Anybody have info on 12/31 Orlando Challenger? Couple US college grads playing

[jcgatennismom]

I tried to find info on USTA national campus site which is hosting but no info there except on USTA jr national champs held at the same time. The event was not even listed on its Dec calendar. Guess they dont think anyone wants to watch tennis unless it is one of their College match Days. The last entry list I saw was 12/15. Aragone, Kevin and Evan King, and Sarkissian were a couple of former US college players in MD. This is the 1st US Challenger under new rules-48 in MD and only 4 in Quali playing for 2 spots. Anyone know who got the Quali spots? College or USTA PD juniors? Rybakov would have gotten one of the MD WCs for winning the college WC playoff in mid Dec. Anyone know who got the other 3 MD WCs? I was wondering why some US players were not playing LA Futures (same time, opposite coast) and I wondered if they got Orlando WCs. My son will be down in Florida next week mainly in Tampa/Bradenton but will end his trip Orlando to visit relatives and might watch the last matches of the Challenger.

If anyone has info after 12/15 (I have the article with initial list), please post link. Quite sad that the home of American tennis does not publish info on the Challenger it is hosting. The Quali playoff should be great tennis-only 4 guys playing and 2 advance to MD. I hope there are officials watching those 2 matches.... Win the match and get MD entry and free hotel under 2019 rules. Used to be 16 guys I think trying to get 4 MD spots. 2 guys are going to have a bad New year's eve...

 

[Tennis Sam]

Do you know if the main draw and qualifier sizes are fixed in the World Tennis Tour, or does the tournament director have any flexibility? For example in a 7 day tournament with 1 match per day you could run:

1. 128 main draw with no qualifier
2. 64 main draw with 1-day qualifier
3. 32 main draw with 2-day qualifier

You could also easily increase the size of the qualifier draw by increasing the number of qualifiers allowed into the main draw. You want to quadruple the size of the qualifier? Allow 8 into the main draw instead of 2.

Is any of this stuff at the discretion of the tournament director?

 

[jcgatennismom]

Do you know if the main draw and qualifier sizes are fixed in the World Tennis Tour, or does the tournament director have any flexibility? For example in a 7 day tournament with 1 match per day you could run:

1. 128 main draw with no qualifier
2. 64 main draw with 1-day qualifier
3. 32 main draw with 2-day qualifier

You could also easily increase the size of the qualifier draw by increasing the number of qualifiers allowed into the main draw. You want to quadruple the size of the qualifier? Allow 8 into the main draw instead of 2.

Is any of this stuff at the discretion of the tournament director?

No the ITF World Tour is fixed as far as draws-32 MD, 24 Quali for Futures. In 2018 there were Futures with quali draws of 32, 48, 64, and 128 just in US and Canada. Now all $15K and $25K quali draws are 24. For 2019 The Challenger MD increased from 32 to 48 while the Quali draw decreased from 16 (I think) to 4 so for guys who are at Challenger level 2019 is an improvement (free hospitality (hotels) and more spots.

 

[jcgatennismom]

JJ Wolf won his Orlando Challenger qualifying match this am so he will play in MD tomorrow; current US collegians Rybakov (won Dec Blizzard college open in Orlando for WC) and Sam Riffice (WC for being former US PD kid or for being a UF player) played today in MD; Rybakov lost and Riffice advanced. Not sure why Roy Smith is not playing Orlando Challenger; he was a high alternate but didnt get in MD or Qualis. Maybe he pulled out after 12/15. Wolf has a much higher ATP ranking than Riffice so he will probably go further in the MD-like 300+ higher. However, Wolf is sure to get in Columbus Challenger in January either via direct acceptance or WC. Columbus hosts 3 Challengers in 2019 so Wolf will play at least 3 more Challengers this year...