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Brian Swartz · 08-02-2019, 12:51 PM

2067 Final Rankings

1. Nicolas Perez (25, ARG) - 15,250

After going 92-6 last year, winning four of the five pillars (SF loss at Wimbledon) and four Masters as well, Perez is the undisputed top dog. Now it's about legacy, staying on top for as long as possible winning as much as possible. He could be entering a weird era in which he should be the overall favorite, yet may not be necessarily considered the best on any one surface.

2. Harald Wentz (24, AUT) - 10,420

Wentz's 82-13 mark was remarkably similar to what Perez posted a year ago. For the middle half of the year he was unstoppable on hard courts until fading at the end of it, collecting the first four of the five hardcourt masters. Despite reaching the final of RG and the USO, Harald is still searching for his first Slam title however. How much of a threat he is able to be to Perez on his favored hardcourt will largely determine whether Wentz is to be any kind of serious challenger, or merely the best of many distant alternatives.

3. John Hart (30, IRE) - 6,530

The five-year streak of 91 or more singles victories - and 100 a year ago! - is now over. The sun is setting on Hart's sparkling career, but all good things come to an end. Tennis will miss him.

4. Chisulo Mpakati (24, ZIM) - 6,500

Meteoric though he may be, Mpakati is still on the rise. He reached the semis or better in about half of the big events, but came away with no titles. I'd expect a little more consistency this year, but he'll need more than that to take the next step. Last year he was 0-7 against Perez & Wentz, and those are the guys he now needs to beat for further progress. Interestingly, he won the first six matches against the Austrian but now hasn't beaten him in more than two years. He'll get a lot more chances this year I'd think to try and reverse that trend.

5. Ollie Haas (25, NLD) - 5,615

Judging by points, Haas would appear to be next in line for a Top 4 spot. He'll always be a threat at Wimbledon but broadened his accomplishments with finals at the WTF, Rome, and Shanghai. Like Mpakati, no big titles though and about half the time he was knocked out early. One thing to remember about all these guys is how much more they had to fight through with the draws. A year past, Wentz was 16th, Haas 15th, and Mpakati 11th. By virtue of sheer inertia I expect them to consolidate and achieve somewhat better results as a whole.

6. Il-Sung Jung (25, KOR) - 4,605

Every tournament is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. Usually it depends on how he lasts in doubles, where Jung is ranked 31st. If he doesn't replicate his final at the Australian he could tumble considerably, while he's capable of being a threat to anybody under the right circumstances on the other hand.

7. Tim de Jong (26, NLD) - 4,150

Aside from the final at Wimbledon, he did almost nothing to merit his ranking at the big tournaments. Only tournament win was the Istanbul 250, and that was several months ago. Overall record of 66-25 is borderline; 72.5% wins which is good but not more than that. So there are definite questions about whether the Dutch no. 2 will hang this far up with his hardcourt weaknesses.

8. Calisto Aviles (24, ESP) - 3,925

No longer just a clay phenom, Aviles has sacrificed some of that strength on the dirt to do better on the hardcourts. He won Monte Carlo but but had a spotty record elsewhere at best. This year he typically won a couple of matches instead of disappearing earlier, but still couldn't hang with the top players on other surfaces. It was just enough to have him narrowly claim a Top 8 spot after barely missing out the previous year. Does the slow upwards trend continue?

9. Tobias Velilla (23, ARG) - 3,670

Let's take a moment to notice that if you remove Hart, you'd have a Top 8 of players 26 or younger ... and only de Jong is that old. Tobias mostly finished the year strong with SF at Cincinatti and the USO, though Shanghai was a disappointment. Up sharply from 24th a year ago, he's the youngest player currently in the Top 10 and has no reason not to expect continued upward momentum.

10. Ali Solberg (28, SWE) - 3,670

Actually tied with Velilla, Solberg is on his way out to the doubles pasture.

11. Srba Dogic (26, CRO)

After the brief dalliance at #3, Dogic is back down roughly where he belongs. Despite his relatively young age, his abilities are already on the decline so I don't expect to have occasion to mention him much in the future.

12. Lucas Perez (25, ARG)

Exactly where he was last year. Has he stalled permanently? Several players passed him up without taking him with them.

13. Barry Molyneaux (29, USA)

I mention him just to note another former top player headed into the sunset.

15. Emilien Mathou(26, FRA)

Last year he was 9th, and I had him pegged as a WTF qualifier. Umm, nope. Does he have a bounce-back year in him?

16. Clavet Moniotte (26, FRA)

Moniotte is headed the other direction, up a few spots into a new tier from 22nd. It'll be interesting to see whether that translates into more consistent results.

18. Algot Hakanson (26, SWE)

The indoor focus paid off in a trip to the Paris SF. Hakanson could prove an interesting figure if he ever rises high enough to make the Tour Finals, but that would seem a tall order. For now, he's trying to push his way into the Top 16 and there's plenty of vets around to expect it to happen soon.

20. Amrik Kasaravalli (25, SRI)

Slid above Chiba late in the year and the two have been flip-flopping. That may happen a bit more but it will soon become permanent that Amrik is the top-ranked Sri Lankan. Still a couple of Challenger titles on the ranks but, like Hakanson, he's eyeing a move into the Top 16 and soon. After a couple of years in the mid-30s, he did at least cement his place here and make progress.

21. Sushant Chiba (31, SRI)

It's time for this elder statesman to give way to others. He 'went doubles' at the end of last year, intending to team with Guha as soon as Chittoor is ready to lean into moving past the Challenger tier. It's not quite time for that yet, but by making the move now Chiba will be able to better hit the ground running in the pairs competition, and make way for the younger player to become the no. 2 singles in WTC play sooner. With only one more serve train left and skill improvements costing almost 8.5k each at this point, he had little left to give the tour anyway - maybe another year or two at most at the elite level.

23. Acke Kjaerstad (24, SWE)

Essentially treading water.

25. Fabio Cagide (22, ESP)

Spain's future is bright between Aviles and this rising star, the first of our new names to take a look at. A few challengers still in his count as you'd expect, Cagide broke out with a SF in Barcelona and QF at Roland Garros. He's a clay specialist, but unlike the senior Spaniard he also is reasonably proficient on hard courts. Definitely one to watch in the coming year.

29. Ross Vicars (21, USA)

Here's another neophyte. Vicars played only two Slams, departing early, and no Masters so he's very much of an unknown. Hardcourts are his best surface, and he is the owner of several challenger titles along with the Winston-Salem 250. Time to see if he can hang with the big boys.

32. Santino Belmon (26, ITA)

Down from 25th a year ago, Belmon is barely hanging on and technically could still be improving which garners him a mention.

33. Joao Narciso (23, BRA)

Narciso had slid just out of the Top 32 after spending most of the year inside it. Still a lot of Challenger points on the docket, and I expect him to bounce up and down over that line a bit. However, the 28 & above contingent now holds a full dozen members, which is a lot of spots to come open. Joao should find himself comfortably in the elite tier before long. It's a land of opportunity right now for moving up ... and the Anilophiles just happen to have a number of players gearing to do just that. This is a happy coincidence of the fates indeed.

35. Helmut Edlund (23, SWE)

Strangely, Edlund won only two challenger events last year. Both were big ones, CH+ events in Braunschweig and Mons. He'll definitely be looking to claim one of the spots opening up.

39. Willy Weigl (23, AUT)

Seven challenger titles and just as many runners-up in addition to those. I don't expect Weigl to be patient much longer either.

57. Mark Smith (20, GBR)

It continues to be the case that Fitz & Chitz have not been able to match the rise of this grass-court phenom from the Isles. With three challenger trophies along with a SF at Queen's Club 500 and another at the Newport 250, Smith is looking to force his way into the upper echelon of challenger players right now.

62. Tommy Fitzpatrick (21, IRE)

Fitzpatrick is not far behind. Couldn't replicate the previous years' Slam successes with a full set of first-round losses, but won three challengers with four runner-up showings and a boatload of semis. A lot more hardware is expected this year.

70. Jozef Weinkove (19, DEU)

An obligatory 'watch for this guy in the future' feature for a Top-100 teenager. Easily within that group, and still has almost three months until his 20th birthday. Weinkove will have a short career, but at least so far he seems to be making the most of his chance.

71(D). Satyagit Guha (21, SRI)

8 Challenger titles in 12 events for the Guha/Chittoor pairing, but they still often find themselves in close matches and are not yet dominant in this tier. In singles, Satyagit is making his way up the futures ranks, presently at 418th. He's been looking strong in those events and regularly winning main-draw matches after qualifying in the challengers, so I expected continued steady advancement.

72(D). Nasir Chittoor (21, SRI)

Didn't see much singles success early in the year, but that changed late as he was champion at his last five tournaments. Until the Anil Cup, Chittoor had gone almost five months without a loss in singles play to go along with the strong push up from about 300th in doubles when last the calendar turned. At 83rd on the solo side, he's well behind Smith and Fitzpatrick ... but he's coming upwards as well.

78. Shakti Vemireddy (21, SRI)

After three finals in the middle of the year, Vemireddy seemed to regress at the end and is still searching out his first Challenger trophy. That's actually one fewer final than he made the year before, but overall did a little better as he's up from 97th. I think Shakti is too good to continue languishing, but not good enough to keep with the Anilophiles listed here.

125. Ritwik Intodia (21, SRI)

A couple low-level challenger wins in Brasilia and Ljubljana a few months back gave Intodia a boost. He's now replaced all but one of the futures results and appears ready for a more serious assault on this tier.

182. Helmut Hoetker (20, SUI)

A modest gain from 251st last year. Hoetker is working to establish himself in the challenger tier with a lot of futures result on the resume.

200. Lubos Rucklov (19, CZE)

The last seven futures events he's played, he won. Three were at the FT1 level. Time for a new challenge.

209. Rakesh Kayeeda (21, SRI)

Surprised to see him still hanging out this low. Futures opposition is no contest for him, but he's struggled to establish himself above the challenger line. Of course it's only a matter of time.

294. Chiang-hui Cheng (19, TPE)

Six consecutive futures titles, though he hasn't played any at the top tier yet. Still, Cheng is clearly getting set for a promotion.

900. Mike Corey (18, USA)

Corey reached as high as #3 in juniors, and has won the last three amateurs he played. He's now a futures player, setting his sights on bigger prizes ahead.

4(J). Patrick Burmann (17, AUT)

One of the oldest juniors this year at 17y 44w, Burmann appears to have a shot at some big titles in that competition.

192(J). Joseph Charriol (16, MAL)

A year behind, Charriol has come close JG4 glory but no titles above JG5. Figure that changes now.

804(J). Raul Almaraz (16, PRT)

A recent pickup, Almaraz is now feverishly working to boost his form in preparation for the new year.

812(J). Rimvidas Batchev (14, BUL)

About to hit his 15th birthday, Batchev has had the usual spotty results in JG5 competition for his first year and will be looking forward to the diluted pool of opposition.

957(J). Eduardo Yroz (14, CHE?)

Just acquired clay specialist from Chile. JG4 QF a week or two ago, but other than that we don't know much about this guy.

08-02-2019, 12:51 PM	#1138
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	2067 Final Rankings 1. Nicolas Perez (25, ARG) - 15,250 After going 92-6 last year, winning four of the five pillars (SF loss at Wimbledon) and four Masters as well, Perez is the undisputed top dog. Now it's about legacy, staying on top for as long as possible winning as much as possible. He could be entering a weird era in which he should be the overall favorite, yet may not be necessarily considered the best on any one surface. 2. Harald Wentz (24, AUT) - 10,420 Wentz's 82-13 mark was remarkably similar to what Perez posted a year ago. For the middle half of the year he was unstoppable on hard courts until fading at the end of it, collecting the first four of the five hardcourt masters. Despite reaching the final of RG and the USO, Harald is still searching for his first Slam title however. How much of a threat he is able to be to Perez on his favored hardcourt will largely determine whether Wentz is to be any kind of serious challenger, or merely the best of many distant alternatives. 3. John Hart (30, IRE) - 6,530 The five-year streak of 91 or more singles victories - and 100 a year ago! - is now over. The sun is setting on Hart's sparkling career, but all good things come to an end. Tennis will miss him. 4. Chisulo Mpakati (24, ZIM) - 6,500 Meteoric though he may be, Mpakati is still on the rise. He reached the semis or better in about half of the big events, but came away with no titles. I'd expect a little more consistency this year, but he'll need more than that to take the next step. Last year he was 0-7 against Perez & Wentz, and those are the guys he now needs to beat for further progress. Interestingly, he won the first six matches against the Austrian but now hasn't beaten him in more than two years. He'll get a lot more chances this year I'd think to try and reverse that trend. 5. Ollie Haas (25, NLD) - 5,615 Judging by points, Haas would appear to be next in line for a Top 4 spot. He'll always be a threat at Wimbledon but broadened his accomplishments with finals at the WTF, Rome, and Shanghai. Like Mpakati, no big titles though and about half the time he was knocked out early. One thing to remember about all these guys is how much more they had to fight through with the draws. A year past, Wentz was 16th, Haas 15th, and Mpakati 11th. By virtue of sheer inertia I expect them to consolidate and achieve somewhat better results as a whole. 6. Il-Sung Jung (25, KOR) - 4,605 Every tournament is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. Usually it depends on how he lasts in doubles, where Jung is ranked 31st. If he doesn't replicate his final at the Australian he could tumble considerably, while he's capable of being a threat to anybody under the right circumstances on the other hand. 7. Tim de Jong (26, NLD) - 4,150 Aside from the final at Wimbledon, he did almost nothing to merit his ranking at the big tournaments. Only tournament win was the Istanbul 250, and that was several months ago. Overall record of 66-25 is borderline; 72.5% wins which is good but not more than that. So there are definite questions about whether the Dutch no. 2 will hang this far up with his hardcourt weaknesses. 8. Calisto Aviles (24, ESP) - 3,925 No longer just a clay phenom, Aviles has sacrificed some of that strength on the dirt to do better on the hardcourts. He won Monte Carlo but but had a spotty record elsewhere at best. This year he typically won a couple of matches instead of disappearing earlier, but still couldn't hang with the top players on other surfaces. It was just enough to have him narrowly claim a Top 8 spot after barely missing out the previous year. Does the slow upwards trend continue? 9. Tobias Velilla (23, ARG) - 3,670 Let's take a moment to notice that if you remove Hart, you'd have a Top 8 of players 26 or younger ... and only de Jong is that old. Tobias mostly finished the year strong with SF at Cincinatti and the USO, though Shanghai was a disappointment. Up sharply from 24th a year ago, he's the youngest player currently in the Top 10 and has no reason not to expect continued upward momentum. 10. Ali Solberg (28, SWE) - 3,670 Actually tied with Velilla, Solberg is on his way out to the doubles pasture. 11. Srba Dogic (26, CRO) After the brief dalliance at #3, Dogic is back down roughly where he belongs. Despite his relatively young age, his abilities are already on the decline so I don't expect to have occasion to mention him much in the future. 12. Lucas Perez (25, ARG) Exactly where he was last year. Has he stalled permanently? Several players passed him up without taking him with them. 13. Barry Molyneaux (29, USA) I mention him just to note another former top player headed into the sunset. 15. Emilien Mathou(26, FRA) Last year he was 9th, and I had him pegged as a WTF qualifier. Umm, nope. Does he have a bounce-back year in him? 16. Clavet Moniotte (26, FRA) Moniotte is headed the other direction, up a few spots into a new tier from 22nd. It'll be interesting to see whether that translates into more consistent results. 18. Algot Hakanson (26, SWE) The indoor focus paid off in a trip to the Paris SF. Hakanson could prove an interesting figure if he ever rises high enough to make the Tour Finals, but that would seem a tall order. For now, he's trying to push his way into the Top 16 and there's plenty of vets around to expect it to happen soon. 20. Amrik Kasaravalli (25, SRI) Slid above Chiba late in the year and the two have been flip-flopping. That may happen a bit more but it will soon become permanent that Amrik is the top-ranked Sri Lankan. Still a couple of Challenger titles on the ranks but, like Hakanson, he's eyeing a move into the Top 16 and soon. After a couple of years in the mid-30s, he did at least cement his place here and make progress. 21. Sushant Chiba (31, SRI) It's time for this elder statesman to give way to others. He 'went doubles' at the end of last year, intending to team with Guha as soon as Chittoor is ready to lean into moving past the Challenger tier. It's not quite time for that yet, but by making the move now Chiba will be able to better hit the ground running in the pairs competition, and make way for the younger player to become the no. 2 singles in WTC play sooner. With only one more serve train left and skill improvements costing almost 8.5k each at this point, he had little left to give the tour anyway - maybe another year or two at most at the elite level. 23. Acke Kjaerstad (24, SWE) Essentially treading water. 25. Fabio Cagide (22, ESP) Spain's future is bright between Aviles and this rising star, the first of our new names to take a look at. A few challengers still in his count as you'd expect, Cagide broke out with a SF in Barcelona and QF at Roland Garros. He's a clay specialist, but unlike the senior Spaniard he also is reasonably proficient on hard courts. Definitely one to watch in the coming year. 29. Ross Vicars (21, USA) Here's another neophyte. Vicars played only two Slams, departing early, and no Masters so he's very much of an unknown. Hardcourts are his best surface, and he is the owner of several challenger titles along with the Winston-Salem 250. Time to see if he can hang with the big boys. 32. Santino Belmon (26, ITA) Down from 25th a year ago, Belmon is barely hanging on and technically could still be improving which garners him a mention. 33. Joao Narciso (23, BRA) Narciso had slid just out of the Top 32 after spending most of the year inside it. Still a lot of Challenger points on the docket, and I expect him to bounce up and down over that line a bit. However, the 28 & above contingent now holds a full dozen members, which is a lot of spots to come open. Joao should find himself comfortably in the elite tier before long. It's a land of opportunity right now for moving up ... and the Anilophiles just happen to have a number of players gearing to do just that. This is a happy coincidence of the fates indeed. 35. Helmut Edlund (23, SWE) Strangely, Edlund won only two challenger events last year. Both were big ones, CH+ events in Braunschweig and Mons. He'll definitely be looking to claim one of the spots opening up. 39. Willy Weigl (23, AUT) Seven challenger titles and just as many runners-up in addition to those. I don't expect Weigl to be patient much longer either. 57. Mark Smith (20, GBR) It continues to be the case that Fitz & Chitz have not been able to match the rise of this grass-court phenom from the Isles. With three challenger trophies along with a SF at Queen's Club 500 and another at the Newport 250, Smith is looking to force his way into the upper echelon of challenger players right now. 62. Tommy Fitzpatrick (21, IRE) Fitzpatrick is not far behind. Couldn't replicate the previous years' Slam successes with a full set of first-round losses, but won three challengers with four runner-up showings and a boatload of semis. A lot more hardware is expected this year. 70. Jozef Weinkove (19, DEU) An obligatory 'watch for this guy in the future' feature for a Top-100 teenager. Easily within that group, and still has almost three months until his 20th birthday. Weinkove will have a short career, but at least so far he seems to be making the most of his chance. 71(D). Satyagit Guha (21, SRI) 8 Challenger titles in 12 events for the Guha/Chittoor pairing, but they still often find themselves in close matches and are not yet dominant in this tier. In singles, Satyagit is making his way up the futures ranks, presently at 418th. He's been looking strong in those events and regularly winning main-draw matches after qualifying in the challengers, so I expected continued steady advancement. 72(D). Nasir Chittoor (21, SRI) Didn't see much singles success early in the year, but that changed late as he was champion at his last five tournaments. Until the Anil Cup, Chittoor had gone almost five months without a loss in singles play to go along with the strong push up from about 300th in doubles when last the calendar turned. At 83rd on the solo side, he's well behind Smith and Fitzpatrick ... but he's coming upwards as well. 78. Shakti Vemireddy (21, SRI) After three finals in the middle of the year, Vemireddy seemed to regress at the end and is still searching out his first Challenger trophy. That's actually one fewer final than he made the year before, but overall did a little better as he's up from 97th. I think Shakti is too good to continue languishing, but not good enough to keep with the Anilophiles listed here. 125. Ritwik Intodia (21, SRI) A couple low-level challenger wins in Brasilia and Ljubljana a few months back gave Intodia a boost. He's now replaced all but one of the futures results and appears ready for a more serious assault on this tier. 182. Helmut Hoetker (20, SUI) A modest gain from 251st last year. Hoetker is working to establish himself in the challenger tier with a lot of futures result on the resume. 200. Lubos Rucklov (19, CZE) The last seven futures events he's played, he won. Three were at the FT1 level. Time for a new challenge. 209. Rakesh Kayeeda (21, SRI) Surprised to see him still hanging out this low. Futures opposition is no contest for him, but he's struggled to establish himself above the challenger line. Of course it's only a matter of time. 294. Chiang-hui Cheng (19, TPE) Six consecutive futures titles, though he hasn't played any at the top tier yet. Still, Cheng is clearly getting set for a promotion. 900. Mike Corey (18, USA) Corey reached as high as #3 in juniors, and has won the last three amateurs he played. He's now a futures player, setting his sights on bigger prizes ahead. 4(J). Patrick Burmann (17, AUT) One of the oldest juniors this year at 17y 44w, Burmann appears to have a shot at some big titles in that competition. 192(J). Joseph Charriol (16, MAL) A year behind, Charriol has come close JG4 glory but no titles above JG5. Figure that changes now. 804(J). Raul Almaraz (16, PRT) A recent pickup, Almaraz is now feverishly working to boost his form in preparation for the new year. 812(J). Rimvidas Batchev (14, BUL) About to hit his 15th birthday, Batchev has had the usual spotty results in JG5 competition for his first year and will be looking forward to the diluted pool of opposition. 957(J). Eduardo Yroz (14, CHE?) Just acquired clay specialist from Chile. JG4 QF a week or two ago, but other than that we don't know much about this guy.