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Brian Swartz · 08-06-2015, 10:44 PM

Sri Lanka Rankings Update

Anil Mehul -- 36th to 12th singles, 291st to 104th doubles. I'll be looking at his prospects for the coming year in more detail, but it was obviously a fine year, a career-best 52-20 win/loss and he won more prize money this year than he had lifetime coming in.

Girish Girsh -- 357th to 98th singles, 1557th to 424th doubles. Girsh has reached what is, based on Mehul's experienced, the last 'speed bump' in his rise through the rankings. He probably won't move up all that much this year. It will be a year of adjustment and acclimation as he will be playing all the Slams, at least the biggest Masters(Miami/Indian Wells), and a smattering of larger challengers along with probably a 250-level tournament or two. He does not, yet, have the advantage of fattening up his ranking with WTC points that Mehul and Chittoor had on their ascent.

Many of the players in the 50-100 range are still better than Girsh is. 2040 will probably be a year of seasoning, but by the end of it he should be ready to start reaching greater heights again. The more attentive readers may recall that he played a somewhat accelerated tournament schedule at the beginning of this last year; those points will now start to come off but continuing to build his technical abilities is still much more important. There is a solid foundation but he's not yet quite ready to be a top player, and a fair amount of fluctuation in his ranking is expected. When he's ready to move up again, the tournament results will begin to show it, and he continues to be on a strong path long-term.

Prakash Mooljee -- 168th juniors. The first 'establishing' year is in the books for the 15-year-old. Juniors throw a wrench into the works this time of year as the 18-year-olds are removed from the rankings at the start of each year. On the professional tour, veteran players slide down the rankings gradually, making such changes much less abrupt. In this case, Mooljee gained about 100 places almost overnight. He did very well in the last event, reaching a Tier-4 final in singles and winning the tournament in doubles. That will allow him several weeks of practice before he needs to get out there again. He'll slide down the rankings a fair amount in this time, since the bigger events are now more accessible to players who weren't ranked high enough until the 18-year-olds turned pro; it is typical for my juniors to actually gradually decline in their ranking for at least the first few months of the year because these other players are gaining points quickly, and it makes for a chaotic start to the year in which it is difficult to pick well what tournaments to enter.

As a baseline for looking at how Mooljee is doing as a player(good, on the whole), I like to look at how many players are ranked above a junior player that are younger. 168th may not look that impressive on paper but most of those above him are 17 and 16-year-olds, significantly more advanced in their physical maturity. In point of fact he is doing even better than I imagined; there is not a single player who is both younger and higher-ranked! He's just past 15 and a half, and there are only about a half-dozen(all at least several weeks older) who have not reached their 16th birthday yet. Not bad for a guy who I thought was pretty raw when he joined my 'stable' of players. The future's looking very good here.

Anil Manohar -- 442nd to 580th singles, 1472nd to 870th doubles. As expected, Manohar's rankings are 'evening out' as he works toward becoming a trainer. In less than a month he'll reach the point where his doubles skill has 'caught up' with the rest of his abilities and then splitting time between doubles and serving will commence for some while. He made better than expected progress this year, a hair under 4.0 as an expected trainer rating a year ago and now he's at 4.134 with almost eight years left to work on it. Of course, it is harder and harder to improve the better you get, but he should be able to finish as a very good though not quite maximum trainer by the time he retires into that role.

Manager Ranking -- 29th to 20th, 10k to 13.5k points. It's worth noting here that manager of both Benda and Iglar(a wealth of riches!) has taken over the #1 spot for the first time. Only three active players have ever been #1 on the rankings here, and they are current top 3, 7000 points clear of the field with at least 37k points each. I won't be in that stratosphere anytime soon but should be able to continue creeping upwards.

08-06-2015, 10:44 PM	#91
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Sri Lanka Rankings Update Anil Mehul -- 36th to 12th singles, 291st to 104th doubles. I'll be looking at his prospects for the coming year in more detail, but it was obviously a fine year, a career-best 52-20 win/loss and he won more prize money this year than he had lifetime coming in. Girish Girsh -- 357th to 98th singles, 1557th to 424th doubles. Girsh has reached what is, based on Mehul's experienced, the last 'speed bump' in his rise through the rankings. He probably won't move up all that much this year. It will be a year of adjustment and acclimation as he will be playing all the Slams, at least the biggest Masters(Miami/Indian Wells), and a smattering of larger challengers along with probably a 250-level tournament or two. He does not, yet, have the advantage of fattening up his ranking with WTC points that Mehul and Chittoor had on their ascent. Many of the players in the 50-100 range are still better than Girsh is. 2040 will probably be a year of seasoning, but by the end of it he should be ready to start reaching greater heights again. The more attentive readers may recall that he played a somewhat accelerated tournament schedule at the beginning of this last year; those points will now start to come off but continuing to build his technical abilities is still much more important. There is a solid foundation but he's not yet quite ready to be a top player, and a fair amount of fluctuation in his ranking is expected. When he's ready to move up again, the tournament results will begin to show it, and he continues to be on a strong path long-term. Prakash Mooljee -- 168th juniors. The first 'establishing' year is in the books for the 15-year-old. Juniors throw a wrench into the works this time of year as the 18-year-olds are removed from the rankings at the start of each year. On the professional tour, veteran players slide down the rankings gradually, making such changes much less abrupt. In this case, Mooljee gained about 100 places almost overnight. He did very well in the last event, reaching a Tier-4 final in singles and winning the tournament in doubles. That will allow him several weeks of practice before he needs to get out there again. He'll slide down the rankings a fair amount in this time, since the bigger events are now more accessible to players who weren't ranked high enough until the 18-year-olds turned pro; it is typical for my juniors to actually gradually decline in their ranking for at least the first few months of the year because these other players are gaining points quickly, and it makes for a chaotic start to the year in which it is difficult to pick well what tournaments to enter. As a baseline for looking at how Mooljee is doing as a player(good, on the whole), I like to look at how many players are ranked above a junior player that are younger. 168th may not look that impressive on paper but most of those above him are 17 and 16-year-olds, significantly more advanced in their physical maturity. In point of fact he is doing even better than I imagined; there is not a single player who is both younger and higher-ranked! He's just past 15 and a half, and there are only about a half-dozen(all at least several weeks older) who have not reached their 16th birthday yet. Not bad for a guy who I thought was pretty raw when he joined my 'stable' of players. The future's looking very good here. Anil Manohar -- 442nd to 580th singles, 1472nd to 870th doubles. As expected, Manohar's rankings are 'evening out' as he works toward becoming a trainer. In less than a month he'll reach the point where his doubles skill has 'caught up' with the rest of his abilities and then splitting time between doubles and serving will commence for some while. He made better than expected progress this year, a hair under 4.0 as an expected trainer rating a year ago and now he's at 4.134 with almost eight years left to work on it. Of course, it is harder and harder to improve the better you get, but he should be able to finish as a very good though not quite maximum trainer by the time he retires into that role. Manager Ranking -- 29th to 20th, 10k to 13.5k points. It's worth noting here that manager of both Benda and Iglar(a wealth of riches!) has taken over the #1 spot for the first time. Only three active players have ever been #1 on the rankings here, and they are current top 3, 7000 points clear of the field with at least 37k points each. I won't be in that stratosphere anytime soon but should be able to continue creeping upwards. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 08-06-2015 at 10:48 PM.