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Brian Swartz · 09-21-2015, 05:29 PM

Thanks gents! It came down to 50 points(4140 vs. 4090). If everybody had played Shanghai Mehul probably wouldn't have made it -- but on the other hand he was fighting uphill against players with better ranking & seeding all year. Luck flowed both ways at different times, and in the end it was really just a coin-flip kind of situation. Could have gone either way, but I'm glad to be in. Hopefully not too tired to have a chance at making a splash in Belarus ...

Tour Finals Preview

Field was announced officially as we are one week away and my calculations were correct. At the top, Antonin Iglar has officially taken the #1 spot from Bjorn Benda a week shy of his 24th birthday. My guess is he'll be there for a good long while. The German held it for over a year, 65 weeks -- by comparison, Alastra had it for 82 weeks before him. He's still the world's best on clay but other than it's hard to see him taking the spot back from the dominant Czech. As it stands now, Iglar needs to win his round-robin matches and the semifinal to guarantee he keeps the top spot for the end of the year. It's not over yet, but with the way he's played the last few months it probably will be soon.

It's a pretty even split of three age brackets at this year's finals. David Almagro is making an impressive seventh straight appearance, while Mick Elder is here for the fourth year. With Prieto having tumbled out of the Top 10 now, it might be the last hurrah for the vestiges of what was once a dominant group of players headed by Alastra. Those two are currently ranked third and fourth, so they aren't being put out to pasture just yet and might have something to say about results here.

Benda, last year's unbeaten champion, returns for a third appearance. Viktor Goncharenko narrowly missed returning, but David Alvarez and Evgeni Topolski, the former a late bloomer and the latter a career underachiever, both make their first appearances here.

Antonin Iglar had just one round-robin last year and is back expecting a lot more, along with Anil Mehul making his first finals. Along with being the youngest players, Iglar & Mehul are also by far the most skilled indoor players. Despite their youth a definite splash by them is expected, although as Antonin found out in '39, first-timers tend to not do all that well.

** OOC Note: The game says I still can't register for the WTF, even though it's next week. I'm hoping that means it just automatically brings in the Top 8 ... Mehul is back up to 8th this week so he should be in the field. I've just never done this before with my own players so I'm not sure how it works. **

Girish Girsh, sort of a forgotten man in all the Race stuff in terms of my updates, has had the last several weeks off and this week he's back in action at the Sao Paulo 'plus' Challenger. There's another week of challengers after that if needed during the Finals themselves, and then the WTC to finish up the year.

09-21-2015, 05:29 PM	#145
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Thanks gents! It came down to 50 points(4140 vs. 4090). If everybody had played Shanghai Mehul probably wouldn't have made it -- but on the other hand he was fighting uphill against players with better ranking & seeding all year. Luck flowed both ways at different times, and in the end it was really just a coin-flip kind of situation. Could have gone either way, but I'm glad to be in. Hopefully not too tired to have a chance at making a splash in Belarus ... Tour Finals Preview Field was announced officially as we are one week away and my calculations were correct. At the top, Antonin Iglar has officially taken the #1 spot from Bjorn Benda a week shy of his 24th birthday. My guess is he'll be there for a good long while. The German held it for over a year, 65 weeks -- by comparison, Alastra had it for 82 weeks before him. He's still the world's best on clay but other than it's hard to see him taking the spot back from the dominant Czech. As it stands now, Iglar needs to win his round-robin matches and the semifinal to guarantee he keeps the top spot for the end of the year. It's not over yet, but with the way he's played the last few months it probably will be soon. It's a pretty even split of three age brackets at this year's finals. David Almagro is making an impressive seventh straight appearance, while Mick Elder is here for the fourth year. With Prieto having tumbled out of the Top 10 now, it might be the last hurrah for the vestiges of what was once a dominant group of players headed by Alastra. Those two are currently ranked third and fourth, so they aren't being put out to pasture just yet and might have something to say about results here. Benda, last year's unbeaten champion, returns for a third appearance. Viktor Goncharenko narrowly missed returning, but David Alvarez and Evgeni Topolski, the former a late bloomer and the latter a career underachiever, both make their first appearances here. Antonin Iglar had just one round-robin last year and is back expecting a lot more, along with Anil Mehul making his first finals. Along with being the youngest players, Iglar & Mehul are also by far the most skilled indoor players. Despite their youth a definite splash by them is expected, although as Antonin found out in '39, first-timers tend to not do all that well. OOC Note: The game says I still can't register for the WTF, even though it's next week. I'm hoping that means it just automatically brings in the Top 8 ... Mehul is back up to 8th this week so he should be in the field. I've just never done this before with my own players so I'm not sure how it works. Girish Girsh, sort of a forgotten man in all the Race stuff in terms of my updates, has had the last several weeks off and this week he's back in action at the Sao Paulo 'plus' Challenger. There's another week of challengers after that if needed during the Finals themselves, and then the WTC to finish up the year. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 09-21-2015 at 05:35 PM.