A Rocking Rackets Dynasty (NOW WORLD 6)

[law90026]

So in week 16, we bid farewell to Omar Al-Sadat and pick up 14 year old Richard Large from the UK.

Omar is likely to be an ok player, I suspect he will easily be top-50 but I'm not convinced he becomes a top-10 player. His TESS was in the 13.9-14.2 range while Richard comes in at 15.3. We will see if the decision is the correct one over time.

At the time of his firing, Omar had hit #244 in the world and was around the top 150-160 players in the world in terms of ratings. He had won a bunch of FT3 tournaments and if I still had a VIP account, I would have kept him on.

Anyways, here we go!

[law90026]

State of RR6

Top players:

1. Vincent Caladrini, 24, Italy (8.9 rating): The current world #1 is the winner of the last 2 Grandslams, the US Open in year 368 and the Australian Open in year 369. The crazy thing is that his manager has fired him!

2. N. Vavasour, 27, USA (9.04 rating): The former world #1 is still pretty much in his peak and will be challenging for the top spot again, which will probably be made easier by the fact that Caladrini no longer has a manager for at least a few weeks. Winner of 3 World Tour Finals, 3 Grand Slams and 10 Masters.

3. Franz Palmquist, 29, Sweden (8.69 rating): The 29 year old is probably heading down the rankings at some point but is still the 3rd best player in the world at this time. Winner of 7 Grand Slams and 8 Masters titles and had previously spent a total of 94 weeks in the #1 spot.

4. Zhai Zhao-ji, 28, Singapore (8.56 rating): Another older player that is maintaining his position in the rankings, currently the 4th best player in the world still. 1 Grand Slam and 1 Masters title to his name.

5. Matt Flashman, 24, USA (8.41 rating): The 9th best player in the world in terms of ratings but he's pushed his way up the rankings to begin challenging for a top 4 position. One of the younger players in the top 10, his future looks bright.

6. Harald Helm, 31, Germany (8.44 rating): The oldest man in the top 10, the 31-year old is still going strong surprisingly and is the 7th best player in the world. Another former world #1 (62 weeks), he has won 4 World Tour Finals, 5 Grandslams and 15 Masters.

7. Will Nunn, 29, USA (8.4 rating): A player that is slowly slipping out of the top 10, he's currently the 10th best player in the world in terms of ratings. Should be out by the end of the year unless he has a really good year. Winner of 1 Grandslam.

8. Dimas Rivera, 29, Argentina (8.35 rating): The 29 year old is probably the 12th best player in the world so another likely candidate to slip out of the top 10 by year's end. 2 Masters titles for his career.

9. Zhai Xiao-xuan, 27, Singapore (8.53 rating): Close to 28 years old now, he's the 2nd Singaporean in the top 10. Rated as the 6th best player in the world but he and world #4 Zhao-ji may be making a transition to doubles at some stage.

10. Lev Prianichenkov, 24, Russia (8.37 rating): The other younger player in the top 10, he's the 12th best player in the world and, if nothing goes wrong, should move up higher this year with all the veterans slowly making way.

Other notables:

#20 Enric Aguirrebengoa, 27, Spain (8.38 rating): The 11th best player in the world has slipped to #20 in the rankings, in part because his manager is on holiday mode.

#24 Kayin Kukah, 28, Nigeria (8.43 rating): Rated the 7th best player in the world but he has made the transition to doubles so his ranking will continue to slip. He's well-poised to cause upsets in major tournaments where he takes part though.

#69 Heinrich Kuhnemund, 21, Germany (8.32 rating): The best rated youngster in the game (14th best) but his manager has dropped him. Not sure what happens for Heinrich from here on out but whoever picks him up will be pleased.

As can be seen, the top 10 is very veteran-heavy so it's ripe for a transition shortly and Caladrini will likely take advantage of that with multiple majors in the future.

[law90026]

Year 369 recap:

The first Grand Slam of the year was won by world #2 Vincent Caladrini, a routine straight-set win over #6 Matt Flashman.

The Indian Wells Masters was won by homecrowd favourite #2 Nigel Vavasour, who beat Sweden's Franz Palmquist 5/7, 6/4, 6/1.

In Miami, Vavasour won again, this time beating Caladrini 0/6, 6/4, 6/2, a really nice recovery from a piss-poor first set.

In Monte Carlo, #3 Zhai Zhao-ji from Singapore beat #1 Caladrini 7/6(4), 4/6, 6/4.

In Madrid, #7 Zhai Xiao-xuan from Singapore (I assume supposed to be Zhao-ji's brother?) won the title, beating #5 Harald Helm from Germany, 6/3, 3/6, 7/5.

Rome saw Zhao-ji beat Caladrini in another Masters finals, this time 6/3, 6/4.

In the French Open, Xiao-xuan reached the finals as the #7 seed but lost to #12 Dimas Riveria from Argentina in a close finals, 6/1, 6/4, 3/6, 6/7(5), 6/2.

Wimbledon saw the world's top 2 players in the finals and #1 Caladrini beat #2 Vavasour routinely, 6/4, 7/6(3), 7/5. Caladrini's 2nd Grand Slam for the year.

The Canada Masters saw a re-match of the Wimbledon finals and another relatively easy win for Caladrini over Vavasour, 6/2, 7/6(3).

The Cincinnati Masters allowed Vavasour to get some revenge over Caladrini, the homecrowd propelling him to a tough 6/2, 6/7(4), 6/4 win.

In the US Open, #6 Matt Flashman took the crown, defeating Caladrini in 5 sets in the finals, 6/7(1), 7/6(6), 6/3, 1/6, 6/4.

The Shanghai Masters saw a return to winning ways for Caladrini as he beat Vavasour easily, 6/2, 6/4.

The Paris Masters saw a close finals between Caladrini and Vavasour, Caladrini again winning 6/4, 4/6, 7/6(9), in a nail-biter. Truly a passing of the torch here as the former dominant world #1 Vavasour has lost consistently to Caladrini this year.

A similar result in the World Tour Finals as Caladrini got the better of Vavasour again, 6/7(6), 6/4, 6/3.

Player watch:
Luca Caliari is ranked in the top 200 in the junior rankings at age 15+. He's progressing decently although it's frustrating to see crazy high exhaustion at times making him miss entire practice weeks.

Richard Large is progressing a little slower it feels and that's party because I had to wait about 14 weeks to get him off the "free agent" heap. That may be a factor in terms of his overall progression because of less effective training. Ranked in the top 600 at this time.

My former player Omar Al-Sadt was picked up by another trainer and, in year 370, is knocking on the doors of the top 100. I'm going to claim some credit for his progress

[law90026]

Year 370 update:

The Australian Open was won by #1 Vincent Caladrini, 7/5, 7/6(2), 6/1, over #4 Franz Palmquist. The veteran did well to reach the finals but was clearly outclassed there.

In Indian Wells, Caladrini continued his good start to the year with a 3/6 6/2 6/2 win over #2 Nigel Vavasour.

Caladrini then made it 3 out of 3 majors with a 6/7(5) 6/3 7/6(4) win over #10 Jeremy Clayton from the US, who couldn't ride the home support for an upset win. Really close game though.

Monte Carlo saw #4 Biju Majoo from India beat #8 Enric Aguirrebengoa 7/5, 6/3 in the finals. Majoo has had a bit of a strong rise this year and this also shows Aguirrebengoa is back to competing again after being #20 last year.

#4 Majoo then won Madrid convincingly, crushing #2 Matt Flashman 6/1, 6/0 in the finals! 2 clay Masters on the trot for the Indian, let's see how that plays out at the French Open.

Rome saw #1 Caladrini beat fellow Italian and unseeded Frantisek Brezeanu (ranked #22 in the world at the time) in the finals, 7/5, 6/2. Nice run for Brezeanu, who is 29 years old, but probably just a random result taking advantage of homecourt advantage.

The French Open saw #3 Majoo win the finals convincingly over Spaniard #23Simon Varay, 6/0, 6/3, 6/4. To most fans, the true finals was in the semis, where Majoo beat Caladrini 6/4 3/6 6/7(4) 6/4 6/1. Varay is a 23 year old who is rising steadily up the ranks.

Wimbledon was where #2 Matt Flashman beat #1 Caladrini in the finals, 2/6 6/4 6/4 6/4. It's Flashman's 2nd Grand Slam title.

Over to Canada where #1 Caladrini won his 4th Masters of the year over #4 Lev Prianichikov 6/3, 6/4. First Majors finals for the Russian this year, who has moved up to #5 in the world.

#2 Matt Flashman then used the home support to deny Caladrini his 5th Masters title for the year, beating him 6/3 2/6 7/6(3) at Cincinnati. That's 2-0 for Flashman over Caladrini in major tournament finals this year.

Of course, when it counted the most, #1 Caladrini defeated #2 Flashman in the US Open finals, winning 6/3 1/6 4/6 6/4 7/6(4). Just 2 points separated the top 2 players in the world and this gives Caladrini his 2nd Grand Slam for the year.

Shanghai was a repeat of the US Open, with #1 Caladrini beating #2 Flashman 6/4, 6/4 in the finals and claiming his 5th Masters and 7th major title for the year.

However, Paris was won by Flashman, who beat #5 Sam Spitz from Australia 6/2, 6/4 in the finals. Caladrini missed this tournament because he was banned as a result of missing it last year.

At the time of this post, the WTF Finals are still on-going and it's likely to be a match-up between #1 Caladrini and #3 Majoo in the finals as Flashman crashed out in the round robin stages.

[law90026]

As an update, Caladrini won the WTF Finals, beating Lev Prianichikov 6/3, 6/4, in the finals. Guess I was wrong that it would be Majoo in the finals.

[law90026]

World Rankings (as at week 2, year 371)

A little late but probably still accurate compared to the end of year 370 since the first few weeks of the season generally don't move players that much.

#1 Vincent Caladrini, 26, 14,840 points (8.75 rating): The clear #1 in the world at this time, he had a solid year 370 with the WTF Finals, 2 Grand Slams (Australian, US), 1 Grand Slam runner-up (Wimbledon), 5 Masters and 1 more runner-up position in the Masters. Dominant year overall.

#2 Matt Flashman, 26, 10,320 points (8.46 rating): The closest challenger to Caladrini at this time, he had a good year as well with 1 Grand Slam (Wimbledon), 1 Grand Slam runner-up (US Open), 2 Masters and 2 Masters runner-up positions.

#3 Biju Majoo, 25, 7,245 points (8.46 rating): An obvious clay court threat, he won the French Open and 2 clay-court Masters titles. The rest of his results were relatively poor to be honest.

#4 Lev Prianichikov, 26, 5,220 points (8.43 rating): Lev will be looking to build off his runner-up position in the WTF Finals. He also was the runner-up in 1 Masters tournament.

#5 Sam Spitz, 23, 4,445 points (8.38 rating)

#6 Bach Turner, 23, 4,230 points (8.43 rating)

#7 Jeremy Clayton, 25, 4,110 points (8.24 rating)

#8 Mattaeus Ohisson, 28, 3,450 points (8.17 rating)

#9 Kevin Cheevers, 24, 3,410 points (8.4 rating)

#10 Franz Palmquist, 31, 2,925 points (8.32 rating)

As can be seen, the top 10 has had a major shake-out since year 369. The young guard has taken over and only 2 veterans really hanging on now with Palmquist likely to fall out soon as well.

However, there's another batch of players coming up now, including 22 year old Igor Weise (world #15, 8.52 rating, 3rd best), 23 year old Heinrich Kuhnemund (world #32, 8.46 rating, 6th best, with a new manager in place), 23 year old Bas Westhuizen (world #33, 8.39 rating, 11th best), 23 year old Seppo Jutikkala (world #23, 8.31 rating, 16th best) and 22 year old Tsutomu Akutagawa (world #27, 8.26 rating, 20th best). Suspect we will see at least a couple of these names in the top 10 this year.

My old player, Omar Al-Sadt, is also now the 46th best rated player in the world, so that's nice to see.

[law90026]

For my guys, I dropped Richard Large and picked up 14-year old Jose Angulosa, who grades out at about a 15.6 rating.

For Luca Caliari, he's currently ranked as the #58 junior in the world and, considering he has 2 more years to go, I suspect he will have a high ranking by the time he's done.

[law90026]

End of Year 371 summary

#1 Vincent Caladrini continues his dominance by winning the Australian Open, beating #2 Matt Flashman 7/5 7/6(2) 7/5 in the finals.

Indian Wells saw a pair of surprising finalists in #12 Mauritz Aas and #29 Heinrich Kühnemund, with Kuhnemund winning his first Masters 2/6 7/6(2) 6/4. Not entirely unexpected since Kuhnemund is very very good.

Miami was a little ridiculous as well. While #1 Caladrini winning the finals 6/2, 6/4, wasn't surprising, it was the other finalist that raised a few eyebrows. Former world #1 Nigel Vavasour has stopped playing singles regularly but was given a wildcard for this tournament and he proceeded to reach the finals!

Monte Carlo signalled the beginning of the clay season and another rising star, #14 Tsutomu Akutagawa, beat #1 Caladrini in the finals, 7/5, 6/3.

In Madrid, #3 Bijoo Maju beat #9 Mauritz Aas 6/3, 6/4, in the finals.

Rome saw #1 Caladrini beat #3 Maju 6/2 5/7 6/2. That's 3 major trophies for Caladrini this year so far.

At the French Open, #3 Maju reached the finals and was looking to defend it. However, #9 Akutagawa had other ideas as he wins his first grand slam, 6/3 6/4 6/4. A very good start to the year for Akutagawa.

At Wimbledon, #1 Caladrini won his 2nd Grand Slam of the year, beating #7 Bach Turner 3/6 6/3 7/6(4) 7/67.

There was a measure of revenge at the Canada Masters though as #5 Turner beat #1 Caladrini 4/6 7/6(3) 6/4.

In Cincinnati, #1 Caladrini was pushed hard by #7 Lev Prianichikov 6/4 6/7(5) 6/4 but still triumphed.

At the US Open, #9 Kuhnemund showed he was ready for the big stage, beating #12 Jeremy Clayton 7/6(1) 7/5 2/6 6/4 in the finals. It was a truly bizarre tournament which saw the top 4 seeds all knocked out by the 4th round and the semi-finalists were the #9, #12, #14 and #23 ranked players.

In Shanghai, #4 Turner beat #8 Prianichikov 6/2, 6/4 in the finals.

Paris was where #1 Caladrini beat #12 Igor Weise 6/1 6/4 in the finals, claiming his 6th major title of the year. First time we see Weise appear in a major finals this year, a little disappointing considering how good he is.

The WTF Finals was claimed by #4 Tsutomu Akutagawa, who beat Kuhnemund 6/3 3/6 6/1 in the finals. The young guns are coming harder than expected and Caladrini's position may be under threat sooner than expected, considering he didn't make it out of the round robin rounds.

[law90026]

Top 10 for year 371

#1 Caladrini, age 27, 10,930 points
#2 Bach Turner, age 24, 7,670 points
#3 Tsutomu Akutagawa, age 23, 7,385 points
#4 Biju Majoo, age 26, 7,205 points
#5 Heinrich Kühnemund, age 24, 6,565 points
#6 Matt Flashman, age 27, 5,620 points
#7 Sam Spitz, age 24, 5,615 points
#8 Lev Pranichikov, age 27, 4,720 points
#9 Mauritz Aas, age 26, 4,415 points
#10 Jeremy Clayton, age 26, 3,995 points

As predicted, we do see 2 of the younger players rise in to the top 10, with Akutagawa and Kuhnemund doing really well this year. A little disappointing not to see Weise and Westhuizen in there though.

Super close rankings between the #2 to #5 positions and Caladrini continues to be #1 but his lead has been slipping as we see him lose around 4000 points this year.

[law90026]

My players

#32 junior Luca Caliari looks decently strong at this time and is likely to be somewhere in the top 10 for juniors next year. Will be interesting to see how his final junior year goes.

#584 Hamza al Ghudjadwani struggled this year quite a bit, still unable to break out of the JG5 ranks. The problem he has had is that his endurance is low'ish and so he misses a lot of time because of fatigue and his development has suffered as a result.