College players in US summer Futures and Challengers
- Thread starter jcgatennismom
- Start date
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Basavareddy would beat him easily
jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
Now for the 5th time in 16 months, Shelton plays Kovacevic tomorrow. Record is 2:2. If Shelton wins as he did a week ago, he could end up playing Eubanks in the final for the 3rd time this month provided Eubanks wins his QF/SF. What % chance do you think it will be Shelton/Eubanks again? Eubanks is playing Evan Zhu formerly of UCLA now; CE is up with an early break in first 3-0
80%!
If only the ATP granted points for wins that occur in Feddie’s mind
jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
The 4 SFs for Champaign Challenger are all former college players ranked inside the top 200: Americans Shelton (FL), Eubanks (GT), Kovacevic (IL) and Australian Vukic (IL). None of these played in the MD of a Jr Grand Slam, though Vukic did play Qualis of AO Open jrs. Shelton had the top ITF jr ranking of 306 but he only played 4 jr ITF events-3 of them in Florida. Kovacevic who lived in Florida only had a jr ITF ranking high of 528 with a record of just 32-30 or 50%. He mainly played in Florida, but played a few international, Southern, and Cali ITFs . He lost in the 1st round of all the Cali ITFs he played. Eubanks only played the Atlanta ITF two years and had a ITF jr CH of 1740. Vukic had a ITF jr career high of 726. His record was 18-8 over 4 years of play so he didnt play many jr ITF events per year.
As far as ATP points, Vukic earned his 1st points in 8/14 right before the start of his freshman year at Illinois. By graduation in 5/21, he was mid 400s. A little less than 2 years later, he broke top 200 in March '20. Since then he has ranged from 118-222 ATP; obviously the pandemic affected his rise. Eubanks didnt earn his 1st ATP point until the summer before his college junior year. At the end of his junior year he was in the 600s, but after a QF finish at ATP 250 in ATl he was ATP 322 in 8/17 and turned pro that Oct foregoing his last season. He broke top 200 in 4/18 less than a year later. However from 4/18-9/21, he moved up and down between 150-250. Since 9/21, he has remained in top 200; he reached a career high of 120 11/7/22. After 5 years of pro play, will he break through to top 100 in the next 6 months? He's been playing his best tennis recently only losing to Shelton. Finally Shelton didnt earn his 1st ATP point until 7/21 after his freshman year at Florida. By 5/22, he was mid 500s and he broke 200 this August and turned pro. Now he is at 108.
This 4 players show that to have success on the pro Tour there is no need to play Jr ITFs-especially traveling internationally. Eubanks and Shelton only played a few close to home. These guys are ranked well ahead of many collegians who were ITF jr top 50. The earliest any of these earned ATP points was right before college. I think what was most helpful to the US guys were WCs into Futures, Challengers, and ATP 250s. These guys were also on the USTA Collegiate team. I hope USTA will spend more resources on top American collegians in the summer and less on boarding juniors from 13 or 15 on at UsTA national campus. There are players who spent years with USTA and struggle to crack ATP 600 or 1000.
I hope these examples show that parents dont have to rush to spend a lot of $$ with international travel pre college. Late bloomers can flourish in college. Both Eubanks and Kovacevic were 5 stars not blue chips in high school. Eubanks played for his high school team-attended regular high school. Eubanks didnt play much USTA until later in HS-he was just a 4 star soph and 3 star freshman. Kovacevic was just a 4 star freshman-jr year but had a great run his senior year. There are folks that discourage junior players implying that they are behind if they dont start playing tourneys by 8 or 10 and national events by 12. That's a bunch of BS. Encourage any late bloomers you know. While very few will reach ATP 200, players who were 3 stars in middle school could end up playing line 1 at a D1 school, earn an ITA ranking, play NCAAs, and qualify into MDs of Futures. Players dont need to leave home, board at an academy for years to find success in college and/or the ATP Tour! The true talent will rise to the top without sacrificing their entire childhood.
As far as ATP points, Vukic earned his 1st points in 8/14 right before the start of his freshman year at Illinois. By graduation in 5/21, he was mid 400s. A little less than 2 years later, he broke top 200 in March '20. Since then he has ranged from 118-222 ATP; obviously the pandemic affected his rise. Eubanks didnt earn his 1st ATP point until the summer before his college junior year. At the end of his junior year he was in the 600s, but after a QF finish at ATP 250 in ATl he was ATP 322 in 8/17 and turned pro that Oct foregoing his last season. He broke top 200 in 4/18 less than a year later. However from 4/18-9/21, he moved up and down between 150-250. Since 9/21, he has remained in top 200; he reached a career high of 120 11/7/22. After 5 years of pro play, will he break through to top 100 in the next 6 months? He's been playing his best tennis recently only losing to Shelton. Finally Shelton didnt earn his 1st ATP point until 7/21 after his freshman year at Florida. By 5/22, he was mid 500s and he broke 200 this August and turned pro. Now he is at 108.
This 4 players show that to have success on the pro Tour there is no need to play Jr ITFs-especially traveling internationally. Eubanks and Shelton only played a few close to home. These guys are ranked well ahead of many collegians who were ITF jr top 50. The earliest any of these earned ATP points was right before college. I think what was most helpful to the US guys were WCs into Futures, Challengers, and ATP 250s. These guys were also on the USTA Collegiate team. I hope USTA will spend more resources on top American collegians in the summer and less on boarding juniors from 13 or 15 on at UsTA national campus. There are players who spent years with USTA and struggle to crack ATP 600 or 1000.
I hope these examples show that parents dont have to rush to spend a lot of $$ with international travel pre college. Late bloomers can flourish in college. Both Eubanks and Kovacevic were 5 stars not blue chips in high school. Eubanks played for his high school team-attended regular high school. Eubanks didnt play much USTA until later in HS-he was just a 4 star soph and 3 star freshman. Kovacevic was just a 4 star freshman-jr year but had a great run his senior year. There are folks that discourage junior players implying that they are behind if they dont start playing tourneys by 8 or 10 and national events by 12. That's a bunch of BS. Encourage any late bloomers you know. While very few will reach ATP 200, players who were 3 stars in middle school could end up playing line 1 at a D1 school, earn an ITA ranking, play NCAAs, and qualify into MDs of Futures. Players dont need to leave home, board at an academy for years to find success in college and/or the ATP Tour! The true talent will rise to the top without sacrificing their entire childhood.
3-1 Shelton in 2022
silentkman
Hall of Fame
Eubanks gets the WC now. Perfect
awesome if that’s true, Ben will be happy for his friend and dubs partner to benefit
silentkman
Hall of Fame
Eubanks told Ben that dinner is on him in Melbourne.
Last edited:
it’s nice to see a lot of the young Americans getting along as they travel through the ranks together
Kova had a funny Instagram story showing Ben sitting on the plane in business class with a caption saying something like ‘kid wins a few matches and is too good for coach now’
jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
Diallo of Kentucky and Galarneau play in Davis Cup tomorrow vs Germany in the final 8 playoffs joining Felix, Shap, and Popisil. He also played with Davis Cup team in Sept. Wonder if he will return to school after having the opportunity to travel and play with top 20 players. 6 of the top 10 Canadians for ATP are current or former collegians-with Diallo, Draxl, Boulais, and Baadi all current players with 3 of them at Kentucky. However Canada's top 10 range from #6-#909 big spread while US now has 13 in top 100 with recent addition of Ben Shelton.
gogo
Legend
And Diallo and Galarneau are now officially Davis Cup champions. Not bad for the resume and good experience just to be around that environment.
Right! They both played Davis Cup matches during 2022! Very cool!
