, 12:56 PM   #1096
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Q2 Rankings Update

1. Nicolas Perez (24, ARG) - 13,470

The SF defeat at Wimbledon was just Perez's fourth loss of the year, and he has a pretty comfortable perch at the top of the sport. Shouldn't be too tough for him to get over it.

2. John Hart (29, IRE) - 10,610

Clear 7th place now on the all-time Slams list for Hart - his 9 titles move him out of a tie with multiple players, including my best Mehul & Mooljee. Just one more reason to hate the Irish forever (jk).

3. Harald Wentz (24, AUT) - 6,520

We should learn a lot about Wentz this summer. If he can keep up the strong hardcourt play he showed earlier in the year, Perez may have a bona fide rival.

4. Chisulo Mpakati(23, ZIM) - 5,945

The last time I saw three under-25 players in the Top 4 was ... yeah, I'm pretty sure that was never.

5. Srba Dogic(25, CRO) - 4,900

6. Ali Solberg(27, SWE) - 4,710

7. Ollie Haas(25, NLD) - 4,530

8. Il-Sung Jung(25, KOR) - 4,460

The 'second four' here shifts around pretty much after every big event. All of them are fairly inconsistent these days, and none appear to be good enough to regularly challenge those above. I suppose one of them will have to replace Hart eventually ... probably Jung through sheer raw ability.

9. Tim de Jong(26, NLD) - 4,095

In the Top 10 for the first time with the Wimby final. I'd largely given up waiting for him to make his move, and now we'll see if it is sustainable.

10. Barry Molyneaux (29, USA) - 3,820

Regularly bowing out early, I figure this is the last we'll see of him.

11. Emilien Mathou (26, FRA)

Next up, it would seem.

12. Seamus Hughes (29, IRE)

Take a bow, Mr. Hughes. You had a good long run as a very solid first-pager. All good things come to an end.

13. Calisto Aviles (23, ESP)

Wimbledon was the first quality off-clay result for the tour's most extreme 1TP. If he can reproduce that once in a while, a big if, bouncing back up is very possible. On the other hand, pretty much nothing that happened on clay after Monte Carlo was up to expectations.

14. Lucas Perez (24, ARG)

Just not consistent enough yet.

17. Tobias Velilla (23, ARG)

The (other) Argentinians are coming ...

18. Clavet Moniotte(26, FRA)

Close to breaking in to the next tier is the French #2, and there are a couple of aged gentleman ahead of him (Solheim/Rhodes/Hughes) so it shouldn't be long.

20. Sushant Chiba(31, SRI)

The gradual slide continues, but due to events with my younger players I'm not nearly ready for him to go doubles yet.

21. Acke Kjaerstad (24, SWE)

Surprised to see him up a few spots. Nothing spectacular, just SF runs at the Acapulco and Queen's Club 500s.

22. Constantino Gonzoles (26, ARG)

Almost 27 and just starting his slide. Gonzoles is way too good a player to have never even cracked the Top 20 (21st for the career high). A sign of the times.

24. Fabio Cagide (21, ESP)

Quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, he played his last challenger I think just last week. Now we'll see what he does in the big leagues.

25. Santino Belmon (25, ITA)

Though it didn't do him much of anything in the rankings, Belmon nearly knocked off #1 Perez early in the Wimbledon draw. Reality shows him down two spots this year.

27. Algot Hakanson (25, SWE)

Hanging in there.

28. Amrik Kasaravalli (25, SRI)

Nearly back to his peak points from last year, which happened at about the same time, and one spot in the rankings below said peak. About to lose his one good 250 result though. The danger of falling back is never far away, and as the clock ticks on his career there's nothing for Amrik to do but keep on grinding and hoping. Rome QF and RG 4th round are definitely the highlights so far.

29. Gregory Gulley (26, USA)

Gulley we'll probably get into in more detail if he sticks, but he's got Jung Disease - can't decide between disciplines. 35th in doubles, so he's pretty good in both.

30. Joao Narciso (23, BRA)

Narciso definitely proved me wrong, getting into the Top 32 and then reaching the 3rd round at both RG and Wimbledon to solidify it a bit. It's rather annoying as, being a couple years younger, he lacks the technical skills of Kasaravalli yet hangs out right in the same range. At the same time, he deserves a round of applause for promoting sooner than I thought he could do it.

31. Andrey Rublev (24, RUS)

Your typical mixed-results tweener.

Too many to showcase, but there are a LOT of 20-21 year olds in the Top 100. Some of them are Anilophiles to be profiled here, but some are not. Beware.

33. Helmut Edlund (22, SWE)

Knocking on the door ... but two of his top three results - third being the title at CH+ Braunschweig just recently - are about to go away. It looks like more challenger training for the Swede despite the ranking number.

46. Willy Weigl (22, AUT)

Weigl has slipped, partly because he got a little too big for his britches. Back-to-back QF losses at 250 events and a first-round exit at Roland Garros, but he got back on track recently with the trophy at CH1 Turin. He's still very much a top Challenger peformer. Esp. on clay.

69. Mark Smith (20, GBR)

Forget about Fitz & Chitz for now. Smith is making a name for himself and taking a back seat to nobody. He recently took advantadge of his home turf to reach the SF at Queens Club (500) and QF at Eastbourne (250).

82. Tommy Fitzpatrick (21, IRE)

Tried his hand at RG and Wimbledon, exiting in the first round of each. Uneven challenger results as well, and hasn't gone deep in any for a few months now. Looks like maybe Fitz has hit the wall a bit.

84. Shakti Vemireddy (20, SRI)

Recently made the final in back-to-back challengers (Milan & Marburg a month ago), but lost both chances. Vemireddy is ever-more-clearly the best of the not-Anilophile Sri Lankan young guns, but doesn't have a trainer and that's not helping.

90(D). Satyagit Guha (20, SRI)

Nevermind the part where he's 739th in singles, Guha is moving up the doubles rankings. Though more slowly now as challenger wins don't help as much these days. Had another FT3 shot but lost in the quarters again, qualified in one of the challengers but lost in the first round. A first-round doubles exit at the Dublin CH3 was embarassing, but it's the only one in the last few months that hasn't ended with the title. Even got a final super TB win over Kayeeda/Intodia.

94(D). Nasir Chittoor (20, SRI)

Tagging along on Guha's coattails isn't exactly how I planned this year to go, but it's what is happening. Chittoor has no reason to crow about Fitz hitting the wall, because he's hit a lower one, and harder. Singles practice events have turned to crap because he's better than most at his ranking (121st), but can't break through to reach a higher level. Five Challenger finals now, the last one at Winnetka CH3 where he faced Gudsell again and it was competitive ... but the crowd was too much to overcome. No titles yet. If it wasn't for the doubles partnership he'd be well and truly screwed. As it is, that's keeping him afloat until he can find a path upward, but his progression has definitely been hurt a bit.

108. Girish Shivakumar (20, SRI)

Nothing in the last three months here. It looks like Shivakumar might have been abandoned .

169. Ritwik Intodia (20, SRI)

Final at CH2 Nantes a couple months ago, SF at Winnetka more recently (l. Chittoor). Starting to get some good challenger consistency.

188. Helmut Hoetker (19, SUI)

Just burst onto the Challenger scene with a fourth futures title, this one in Canada.

213. Rakesh Kayeeda (20, SRI)

First-round defeats in his last two challengers have Kayeeda lagging behind a bit, but I'm sure that's temporary.

411. Lubos Rucklov (19, CZE)

Three futures titles in as many months have this teenager on a decidedly upward trajectory.

1181. Chiang-hui Cheng (18, TPE)

Got his first amateur title a couple months ago, QF at a homegrown futures.

2427. Mike Corey (18, USA)

Going straight to futures hasn't worked out too well here with a couple of early losses even with home-crowd advantage. Corey is still an amateur, and a badly over-played one. Good perfomer at that level though, ranking 5th currently.
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