21st Century Toecutters: The Rise of Oz Tennis!

stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Thread bump...Bad Boyz lead the DC team in the home tie in Sydney vs Slovakia to stay in World Group for 2017. Peers and Groth round out the team and should play dubs behind Nick and Bernie.

Elsewhere, Jordan Thompson is in a rain-delayed QF in the Nanchang Challenger vs red hot Jason Jung. 1-1 in the first set when play resumes. Matosevic is also there and plays his QF vs Ze Zhang.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Thompson lost his continuation 6-7 3-6.

Matosevic is up next, down 7-6 4-6 2-3.

Nick has won the first rubber of DC in straight sets over Slovakia's Andrej Martin. Tomic won the first set 7-6 over Kovalik.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Aussie Andrew Whittington has won his first ever ATP main draw match in Shenzhen. Defeated Luca Vanni and saved 4 match points in the 2nd set. Faces Gasquet 2R

Other Aussies in action this week:
Shenzhen:
Tomic has a bye to the 2R in Shenzhen. Faces either defending finalist Garcia Lopez or Ryan Harrison.

Chengdu:
Kyrgios has a bye to the 2R in Chengdu. Faces either Kevin Anderson or Aussie Jordan Thompson
Thompson faces Kevin Anderson 1R.
Millman faces 8th seed Lorenzi 1R.
 
O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Aside from grating personality traits they both still just have such poor work ethics. Unless something changes or they have a run of luck in consecutive slams, I can't see either moving much past where they are now.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
So Akira Santillan was a successful Aussie junior who reached the boys junior Aus Open SF in 2015 and reached a career high #7 in Junior rankings. But had a terrible relationship with Tennis Australia. He opted to switch to play for Japan in March 2015.

Since then, he's been treated far better and has received some wildcards into main draw ATP events. He made his debut in Kitzhubel where he lost in the 1R to Struff and also lost 1R in doubles.

He's won 4 ITF singles titles this year alone and has reached a QF and SF of two challenger tournaments. He's currently ranked 232nd in the world.

Anyway, he got awarded a wildcard into the qualifying draw at the ATP500 Tokyo Open for this week. He got drawn 2nd seed Daniel Evans who's ranked 55th in the world. Akira won! He's now playing Stepanek in the final qualifying match and has lost the 1st set but is up 3-0 in the 2nd.


My point being, Akira is clearly a rising star and could have (should have) been a rising star for Australia. But yet again, another ****ty relationship between Tennis Australia and a player has seen him move overseas.

It seems the Tomic's were right when they called out Tennis Australia and their favouritsm. We've lost Akira, we lost Brydan Klein, let's not forget that Johanna Konta played for Australia til 2012. Don't think she left was due to the relationship with TA but surely they could have done a better job at trying to keep her, considering she's now a firm top 15 WTA player.
 
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O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Aussie Darcy said:
So Akira Santillan was a successful Aussie junior who reached the boys junior Aus Open SF in 2015 and reached a career high #7 in Juniour rankings. But had a terrible relationship with Tennis Australia. He opted to switch to play for Japan in March 2015.

Since then, he's been treated far better and has received some wildcards into main draw ATP events. He made his debut in Kitzhubel where he lost in the 1R to Struff and also lost 1R in doubles.

He's won 4 ITF singles titles this year alone and has reached a QF and SF of two challenger tournaments. He's currently ranked 232nd in the world.

Anyway, he got awarded a wildcard into the qualifying draw at the ATP500 Tokyo Open for this week. He got drawn 2nd seed Daniel Evans who's ranked 55th in the world. Akira won! He's now playing Stepanek in the final qualifying match and has lost the 1st set but is up 3-0 in the 2nd.


My point being, Akira is clearly a rising star and could have (should have) been a rising star for Australia. But yet again, another ****ty relationship between Tennis Australia and a player has seen him move overseas.

It seems the Tomic's were right when they called out Tennis Australia and their favouritsm. We've lost Akira, we lost Brydan Klein, let's not forget that Johanna Konta played for Australia til 2012. Don't think she left was due to the relationship with TA but surely they could have done a better job at trying to keep her, considering she's now a firm top 15 WTA player.
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I saw a few of Akira's matches at the 2015 AO junior event and he really impressed me. Mature beyond his years, didn't rattle easily and could hold fast during periods where he wasn't playing well.

Don't know the full details of his issues with Tennis Australia but you'd hardly accuse him of being a hot head. Rather than making a song and dance he just took up the option of Japanese citizenship and got on with it. I know Tennis Australia have just done a spill of national academy coaches but I'm not sure they've learned their lesson and will continue to force people into a one size fits all approach.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
2 weeks ago:
Ho Chi Minh Challenger:
Jordan Thompson won the Ho Chi Minh City Challenger. He jumped 7 spots to 92nd in the world (that was last week). He's at 95 this week.

Monterrey Challenger:
JP Smith and Groth reached the QF's.


Last week:
Las Vegas Challenger:
Sam Groth wins the Las Vegas Challenger. He was unseeded and in his run he defeated number 3 seed Fratangelo and 4th seed Giraldo in the final. He jumped 52 spots to 185th in the world today. Glad to see he's back winning again.
Also Matt Reid won the doubles title with Baker and jumps to 88th in the world in the doubles.

Ningbo Challenger:
Millman was the top seed and made the SF where he retired. He jumps 5 spots to #70.


This coming week:
The Traralgon Challenger which is in Australia.
Everyone in the draw is Aussie except for 5 people!
Seeds are, in order: Thompson*, Nishioka, Zemjla, Duckworth*, Barton*, JP Smith* and Polmans*. * = Australian.

And Andrew Whittington is the 8th seed at the Suzhou Challenger in China.

And Tomic has finished his year withdrawing from Moscow last week, Vienna this week and Paris Masters next week. Tomic's at 25th in the world.
Kyrgios has also finished his year thanks to his ban. Kyrgios jumps to 13th in the world.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Top seed Jordan Thompson wins the Traralgon Challenger defeating Grega Zemlja. His 2nd challenger title in 3 weeks. He's on a 10 match winning streak. He jumps to a new career high 85th in the world.

Luke Saville reached the SF and jumped 19 spots to 254th in the world.

Matt Reid/JP Smith won the doubles title defeating Matt Barton/Matt Ebden. Reid jumps 4 spots to a new career high 84th in doubles, JP Smith jumps 9 spots to 86th in the world.

JP Smith has won 5 challenger titles since May and reached another 2 finals. Reid also has won 5 challenger titles this year and reached 2 more. He won a challenger doubles title last week with Brian Baker so he's on a winning streak.
 
Bukmeikara

Bukmeikara

Legend
So at the end of the season how australians feel about their players? Overall I think they should be disapointed: Kokkinakis didn't play a tour match this season; Tomic results regressed compared to 2015 and I think that the train of him becoming top 5 has finaly left the station; Kyrgios had some incredible tournaments but still couldn't reach SLam QF-SF/top 10/Master final which people expected to happen already in 2015.
 
Racqueteer

Racqueteer

Rookie
There were some bright spots in the year. I like seeing progress. Kyrgios may not have achieved the things you listed, but he has finished the season at a career-high ranking (though the less said about how he finished the season, the better!). He also won his first title and then won two more, one of which was an ATP500. John Millman and Jordon Thompson both recorded career-high rankings during the year. Stosur certainly didn't have her best season but she at least looks like she'll finish the season ranked higher than she did last year and is playing for the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. Gavrilova is sitting on a career-high ranking of 24 right now and recorded her first win over a #1 recently. Kokkinakis, Tomic and Groth all had disappointing seasons though. Hopefully Thanasi is fighting fit by January.
 
O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Looking forward to watching some tennis over the weekend at our local Challenger. In an all Aussie affair Jordan Thompson and JP Smith face off in one semi, with 2014 US Open boys champ Omar Jasika up against Marc Polmans in the other. It's the deepest run Jasika's made in a Challenger.
 
O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Bukmeikara said:
So at the end of the season how australians feel about their players? Overall I think they should be disapointed: Kokkinakis didn't play a tour match this season; Tomic results regressed compared to 2015 and I think that the train of him becoming top 5 has finaly left the station; Kyrgios had some incredible tournaments but still couldn't reach SLam QF-SF/top 10/Master final which people expected to happen already in 2015.
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On a purely tennis basis, Kyrgios is edging closer to where his talent and potential should have him, but his he will continue to be his own worst enemy. Tomic is destined to forever remain a quirky player who will hover around to #20 mark at best without the ability to go much higher. John Millman has had some good results and is in the top 100 but this was largely on the back of some Challenger wins in 2015 that he hasn't followed up with in 2016 (but is without a doubt the nicest bloke you'd ever want to meet and my son's favourite current Aussie player). The likes of Groth and Matosevic are well off the pace that saw them solid top 100 players a few years ago.

Jordan Thompson has made a strong finish to the year with some Challenger wins and looks set to consolidate his top 100 status. But questions remain about his ability to do damage when he steps up to the ATPs and Slams. Duckworth, Wittington, Barton, Mitchell are now solid tour players but again none really look like making a charge up the rankings. Omar Jasika is improving and starting to make some better progress and, with the right draw, could do some damage over the Australian summer. Who knows with Kokkinakis. His long lay offs with injury have halted any moment he had coming from the juniors. A certain top 50 player fit, with promise of top 20, but I fear it's all slipping away from him. Still with tennis being an old man's game he may revitalise his career and prove me wrong.

Aside from import Dasher Gavrilova, the less said about our women the better.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
James Duckworth wins the Canberra Challenger defeating 19 year old Marc Polmans who was playing in his first challenger final.
Ducky jumps 30 spots to 130th in the world. Good comeback for James, was injured for 4 months earlier this year. Hope he gets back to the top 100 soon!

Polmans sort of came out of nowhere, i'd heard of Jasika and Mott but not him! I'd seen his name in a few draws but never paid attention, I will now. His ranking jumps 50 spots to a new career high 212th in the world. He'd only just reached his new career high of 262nd last week so he's making huge strides!

In other challenger news, Alex De Minaur has been crushing it at the Eckental Challenger.
Was a qualifier and has made it to the final! He'll face Darcis for the title. Alex is only 17 and only a couple months ago he was playing juniors, reaching the Wimbledon final! This is only his 3rd challenger tournament played!
His ranking will skyrocket 159 spots to 387th in the world! The title will push him to around 330th! Insane!
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
This coming week:

Kobe Challenger:
Millman was the defending champ but isn't playing, that'll push him down about 20 spots to around 90th. (that'll come off next Monday, not in 2 days).

Luke Saville opens against 8th Tatsuma Ito.
JP Smith opens against Ante Pavic.
Duckworth is the 7th seed and will play a qualifier 1R. If he wins, he faces either JP Smith/Pavic.
Unsure if Duckworth will go though as he did just win Canberra only a few hours ago.

French Challenger: (Can't even try to spell the city name but it's in France).
Alex De Minaur gets a special exempt into the main draw (because he can't play qualies as he's still playing at the Eckental Challenger final). He opens against French Wildcard Corentin Moutet(?) in the 1R. Winnable match, Moutet is ranked outside the top 500. If Alex wins that, he'll likely face 5th seed Albot in the 2R.

Knoxville Challenger:
Sam Groth is on the entry list so he'll be in the main draw when it comes out.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Aussie Darcy said:
This coming week:

Kobe Challenger:
Millman was the defending champ but isn't playing, that'll push him down about 20 spots to around 90th. (that'll come off next Monday, not in 2 days).

Luke Saville opens against 8th Tatsuma Ito.
JP Smith opens against Ante Pavic.
Duckworth is the 7th seed and will play a qualifier 1R. If he wins, he faces either JP Smith/Pavic.
Unsure if Duckworth will go though as he did just win Canberra only a few hours ago.

French Challenger: (Can't even try to spell the city name but it's in France).
Alex De Minaur gets a special exempt into the main draw (because he can't play qualies as he's still playing at the Eckental Challenger final). He opens against French Wildcard Corentin Moutet(?) in the 1R. Winnable match, Moutet is ranked outside the top 500. If Alex wins that, he'll likely face 5th seed Albot in the 2R.

Knoxville Challenger:
Sam Groth is on the entry list so he'll be in the main draw when it comes out.
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Mouilleron Le Captif...it's easier if you remember the first two syllables rhyme with Pouille; then just add "ron". It's actually a very quaint little city with an excellent indoor multi sport arena in west central France near where the Loire empties into the Atlantic.
 
O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Aussie Darcy said:
Polmans sort of came out of nowhere, i'd heard of Jasika and Mott but not him! I'd seen his name in a few draws but never paid attention, I will now. His ranking jumps 50 spots to a new career high 212th in the world. He'd only just reached his new career high of 262nd last week so he's making huge strides!
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Polmans has definitely been a quiet achiever. He won the 18U nationals last December but as he's of fairly slight build and doesn't have any outright weapons, it was easy to dismiss him making any real impression on the adult tour. Fast forward a year and he's knocking on the door of the top 200. What he's got in spades from what I saw over the last two days is grit, determination and the ability to weather an attack and pounce when given the slimmest of chances. Where Jasika was carrying on like a pork chop at times, Polmans was quietly saying stuff to himself like 'more shape' or 'the next one of those goes over/in'. Then before you know it he's clawed his way back and edging ahead. Very business like rather than showman like but once he bulks out a bit I back him to go well into the top 100.
 
Racqueteer

Racqueteer

Rookie
Looks like John Peers will finish the season as Australia's most successful tennis player for 2016. He just won the Paris Masters doubles with Henri Kontinen, beating the #1 seeds and hometown pair of Herbert/Mahut. It was his first Masters title and fourth title of the season. He and Henri are off to the WTF to play in the doubles next week.

Groth also won a double titles at Challenger level in Charlottesville last week with Brian Baker. The two of them paired to win the doubles in Las Vegas recently too. Nice for Groth to finish the season with some wins.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Racqueteer said:
Looks like John Peers will finish the season as Australia's most successful tennis player for 2016. He just won the Paris Masters doubles with Henri Kontinen, beating the #1 seeds and hometown pair of Herbert/Mahut. It was his first Masters title and fourth title of the season. He and Henri are off to the WTF to play in the doubles next week.

Groth also won a double titles at Challenger level in Charlottesville last week with Brian Baker. The two of them paired to win the doubles in Las Vegas recently too. Nice for Groth to finish the season with some wins.
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Yup, watched the Paris final and was cheering for Peers! Great match and he played very well to get his first Masters. Hopefully Kontinen and him can build on the success next year at the slams. They did quite well at the Masters but not so much at slams.
Their rankings should see them seeded for quite a few months in 2017 as they have a Masters title and Masters final at the end of the year so that'll keep the ranking up.
 
Joseph_K

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
Did a certain male Australian tennis player eventually decide to consult a sports psychologist or will the player in question definitely be absent from official ATP tournaments until... the 2017 edition of the Australian Open?

J.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Joseph_K said:
Did a certain male Australian tennis player eventually decide to consult a sports psychologist or will the player in question definitely be absent from official ATP tournaments until... the 2017 edition of the Australian Open?

J.
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Nick is a nice bloke and didn't want to put someone through the impossible...not sure if the ban includes Hopman Cup, which he used as his tuneup last January. If so, maybe SexiRogi can counsel him while in Perth!
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Alex De Minaur backs up his great run last week where he reached his first Challenger final (on his 3rd ever Challenger played!), wins his 1R and 2R match at the Mouilleron-le-Captif Challenger! Into the QF and will face Gojowczyk for a place in the SF.

He jumps 35 spots to a new career high 351st in the world.

He scored his first top 100 win of his career, defeating Albot ranked #97 in the world.

Looks like some qualifying or even main draw wildcards will be on his way for the Aussie ATP tournaments! Great to see success for an Aussie at such a young age!
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Also James Duckworth into the Kobe Challenger final with a straight sets wins in the SF.
He'll face Hyeon Chung for his 2nd Challenger title in 2 weeks!
He won the Canberra Challenger last week and is on a 9 match winning streak!

He'll jump 8 spots to 122nd in the world, with the title he'll jump to around 112th.

Great end of year for Ducky!
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Aussie Darcy said:
Also James Duckworth into the Kobe Challenger final with a straight sets wins in the SF.
He'll face Hyeon Chung for his 2nd Challenger title in 2 weeks!
He won the Canberra Challenger last week and is on a 9 match winning streak!

He'll jump 8 spots to 122nd in the world, with the title he'll jump to around 112th.

Great end of year for Ducky!
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Two ducks walked onto the court. Only one proved his worth. His names was James. Hee that lost was Lee.:cool:
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Saville into the QF at the Toyota Challenger with a win over 6th seed Duck Hee Lee.

5th seed Duckworth also into the QF. He's now going to be ranked around 115th in the world!

JP Smith had BP to go up a double break (4-1) on top seed Nishioka but its back on serve. Not looking great for him.
 
Mainad

Mainad

Bionic Poster
stringertom said:
Nick is a nice bloke and didn't want to put someone through the impossible...not sure if the ban includes Hopman Cup, which he used as his tuneup last January. If so, maybe SexiRogi can counsel him while in Perth!
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Given that Hopman Cup is not an ATP event, I shouldn't think so. Won't the ban have expired by then anyway since he agreed to consult the psychologist?
 
O

Oz_Rocket

Professional
Saw Nick having a hit today (you wouldn't call it practice). I don't know what the pysch said or did with him but I just can't see any difference.

It's just the little things. Our club has a sign that proper tennis attire is to worn (no bare chests or singlets) yet you always see him wearing a tank top. He has a habit of parking hit car in the no standing pick up/drop off zone because it's closest to the door (it wasn't today so perhaps he's changed).

Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy but for someone who aspires to the heights he does, there is just no obvious personal discipline, respect and focus. And it seems so deeply ingrained in his personality that he's gone past any chance of genuinely turning his attitude around.
 
Aussie Darcy

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Duckworth wins the Toyota Challenger.
His 2nd title in 3 weeks!
He made back to back to back finals in the past 3 weeks! Title in Canberra, final in Kobe and now the title in Toyota.
He's won 14 of his last 15 matches.

His ranking will now be 104th in the world, jumping 18 spots. Impressive, at the start of October he was ranked 175th. Quite the jump!
Hopefully he gets a wildcard into Brisbane and maybe the Aus Open so he doesn't have to play qualies!
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Aussie Darcy said:
Duckworth wins the Toyota Challenger.
His 2nd title in 3 weeks!
He made back to back to back finals in the past 3 weeks! Title in Canberra, final in Kobe and now the title in Toyota.
He's won 14 of his last 15 matches.

His ranking will now be 104th in the world, jumping 18 spots. Impressive, at the start of October he was ranked 175th. Quite the jump!
Hopefully he gets a wildcard into Brisbane and maybe the Aus Open so he doesn't have to play qualies!
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It's an idea worth copying what the USTA uses to determine their WC...best results at Traralgon and Canberra in your spring gets a WC.
 
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