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Brian Swartz · 07-09-2015, 05:58 PM

Girish Girsh had another challenger, a small one in Luzern, during the interim. He entered there for a second tournament in a row because there is a several-week break beginning with RG where there are no hardcourt challengers until after Wimbledon. This was a tough call, one of those darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't kinds of things where there really isn't a particularly good option. Many other players had the same idea as it had a strong field, but even so he knocked off some higher-ranked guys and made it to the final, where he was stopped short of his first challenger crown by Henry Healey(99th, USA) in one-sided fashion. Still, a strong showing that moved him up to 175th, firmly in the Top 200 to stay.

Roland Garros

Anil Mehul hopes of rescuing an unimpressive clay season were not helped by a relatively unkind draw. He entered as the 17-seed, a bit higher than expected since #6 David Almagro and #7 Evegeni Topolski inexplicably didn't show up. For Topolski, that's two out of three slams missed during what should be the heyday of his career! Criminal mismanagement there. Back to Mehul though:

R1 -- American Chris Kellogg, around 130th in the world, seemed a good draw for the first round until you looked at his resume. Naturally, he was a clay-court specialist though not an extreme one as a fairly balanced player, but certainly a guy who could still be a threat and there are a lot of players who would be easier here. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of drama in a straight-sets win, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Meanwhile, Amrik Chittoor nearly got his first win here before losing in five sets to familar WTC foil Guillame Vittoz(Nigeria).

R2 -- Next up was possibly the most dangerous unseeded player in the draw. Also from the US, generational rival Chad Dring, ranked 41st and a complete clay aficianado, had been every bit as impressive in cruising through his first match. Coming into the tournament, Mehul's goal was to defend his position(i.e. make the third round), at which point he would have gone one round better than last year and at least salvaged a decent clay performance on the year. Dring's appearance in his path threatened to throw a wrench in that plan. It was close, but Mehul continued to return very well and after taking a close third he had broken the American's will. The final was 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, a fine and important win.

R3 -- And then there was Becerril again. Another step up in competition and they'd just played a couple weeks ago in Rome. This time Anil started better and took the first set, but from there on out the Argentine just got stronger and stronger as it went on. 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 was the final, a game effort but on clay there's no question who the better player is.

The top 8 seeds made the quarters, top four made the semis, top two made the final in a rematch of Gabriel Alastra and Bjorn Benda. You can't get much more topheavy than that. There were some close matches in there to be sure, but the powers that be once again defended their territory. Alastra started well in the final, leading by a set and 3-1 before Benda rallied to claim the championship again in four sets. His reward for his second Slam title was to be demoted to #3 in the rankings, as Mick Elder surpassed him by a bit after making the semifinals. The top 5 all equalled or surpassed last year's results, making it a crowded bunch at the top.

All of that makes Wimbledon very interesting in three weeks. Alastra, the four-time defending champion, pretty much needs to repeat again if he wants to retain the top spot for long. With the grass season lasting only a few weeks, there is virtually no such thing as a grass specialist, particularly not to the degree that there is on clay. That makes it a much different playing field and the big servers have a little bit more advantadge there: speed can be a bigger factor as well.

As with most of the top players, Mehul will have one tuneup 250 going in. The big news for the Sri Lanka players though is that it will probably be Girsh's first Slam instead of waiting for the USO. During Roland Garros, he had a difficult time finding quality practice partners -- he's reached a point where many of them were trying to qualify there. It's sort of a catch-22, but he's probably better off trying to do that himself than hitting with guys who can't really challenge him much. Mooljee played his first tier-4 juniors during RG, which was also a mistake: he's high enough to make most of them but this one happened to have a more crowded field and he lost in qualifying. Lesson learned -- it's been a while since I coached up a junior, but I need to get him close to the top 500(around 750th now) before jumping to that level. A couple more good Tier 5 results at least will be needed, which shouldn't take long.

07-09-2015, 05:58 PM	#59
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Girish Girsh had another challenger, a small one in Luzern, during the interim. He entered there for a second tournament in a row because there is a several-week break beginning with RG where there are no hardcourt challengers until after Wimbledon. This was a tough call, one of those darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't kinds of things where there really isn't a particularly good option. Many other players had the same idea as it had a strong field, but even so he knocked off some higher-ranked guys and made it to the final, where he was stopped short of his first challenger crown by Henry Healey(99th, USA) in one-sided fashion. Still, a strong showing that moved him up to 175th, firmly in the Top 200 to stay. Roland Garros Anil Mehul hopes of rescuing an unimpressive clay season were not helped by a relatively unkind draw. He entered as the 17-seed, a bit higher than expected since #6 David Almagro and #7 Evegeni Topolski inexplicably didn't show up. For Topolski, that's two out of three slams missed during what should be the heyday of his career! Criminal mismanagement there. Back to Mehul though: R1 -- American Chris Kellogg, around 130th in the world, seemed a good draw for the first round until you looked at his resume. Naturally, he was a clay-court specialist though not an extreme one as a fairly balanced player, but certainly a guy who could still be a threat and there are a lot of players who would be easier here. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of drama in a straight-sets win, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Meanwhile, Amrik Chittoor nearly got his first win here before losing in five sets to familar WTC foil Guillame Vittoz(Nigeria). R2 -- Next up was possibly the most dangerous unseeded player in the draw. Also from the US, generational rival Chad Dring, ranked 41st and a complete clay aficianado, had been every bit as impressive in cruising through his first match. Coming into the tournament, Mehul's goal was to defend his position(i.e. make the third round), at which point he would have gone one round better than last year and at least salvaged a decent clay performance on the year. Dring's appearance in his path threatened to throw a wrench in that plan. It was close, but Mehul continued to return very well and after taking a close third he had broken the American's will. The final was 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, a fine and important win. R3 -- And then there was Becerril again. Another step up in competition and they'd just played a couple weeks ago in Rome. This time Anil started better and took the first set, but from there on out the Argentine just got stronger and stronger as it went on. 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 was the final, a game effort but on clay there's no question who the better player is. The top 8 seeds made the quarters, top four made the semis, top two made the final in a rematch of Gabriel Alastra and Bjorn Benda. You can't get much more topheavy than that. There were some close matches in there to be sure, but the powers that be once again defended their territory. Alastra started well in the final, leading by a set and 3-1 before Benda rallied to claim the championship again in four sets. His reward for his second Slam title was to be demoted to #3 in the rankings, as Mick Elder surpassed him by a bit after making the semifinals. The top 5 all equalled or surpassed last year's results, making it a crowded bunch at the top. All of that makes Wimbledon very interesting in three weeks. Alastra, the four-time defending champion, pretty much needs to repeat again if he wants to retain the top spot for long. With the grass season lasting only a few weeks, there is virtually no such thing as a grass specialist, particularly not to the degree that there is on clay. That makes it a much different playing field and the big servers have a little bit more advantadge there: speed can be a bigger factor as well. As with most of the top players, Mehul will have one tuneup 250 going in. The big news for the Sri Lanka players though is that it will probably be Girsh's first Slam instead of waiting for the USO. During Roland Garros, he had a difficult time finding quality practice partners -- he's reached a point where many of them were trying to qualify there. It's sort of a catch-22, but he's probably better off trying to do that himself than hitting with guys who can't really challenge him much. Mooljee played his first tier-4 juniors during RG, which was also a mistake: he's high enough to make most of them but this one happened to have a more crowded field and he lost in qualifying. Lesson learned -- it's been a while since I coached up a junior, but I need to get him close to the top 500(around 750th now) before jumping to that level. A couple more good Tier 5 results at least will be needed, which shouldn't take long. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 07-09-2015 at 05:59 PM.