College players in US summer Futures and Challengers

[jcgatennismom]

The men's 2022 NCAA tournament had some posts on recent challengers esp Shelton's great run at Little Rock Challenger and then 1st run loss in Orlando. It seems we need a separate thread for both US Future and Challengers.

This week is the start of 2 US Futures: 25K in Lansing and 15K in San Diego. Lansing has Noah Rubin as the 1 seed in a Future! He easily took care of Justin Boulais in 1st rd, but today was mostly the final round of Qualis. 31/32 in MD have college connections(former, current, commits)-13 from Big 10, overall 20 from programs usually in top 20 plus 4 from Mich State, GA Tech's #1 Andres Martin, 2 from midmajors, one top NAIA guy Perry Gregg, one Ivy commit and some Big10 alumni from NW/Minn (Kirchheimer, Corwin) Only 3 from ACC but two are big names-Rubin and VA's Shane (UVA). Top current/recent Big10 players:OSU (Trotter, McNally, Boulais), Ill (Hunter Heck who took out Gator Bonetti in Qualis, Alexander Brown, Montsi), and Bickersteth (Mich). Kentucky is represented by Diallo, Draxl, and Lapadat plus Baadi the transfer from Wake. Others from SEC-Tenn Mitsui, Florida transfer Nefve (from Notre Dame) and alumni Bangoura, and Aggie Noah Schachter. From Big 12 Roy Smith who spent a short time at Baylor plus Cleeve Harper and alumni Colin Markes from Texas. The Lansing matches are livestreamed too!

One interesting player to watch is Ozan Colak, the #6 in class of 2022 who had committed to MIch State-their highest commit ever. Now with the MSU coach retired, Colak's TRN page does not list his commitment-will be interesting to see where he ends up next fall. Anyway he has to play Draxl in 1st rd. He would have had the best chance of the MSU players to win in the 1st rd but Draxl is a tough draw. Host could go 0-4. Rubin and Shane are likely to meet in 2nd round for a big match for ACC fans. Diallo will probably play one of them in Qfs. 2nd QF will probably be Draxl vs Bickersteth. McNally and Sekou Bangoura are the highest seeds in the 3rd group of 8-Lapadat or Nefve are two others who could possibly reach Qfs. The 4th group of 8 is interesting with the 2 seed Japanese player who didnt play college in the same group as Mitsui from Tenn plus seeded Roy Smith

Interesting doubles pairing: Draxl and Cleeve Harper, both Canadians-they are the 2 seeds Another fun one; Trotter (OSU) and Mitsui (Tenn) both from Japan

Speaking of Big 10 players and commits, one who isnt at Lansing is Mich commit Bjorn Swenson from Minn who played San Diego last week. He is the kid who took down Boitan last week and reached the QFs. I mention him as he has taken a different path his sr year. Only played one jr ITF event. Only played 2 USTA events-both Nat 1s since August-Kzoo and Winter Nats-for both of those he lost in MD R16. Since Winter Nats he has only played adult events-WC events to earn Future Quali slot, UTR PTT events, and a couple Futures. This kid improved a lot playing adult events; 1st to win a WC into Qualis of 2 Future he won 6 matches at 2 different WC tourneys, but he lost in Qualis of those two Futures. He lost all his matches at his 1st two PTT events, but then in the next 5 round robin events, he reached the 1st or 2nd place playoff finishing 2nd in 2 of them and 1st in one and winning $8K-$10K plus playing 27 matches vs young pros, college players, and top juniors. Doesnt that seem a smarter path than spending $$$ to play international jr ITFs? He probably broke even or made $ this spring-juniors can keep up to $10K after expenses. After all that prep, he goes to the Rancho Sante Fe Futures, and after not getting into the MD of his earlier 2 Futures, he qualifies and reaches the MD QFs beating Boitan in straights en route. That has to validate those PTT tourneys as good prep for futures. Will be interesting to see if Swenson or the Jr world top 25 college commits have a higher ATP ranking and/or UTR ranking at the end of the summer. Always inspiring to see players who take the road less traveled experience big wins. He even played high school tennis his freshman and junior years (none soph year due or pandemic). @Nostradamus Swenson from MInnesota beat Stanford commit Banerjee (former iTF world jr #2) 4,3 about 6 weeks ago.

As far as San Diego, top college guys playing include Boitan, Holmgren, and Sigouin as well as former UCLA player Gage Brymer. There are players from Cali unis like Basing and Sumit Sarkhar from Stanford, Eric Hadigian from Pepperdine, and former Cal player Jacob Brumm (who was grad transfer at Baylor this past year). Duarte from Florida is there plus Woldeab from Texas who took out Paroulek (TCU/Baylor) in 1st rd. 2nd round Vale plays Woldeab in a fun Fl vs TExas match. Ben Siguoin of UNC vs Nathan Ponwith of Arizona state could be an interesting 1st rd match. Boitan and Holmgren could meet in the 2nd round.

Links to draws: https://www.itftennis.com/en/tourna...sa/2022/m-itf-usa-13a-2022/draws-and-results/

https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/m25-east-lansing-mi/usa/2022/m-itf-usa-12a-2022/draws-and-results/

links to live scores https://live.itftennis.com/en/live-scores/ You can click on livestreams to find matches to view. I know Lansing is livestreamed-not sure about San Diego matches

 

[Sureshot]

Nice on Swenson. He’s a talent to track. To beat Boitan in straights is no easy task. Michigan just gets to add another top flight junior. It’s also possible Ozan Colak heads there. Imagine that!

 

[jcgatennismom]

update on Lansing: few surprises. Only one match went 3 sets Mitsui beat NAIA freshman player Perry Gregg in an almost 3 hour match. Wouldnt be surprised to see this guy in transfer portal if he is eligible for D1-one of the few NAIA players with UTR 13+. The 2nd longest match (2:28) was Lapadat of KY beating Nefve grad transfer to Florida 6,1 in 2:28 match-long 1st set... Surprised that Ryan Shane lost 2,3 to lucky loser Princeton commit Nidunjianzan who is from Tibet-not a place where you would expect to find tennis players (however he has trained 8 years at IMG). Hope Ryan has a backup plan-won NCAA singles in 2015, played in US Open, was on UVA 2016 championship team but does not have a lot to show for 6 years on pro tour (his career high of 333 was 3 years ago). There were a couple 0,2 matches including Cleeve Harper of Texas decimating Hunter Heck of Illinois in an hour. The other 0,2 match took 1 hr 21-wouldnt have been that long in college tennis-must have been a grinder with a lot of deuces-Andres Martin of GT won a 3,3 match in 1;08-he beat K. Montsi, the younger brother of the Illinois player who isnt playing. As expect all 4 MSU players lost in 1st round including top commit Colak who only took 5 games off of Draxl. Baadi, Wake transfer to KY, beat Trotter of OSU 2,6. Guess Kentucky is the winner of the day with all 4 guys reaching R16 in straights-3 easily plusLapadat who had to fight from behind in 1st set but then breezed in 2nd.

Tomo's best bets: Diallo vs Cleeve Harper, Draxl vs new teammate Baadi, Mitsui vs 5 seed Roy Smith, 3 seed Minn alumni Felix Corwin vs Bickersteth (Mich). Hopefully matches will be more competitive tomorrow. The evening dubs QFs look fun with players teaming up with their countrymen vs with their teammates, e.g. pair from Japan including OSU Trotter playing Canadian pair of OSU Boulais plus Lagaev, Harper/Draxl is another Canadian pair playing a couple Mid-west MM players

On a final Lansing note-why does Mich State have less scholarship $ than Western Michigan ( I assume as WMU is full of international players with higher UTRs than MSU tho not as strong as a few years ago)? I have heard the MSU only gets the 4.5 scholarship $ that would cover in state tuition. Is this true and I wonder how this will affect coach search for MSU (ties his hands for recruiting) and if there is a possibility for change-maybe AD will have to fix scholly issue to get a decent coach?

 

[jcgatennismom]

San Diego Surprise/Updates: Ben Sigouin of UNC lost to Nathan Ponwith who played for Arizona and Georgia. Max Basing of Stanford cruised 0,1 to next round. San Diego was more competitive with four 1st rd 3 setters; it took NCAA singles runnerup Holmgren 3 sets to beat Jacob Brumm (Baylor/Cal). Former Iowa #1 Kareem al Allaf from Syria also won in 3. It also took UCLA alumni and 1 seed Gage Brymer 3 sets to beat Fletcher Scott who sat on the bench for Illinois just a year or two ago.

Best bets for tomo (San Diego is livestreamed too): **** Holmgren vs Boitan, Woldeab vs Vale,

 

[jcgatennismom]

Big am Orlando Challenger R16 match tomo-JJ Wolf vs Brandon Holt was suspended 3-2 Wolf in 3rd, will finish 2nd match on in am

 

[JAJ]

Big am Orlando Challenger R16 match tomo-JJ Wolf vs Brandon Holt was suspended 3-2 Wolf in 3rd, will finish 2nd match on in am

That rain was a huge break for JJ. He was hanging by a thread physically, even though he had points to go up 4-1.

 

[collegetennisisthebest]

Surprised that Ryan Shane lost 2,3 to lucky loser Princeton commit Nidunjianzan who is from Tibet-not a place where you would expect to find tennis players (however he has trained 8 years at IMG). Hope Ryan has a backup plan-won NCAA singles in 2015, played in US Open, was on UVA 2016 championship team but does not have a lot to show for 6 years on pro tour (his career high of 333 was 3 years ago).

Ryan Shane losing is not a surprise at all. He hits every ball as hard as he can. Very few of them go in. He has not been relevant in futures for 3 years.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Wolf defeats Holt in Orlando Challenger. Glad to see him move on after his 1st rd loss to Kovacevic in Little Rock last week. Wolf was not a product of USTA PD as a junior; he was a multisport athlete through age 15 also playing high level soccer. For any junior parents on this forum or Wolf fans, this is a great podcast on the different route Wolf took

https://soundcloud.com/payers-players-podcast%2Fepisode-27-jeff-and-brooke

Been a fan on Wolf since watching him play NCAAs in Athens in '17 as a freshman. Glad Kovacevic is doing well too-another player who was not part of US PD as a junior but did receive USTA help/training as a collegian during summers. Kovacevic was a late bloomer-as a freshman junior, his TRN was only 146 and even the fall of his senior year, his highest ranking was 79-a 4 star not a blue chip or 5 star, but he won 7 matches at Kzoo '16, blossomed in college at Illinois, and now is ranked #303 for ATP. His highest jr world ITF ranking was only 528 yet his current ATP ranking one year out of college is much higher than many former top 100 or even top 10 former junior ITF world players.

 

[mikej]

Wolf defeats Holt in Orlando Challenger. Glad to see him move on after his 1st rd loss to Kovacevic in Little Rock last week. Wolf was not a product of USTA PD as a junior; he was a multisport athlete through age 15 also playing high level soccer. For any junior parents on this forum or Wolf fans, this is a great podcast on the different route Wolf took

https://soundcloud.com/payers-players-podcast%2Fepisode-27-jeff-and-brooke

Been a fan on Wolf since watching him play NCAAs in Athens in '17 as a freshman. Glad Kovacevic is doing well too-another player who was not part of US PD as a junior but did receive USTA help/training as a collegian during summers. Kovacevic was a late bloomer-as a freshman junior, his TRN was only 146 and even the fall of his senior year, his highest ranking was 79-a 4 star not a blue chip or 5 star, but he won 7 matches at Kzoo '16, blossomed in college at Illinois, and now is ranked #303 for ATP. His highest jr world ITF ranking was only 528 yet his current ATP ranking one year out of college is much higher than many former top 100 or even top 10 former junior ITF world players.

don’t let bob know you’re a Wolf fan

 

[andfor]

don’t let bob know you’re a Wolf fan

I like Wolf and Bob can eat it.

Good to see the late bloomers having success. I know we are talking Americans here, Ryan Peniston is doing well, inside the top 200 and still moving up. Another late bloomer.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Lansing update: 3/8 guys who'll play QFs tomo are from KY-only KY loss today was when two KY guys played each other (Draxl d Baadi). Diallo had a 3 setter vs Harper of Texas-lost 4-6 in 1st and then rallied to breeze through next 2 sets 1,2. Mitsui of Tenn won too so 1/2 the QFs are SEC players. Rounding out the 8 are Noah Rubin, the 1 seed, the 2 seed from Japan, Andres Martin of GA Tech, and Jacob Bickersteth of Michigan, the lone Big10 player left in single in this Mid-west tournament. Cleeve Harper/Draxl the 2nd seeds in dubs are continuing to win and should be the favorites for dubs

Also of note- 4 of the QFists were qualifiers; Mitsui got a 1st rd bye but Bickersteth, Lapadat, and Andres Martin won 3 Quali matches just to get in MD. Those guys will be playing their 6th match of the tourney tomorrow. Lapadat who played 5 for Kentucky beat McNally who used to play 1/2 for OSU. Andres Martin, Mitsui, and Bickersteth all beat top 5 seeds. Just shows that recent college players with little prior Futures experience can come up through Qualis and beat seeded guys who have been playing on tour.

all interesting matches tomo-some very tough. Diallo has to play Rubin who was ranked #125 in '18. Mitsui plays the 2 seed also from Japan. Andres Martin plays Lapadat; Andres received the college WC for MD entry into ATL 250 in late July-these Future matches will him prep him for that incredible opportunity. Draxl plays Bickersteth-can Jacob salvage one spot in the SFs for the Big10? It is not impossible; despite the fact JB played 4 for Mich and LD played 1 for Kentucky, JB beat South Carolina #1 Daniel Rodriguez in December in a prize $ tourney 4,2.

 

[jcgatennismom]

I like Wolf and Bob can eat it.

Good to see the late bloomers having success. I know we are talking Americans here, Ryan Peniston is doing well, inside the top 200 and still moving up. Another late bloomer.

Do you think Peniston will get WC into Wimbledon Qualis or MD? Son warmed up with him a few years back at a Future-said he was nice, friendly guy. Most Brits seem to be humble and hardworking. They may be late bloomers due to less opportunities because the UK does not host as many lower ATP events as other countries in Europe, e.g. Frances hosts 18 Futures in 2022 while Great Britain hosts 12. Hope RP gets a big break at Wimbly.

 

[jcgatennismom]

San Diego comments;
Boitan beats Holmgren in a close 2 setter. In the first set Boitan didnt break Holmgren until until AH was serving to stay in the set 4-5. In the 2nd set there were 5 deuces when Holmgren was serving 2-3. Boitan missed out on 3 break chances in that game but broke AH when he was serving 5-5. Boitan had to be patient but he finally got the break he needed to then serve out the 2nd set and win. Boitan won 2/8 breakpoints (1 in each set) but that was enough for the win. Boitan played better service games as AH only had one break chance against him which Boitan saved. Great win for Boitan to beat the NCAA runnerup and the winner of last week's Future at Rancho Sante Fe. Over the last year at one point, Holmgren had a 18 match win streak. Holmgren may have been tired-between NCAA singles, last week's Future and this week in San Diego, he has played 13 matches, many vs tough opponents. Great rebound for Boitan after losing in the 2nd round of Futures last week in straights to a junior qualifier who had never won a MD future match before and had lost in the Qualis of his prior 3 Futures. That's the beauty of tennis-it's unpredictable and upsets happen.

San Diego QFists have a wide range of ages from rising high school senior to a 35 year old pro from China. 6/8 have college connections. Most interesting match for tomo: Boitan vs Dale of Florida who beat Woldeab today in 3. Also Gage Brymer of UCLA vs Ponwith of Arizona. Other collegians in QFs are Hadigian of Pepperdine and Ryan Seggerman (Princeton, grad transfer to UNC). Unlike the 4 in Lansing, Hadigian is the only Qualifier to make it to QFs. Ryan Seggerman, a Cali resident, had a WC into MD-looks like it was well deserved.

 

[mikej]

Kubler is mowing them down again this week as he goes for a second straight challenger win

Draws | ATP Tour | Tennis

Official singles, doubles and qualifying draw from the tournament archive in men's professional tennis on the ATP Tour.

www.atptour.com

just beat Wolf 1,3 - which will make bob grin
after winning all ten sets he played in little rock, he's won eight of nine this week (and none of the eight he's won have been closer than 6-3!)

up to 100 in the world

 

[mikej]

on another former college player note, did anyone see Steve Johnson beat Kozlov 0,0 in Queen's Club qualies

not a scoreline you see every day on tour!

 

[Wild Card]

Do you think Peniston will get WC into Wimbledon Qualis or MD? Son warmed up with him a few years back at a Future-said he was nice, friendly guy. Most Brits seem to be humble and hardworking. They may be late bloomers due to less opportunities because the UK does not host as many lower ATP events as other countries in Europe, e.g. Frances hosts 18 Futures in 2022 while Great Britain hosts 12. Hope RP gets a big break at Wimbly.

Ryan P in the list(link below) #69 Also a few other former college players including JJ Wolf #12, Paul Jubb #104

https://www.wimbledon.com/pdf/update/referees/2022/QS_Entries.pdf

 

[jcgatennismom]

Incredible tennis at Lansing this weekend with finals today at noon. Diallo took out Noah Rubin, former #125 6,3 in QFs. There was one game in the 2nd set with 10 deuces! When Diallo is serving well which he was on Friday, he can beat anybody. I was impressed with how Diallo handled his victory-he just shook his opponent's and umpire's hand and walked off the court. No dramatics from him or his teammates watching-Draxl and Lapadat -both who had lost earlier. This tourney has showcased the talent of young collegians with all 4 SFs current college players-3 of the SFists are age 20 with victories over veteran pros aged 25+

On Saturday there were two tight SFs-at least in the 1st set. Bickersteth of Mich stayed competitive with Diallo until the 1st set TB which he lost 0-7. From there, Diallo sailed winning the 2nd set 6-2. The Mitsui (Tenn) vs Andres Martin (GT) was a 3 hour battle with AM winning 6-7 7-6 7-5. I think there were several times Mitsui was just 2 points from winning but Martin just came back refusing to lose when down 0-30 in a game he had to win. Mitsui played incredibly serving well than running and staying at the net until he won the point. Both Mitsui and Martin served well and did a good job with hitting the angles and forcing opponent wide and off court to make returns. AM won because he never lost focus-looked like Mitsui was rattled by an umpire call early in the next to last game, lost a little focus, and that was enough for Martin to cross the finish line. Kudos to both for clean playing, great serving and shot placement-few points were lost to UEs.

This was Martin's 7th match since he had to win 3 in Qualis-Mitsui's 6th. Amazing to see both keep such high level of play day after day. Most incredible this was Andres' 1st Future-how many US players-even guys who went through USTA PD-make it to Finals of a $25K (not $15K) in US in their 1st try? Very few-dont know if any have that had to come through Qualis too. (This was also Bickersteth's 1st Future and he reached SFs-compare these 2 guys to the guys who board at USTA PD starting at 12 or 14-some who take multiple tries with WCs to win 1st ATP point let alone reach SF 1st try). Martin has athletic parents but not in tennis-his dad played for the Costa Rican national basketball team and his mom for the national Venezuelan volleyball team but they have lived north of Atlanta for years. Andres has a different tennis background story https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=288360720 and https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/sp...nity-gainesville-support-professional-dreams/

Regardless of who wins the final today, both players have been great representatives of the talent in college tennis and good models for juniors.

 

[Wild Card]

ATP Challenger 125 , Ilkley, UK
Former Dartmouth and Baylor player Charlie Broom had a great win over Giles Simon today!!
QR1: (qWC) Charles Broom WR 444 defeated (q2) Gilles Simon (FRA) WR 134, 6-4, 6-1

Gilles played badly and is potentially injured, but a win is a win!! Giles said in his Roland Garros interviews that he routinely has to take 6 paracetemols and 4 iboprufen before each and every match. It's long-term chronic pain. They want to prescribe morphine but can't.
N. Borges and WC A. Fery also in the draw with matches tomorrow

Ilkley Challenger 2022 live score / Tennis ATP - 13.06.2022 - TennisLive.com

Ilkley Challenger 2022 ATP live scores and also older scores. - 13.06.2022

www.tennislive.net

 

[andfor]

Do you think Peniston will get WC into Wimbledon Qualis or MD? Son warmed up with him a few years back at a Future-said he was nice, friendly guy. Most Brits seem to be humble and hardworking. They may be late bloomers due to less opportunities because the UK does not host as many lower ATP events as other countries in Europe, e.g. Frances hosts 18 Futures in 2022 while Great Britain hosts 12. Hope RP gets a big break at Wimbly.

My guess is yes he'll get a Wimby maindraw WC. He had a qualies WC last year and lost in 3 to an Italian who ended up qualifying. Currently top 8 in UK and his last 2 weeks of quarter-final finishes and a couple of top 100 W's should be a huge help. Super good dude.

He's got a very nice test tomorrow at London/Queens Club.

 

[silentkman]

Incredible tennis at Lansing this weekend with finals today at noon. Diallo took out Noah Rubin, former #125 6,3 in QFs. There was one game in the 2nd set with 10 deuces! When Diallo is serving well which he was on Friday, he can beat anybody. I was impressed with how Diallo handled his victory-he just shook his opponent's and umpire's hand and walked off the court. No dramatics from him or his teammates watching-Draxl and Lapadat -both who had lost earlier. This tourney has showcased the talent of young collegians with all 4 SFs current college players-3 of the SFists are age 20 with victories over veteran pros aged 25+

On Saturday there were two tight SFs-at least in the 1st set. Bickersteth of Mich stayed competitive with Diallo until the 1st set TB which he lost 0-7. From there, Diallo sailed winning the 2nd set 6-2. The Mitsui (Tenn) vs Andres Martin (GT) was a 3 hour battle with AM winning 6-7 7-6 7-5. I think there were several times Mitsui was just 2 points from winning but Martin just came back refusing to lose when down 0-30 in a game he had to win. Mitsui played incredibly serving well than running and staying at the net until he won the point. Both Mitsui and Martin served well and did a good job with hitting the angles and forcing opponent wide and off court to make returns. AM won because he never lost focus-looked like Mitsui was rattled by an umpire call early in the next to last game, lost a little focus, and that was enough for Martin to cross the finish line. Kudos to both for clean playing, great serving and shot placement-few points were lost to UEs.

This was Martin's 7th match since he had to win 3 in Qualis-Mitsui's 6th. Amazing to see both keep such high level of play day after day. Most incredible this was Andres' 1st Future-how many US players-even guys who went through USTA PD-make it to Finals of a $25K (not $15K) in US in their 1st try? Very few-dont know if any have that had to come through Qualis too. (This was also Bickersteth's 1st Future and he reached SFs-compare these 2 guys to the guys who board at USTA PD starting at 12 or 14-some who take multiple tries with WCs to win 1st ATP point let alone reach SF 1st try). Martin has athletic parents but not in tennis-his dad played for the Costa Rican national basketball team and his mom for the national Venezuelan volleyball team but they have lived north of Atlanta for years. Andres has a different tennis background story https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=288360720 and https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/sp...nity-gainesville-support-professional-dreams/

Regardless of who wins the final today, both players have been great representatives of the talent in college tennis and good models for juniors.

Do you think these kids have a chance at a Mackenzie McDonald type of career? I don't see them having Kevin Anderson type career and a Isner career would be out of the question. I'm amazed that how long some of these players play on the challenger tour. it's money losing proportion. This new initiative by the ATP doesn't address money at the lower levels. at the very least give the players hotel (some do) and per deim at every tournament. You make 11K as a qualifier at Wimby which is equivalent to be a finalist at a 250 event.

 

[Sureshot]

Incredible tennis at Lansing this weekend with finals today at noon. Diallo took out Noah Rubin, former #125 6,3 in QFs. There was one game in the 2nd set with 10 deuces! When Diallo is serving well which he was on Friday, he can beat anybody. I was impressed with how Diallo handled his victory-he just shook his opponent's and umpire's hand and walked off the court. No dramatics from him or his teammates watching-Draxl and Lapadat -both who had lost earlier. This tourney has showcased the talent of young collegians with all 4 SFs current college players-3 of the SFists are age 20 with victories over veteran pros aged 25+

On Saturday there were two tight SFs-at least in the 1st set. Bickersteth of Mich stayed competitive with Diallo until the 1st set TB which he lost 0-7. From there, Diallo sailed winning the 2nd set 6-2. The Mitsui (Tenn) vs Andres Martin (GT) was a 3 hour battle with AM winning 6-7 7-6 7-5. I think there were several times Mitsui was just 2 points from winning but Martin just came back refusing to lose when down 0-30 in a game he had to win. Mitsui played incredibly serving well than running and staying at the net until he won the point. Both Mitsui and Martin served well and did a good job with hitting the angles and forcing opponent wide and off court to make returns. AM won because he never lost focus-looked like Mitsui was rattled by an umpire call early in the next to last game, lost a little focus, and that was enough for Martin to cross the finish line. Kudos to both for clean playing, great serving and shot placement-few points were lost to UEs.

This was Martin's 7th match since he had to win 3 in Qualis-Mitsui's 6th. Amazing to see both keep such high level of play day after day. Most incredible this was Andres' 1st Future-how many US players-even guys who went through USTA PD-make it to Finals of a $25K (not $15K) in US in their 1st try? Very few-dont know if any have that had to come through Qualis too. (This was also Bickersteth's 1st Future and he reached SFs-compare these 2 guys to the guys who board at USTA PD starting at 12 or 14-some who take multiple tries with WCs to win 1st ATP point let alone reach SF 1st try). Martin has athletic parents but not in tennis-his dad played for the Costa Rican national basketball team and his mom for the national Venezuelan volleyball team but they have lived north of Atlanta for years. Andres has a different tennis background story https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=288360720 and https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/sp...nity-gainesville-support-professional-dreams/

Regardless of who wins the final today, both players have been great representatives of the talent in college tennis and good models for juniors.

You make it sound like the USTA PD pathway is pointless in preparing players for higher level competition. I don’t believe that’s the case. Like any walk of life there are success stories for both the traditional and non-traditional pathways. While those that make it through the latter are to be commended, I wouldn’t belittle the contributions of the mainstream. Plenty of success there in the form of Fritz, Ophelia, Tiafoe, Paul and others that took the conventional route

 

[Sureshot]

You make it sound like the USTA PD pathway is pointless in preparing players for higher level competition. I don’t believe that’s the case. Like any walk of life there are success stories for both the traditional and non-traditional pathways. While those that make it through the latter are to be commended, I wouldn’t belittle the contributions of the mainstream. Plenty of success there in the form of Fritz, Ophelia, Tiafoe, Paul and others that took the conventional route

Opelka!

 

[ClarkC]

Opelka!

Shakespeare liked Ophelia better. FYI: You can edit posts. You don't have to create a new one.

 

[jcgatennismom]

You make it sound like the USTA PD pathway is pointless in preparing players for higher level competition. I don’t believe that’s the case. Like any walk of life there are success stories for both the traditional and non-traditional pathways. While those that make it through the latter are to be commended, I wouldn’t belittle the contributions of the mainstream. Plenty of success there in the form of Fritz, Ophelia, Tiafoe, Paul and others that took the conventional route

Those were guys who were good enough for the pros before college. There are other USTA PD players who played multiple Futures-many with WCs before they earned a single ATP point-one guy won his 1st ATP point in his 15th Future and I think he boarded with USTA PD from at least 14, maybe before. I would like to see more USTA PD resources going to college players. Still keep looking for those guys like those you listed. There used to be a collegiate tournament hosted at US Open-maybe with 8 guys and girls. Bring that back. Oracle used to give $100k to the top male and female US college player-Eubanks got in one year. I dont think Oracle does that anymore but USTA PD could do that. Before the pandemic, USTA had a collegiate college team, and some USTA pros traveled with them-maybe 8 guys. I dont know if that started back last summer or this summer.

 

[Wild Card]

ATP Challenger 125 , Ilkley, UK
1st round: Constant Lestienne (FRA) WR 164 defeated Stanfords (WC) Arthur Féry WR 693 by 4-6 7-5 6-3
N Borges plays tomorrow

 

[Sureshot]

Shakespeare liked Ophelia better. FYI: You can edit posts. You don't have to create a new one.

Thanks. Pointer noted!

 

[Sureshot]

Those were guys who were good enough for the pros before college. There are other USTA PD players who played multiple Futures-many with WCs before they earned a single ATP point-one guy won his 1st ATP point in his 15th Future and I think he boarded with USTA PD from at least 14, maybe before. I would like to see more USTA PD resources going to college players. Still keep looking for those guys like those you listed. There used to be a collegiate tournament hosted at US Open-maybe with 8 guys and girls. Bring that back. Oracle used to give $100k to the top male and female US college player-Eubanks got in one year. I dont think Oracle does that anymore but USTA PD could do that. Before the pandemic, USTA had a collegiate college team, and some USTA pros traveled with them-maybe 8 guys. I dont know if that started back last summer or this summer.

You make good points. But the example you cite of the PD player could be that of any highly touted MLB prospect who flames out in the minors. Anyway, am with you on more equitable distribution of resources to cover more than PD

 

[Sureshot]

ATP Challenger 125 , Ilkley, UK
1st round: Constant Lestienne (FRA) WR 164 defeated Stanfords (WC) Arthur Féry WR 693 by 4-6 7-5 6-3
N Borges plays tomorrow

Couple others of note: Hijikata over Lukas Lacko in three 36 63 64 and Broom over Jason Jung 6(9)&4

 

[jcgatennismom]

You make good points. But the example you cite of the PD player could be that of any highly touted MLB prospect who flames out in the minors. Anyway, am with you on more equitable distribution of resources to cover more than PD

UsTA juniors get automatic WCs based on winning or placing deep in high level USTA national jr tourneys plus there are 5 direct entries into $15KMD for the top 5 junior entrants ranked in ITF jr top 100. It would be better for those juniors to earn their way through a couple of qualifiers before being handed out a WC to the MD of a Future. Doesnt matter if they are top 50 jr iTF or even top 10 or if they played in all 4 jr Grand Slams-they are going to lose some in Qualis. The worst thing about USTA PD is it pulls the top players from their sections at 14s (or used too-maybe more now stay at home with their coach and occasionally travel to Nona rather than board), and the only time the other sectional players get to play them is at Nat Kzoos or Clays. To qualify for Kzoo, every player but the top 32 in UsTA national rankings (which includes ITF results) has to play their sectional qualifier which can be quite large in top sections, e.g. 128, 192 draws-a week in the summer. The PD guys never play in their home section unless there is a Future or jr ITF there. It just seems that the players that benefit from PD boarding and travel should have to give back to their home section-maybe not play the large draw sectional 1s but maybe invite the top 8 sectional players to play in with PD kids from their section in a sectional event once a year. The late bloomers who were losing 2,2 to the PD kids in 12s and 14s never get a chance to play those guys once they improve unless they meet them in a jr iTF, Future Qualis, or at Kzoo. Seems counterintuitive. At least now there are many UTR tourneys where talented late bloomers can play college players, young pros, and top juniors. And there are late bloomers-even some who dont play for top 20 colleges- who end up with a higher UTR and maybe higher ATP ranking after 4 years of college than some of those PD kids.

JJ Wolf was offered a spot at USTA PD when he was 15 or 16 but his parents turned USTA down-wanted to keep him training close to home. He is ranked much higher than the kids of his class who boarded at PD. Kovacevic with ranking 296 is the highest ranked of the US guys who played college tennis in years 19-21; he didnt peak until his sr year of high school. He wasnt a PD kid; however he did get to train with USTA collegiate team during college summer breaks.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Do you think these kids have a chance at a Mackenzie McDonald type of career? I don't see them having Kevin Anderson type career and a Isner career would be out of the question. I'm amazed that how long some of these players play on the challenger tour. it's money losing proportion. This new initiative by the ATP doesn't address money at the lower levels. at the very least give the players hotel (some do) and per deim at every tournament. You make 11K as a qualifier at Wimby which is equivalent to be a finalist at a 250 event.

If you look at the US players whose college careers ended between 19-21 who are now ranked in the top 400, they only come from a few schools-OSU (Wolf), Illinois (Kovacevic), UCLA (Keegan Smith, Govind Nanda, Cressy), USC (Brandon Holt),Texas schools -Rybakov (TCU), Habib (Texas A&M). The best performer is Nakishima who just spent his freshmen year at Virginia 18/19. Just outside the top 400 is Oliver Crawford from Florida (417).
One big boost for players is attending a school that hosts Challengers where they have a chance to receive a WC into Challenger MD. Certainly that helped Wolf between 2 Challengers in Columbus a year plus one in Cleveland and also WCs into Qualis of Cincinnati 1000 at least one year-even just playing not winning is good experience. The universities that host Challengers include OSU, Illinois, Kentucky (in August-most college hosted one are during school year-may be why all the KY Canada players are playing US futures this summer beforehand), Tennessee, FSU, and Cary Challenger (near NC State, Duke, UNC). California hosts several Challengers that probably have WCs to players from UCLA, USC, or Stanford. There are challengers also in Houston and Dallas-I know SMU had a WC this past year-not sure about other schools. Winning one round of a Challenger is a big boost. Many of these unis plus others host Fall Futures-getting a WC directly into MD means 2 or 3 less matches to play.

Out of the players who played the Futures this past week, I think Diallo has the best chance of earning the most ATP points if he earns a WC to the Lexington Challenger in August. Ben Shelton who is playing Challengers will probably earn the most points this summer. Either of those has a chance of a McDonald type of career-maybe higher. Draxl has a chance if he is less dramatic and is more consistent with his raw talent. It's hard to know with the US players-Andres Martin and Bickersteth went deep in their very 1st Future but one Future is not predictive of further success. Andres received a WC into ATL 250 MD which will give him exposure and experience. Bickersteth is at a disadvantage as Michigan does not host a Challenger. Mitsui probably can get a WC into at least Qualis of Knoxville Challenger this fall. How these guys take advantage of these opportunities could make the difference between grinding in Futures and getting into Challengers instead.

This past week was only the 2nd week of summer Futures; with 8 more 25Ks and 7more 15Ks, there will be additional college competitors who may go deep in those weeks.

 

[silentkman]

If you look at the US players whose college careers ended between 19-21 who are now ranked in the top 400, they only come from a few schools-OSU (Wolf), Illinois (Kovacevic), UCLA (Keegan Smith, Govind Nanda, Cressy), USC (Brandon Holt),Texas schools -Rybakov (TCU), Habib (Texas A&M). The best performer is Nakishima who just spent his freshmen year at Virginia 18/19. Just outside the top 400 is Oliver Crawford from Florida (417).
One big boost for players is attending a school that hosts Challengers where they have a chance to receive a WC into Challenger MD. Certainly that helped Wolf between 2 Challengers in Columbus a year plus one in Cleveland and also WCs into Qualis of Cincinnati 1000 at least one year-even just playing not winning is good experience. The universities that host Challengers include OSU, Illinois, Kentucky (in August-most college hosted one are during school year-may be why all the KY Canada players are playing US futures this summer beforehand), Tennessee, FSU, and Cary Challenger (near NC State, Duke, UNC). California hosts several Challengers that probably have WCs to players from UCLA, USC, or Stanford. There are challengers also in Houston and Dallas-I know SMU had a WC this past year-not sure about other schools. Winning one round of a Challenger is a big boost. Many of these unis plus others host Fall Futures-getting a WC directly into MD means 2 or 3 less matches to play.

Out of the players who played the Futures this past week, I think Diallo has the best chance of earning the most ATP points if he earns a WC to the Lexington Challenger in August. Ben Shelton who is playing Challengers will probably earn the most points this summer. Either of those has a chance of a McDonald type of career-maybe higher. Draxl has a chance if he is less dramatic and is more consistent with his raw talent. It's hard to know with the US players-Andres Martin and Bickersteth went deep in their very 1st Future but one Future is not predictive of further success. Andres received a WC into ATL 250 MD which will give him exposure and experience. Bickersteth is at a disadvantage as Michigan does not host a Challenger. Mitsui probably can get a WC into at least Qualis of Knoxville Challenger this fall. How these guys take advantage of these opportunities could make the difference between grinding in Futures and getting into Challengers instead.

This past week was only the 2nd week of summer Futures; with 8 more 25Ks and 7more 15Ks, there will be additional college competitors who may go deep in those weeks.

I'm still amazed on how much you keep up with Collège tennis. Are you sue you aren't Colette Lewis? LOL. Wild Cards have always a touchy subject in Tennis. You have a college guy that's not getting paid take a WC that a rank and file player that needs the money should be getting. I saw one guy who's making 300K in a ten year career, that basically poverty wages. How much of a financial bump does a local WC help a challenger? I think the college players some type of expenses. I think the guy who spearheaded the Oracle 100K died. Maybe the college thing at the US Open will come back. Theoretically this could be at Cincy and 1000's. Do you this LIV Golf thing could come to tennis? Tennis needs the money more than Golf.

 

[ClarkC]

UVA also hosts a Challenger and a women's circuit tournament.

 

[jcgatennismom]

UVA also hosts a Challenger and a women's circuit tournament.

Thanks, Clark. I had that on my list but forgot to type it in. The late fall 2022 university Challengers are Virginia starting on Halloween, followed by Tennessee and Illinois-3 weeks in a row.

 

[Wild Card]

ATP Cinch Championships The Queens Club, London

(WC) Ryan Peniston WR 180 defeated (1) Casper Ruud (NOR) WR 5 by 7-6(4) 7-6(2)
A fantastic win for Ryan!!!

 

[jcgatennismom]

MD starts for Wichita 25K tomo. 4 KY players who played Lansing (Diallo, Baadi, Draxl, Lapadat) will be in MD along with Mitsui (Tenn), Lansing SFist. Really tough 1st round for Lansing winner Diallo (ATP 632-he plays Chidekh (Washington's #1). Chidekh has an ATP ranking of 518-one of the highest among guys who played college for 21/22 (FYi Shelton is highest at 434). Draxl (ATP 551) has to play Govind Nanda (ATP 442), 21 y/o former UCLA player-another tough 1st rounder. Other college players who played 21/22 include Sam Riffice, Micah Braswell, Murphy Cassone, and Aggies Noah Schachter, and Raul Dhokia. Murphy who plays for Ariz State was the ITA rookie of the year-the freshman reached the QFs of the Little Rock Challenger two weeks ago. Murphy is from Kansas-maybe he will reach the finals or win playing in his home state but to do so he will have to beat winner of Diallo/Chidekh match in 2nd round. Shame only 1/3 will reach Qfs.

UTR has a new Head 2 Head Prediction tool-it gives its favorite of the GD/CC match a 53% of winning-I wont say which one the algorithm favors but it is a fun tool to play with. It looks like you can compare most male players 12.5+ vs each other. https://insights.universaltennis.com/h2h# Try it out b4 you watch your next Future, Challenger, or English grass court match this month-see if it is any good....

Note: ATP rankings used were from the live rankings site not the official ATP site which might lag. Diallo's win on Sunday moves him up from 941 to 632.

 

[jcgatennismom]

I'm still amazed on how much you keep up with Collège tennis. Are you sue you aren't Colette Lewis? LOL. Wild Cards have always a touchy subject in Tennis. You have a college guy that's not getting paid take a WC that a rank and file player that needs the money should be getting. I saw one guy who's making 300K in a ten year career, that basically poverty wages. How much of a financial bump does a local WC help a challenger? I think the college players some type of expenses. I think the guy who spearheaded the Oracle 100K died. Maybe the college thing at the US Open will come back. Theoretically this could be at Cincy and 1000's. Do you this LIV Golf thing could come to tennis? Tennis needs the money more than Golf.

Few college players would get in their 1st Challenger or CH Qualis without a WC. Murphy Cassone, ITA freshman of year, got a WC into Qualis of Little Rock. Won the 2 Quali matches and reached MD QFs. He went from 0 ATP ranking to 745 with that one event. Good use of WC. Bad use of WC is for too young (15-16yos without results) or too old, e.g. former high ranked pros on the way down playing WC tourneys to get into pro events. Donald Young at 32 played last summer and this summer WC tourney to get into ATL 250 Qualis. Last year he beat Tyler Stice for the Quali WC. There are 4 SFists for WC this year-3 already decided (DY is one) with one tourney left in July for 4th.

Side Note: It would be great if some top college player (Esp if it were Shelton since his dad was formerly coach of GT women's national champ team) were to beat Donald to get in ATL Qualis. Anybody know of a 13.5+ college player who'd like at shot at a 250Q? Consider signing up for this: https://playtennis.usta.com/one-love-tennis/Tournaments/players/D2AB03E1-CBB2-4446-99AA-CD6D712BF989 Deadline is 7/4 and play is 7/8-11 with play vs other SFists probably 7/21 and 22 and 250 Qualis 7/23. To earn a WC into ATL 250 Qualis, player would have to win this tourney, and then beat the 3 prior winners-an 11.75, a 12.6 and Donald. DY won the 1st spot in the SFs which discouraged some from paying $90 to play one of the next 3. From Atlanta open site: https://www.atlantaopentennis.com/SchedulesAndDraws/schedule/wild_card_tournament/

I keep up with college tennis because I got to see Norrie, Wolf, Blumberg, etc at 2017 NCAA Athens, followed those and others, and a month ago I got to see Mitsui, Draxl, Diallo, Shelton, Riffice, etc in SEC tourney-new group to follow. Once you've seen guys live, you like to see them succeed in Futures.

 

[Liam Grennon]

An interesting interview with Ben Shleton and Christopher Eubanks!

Well worth the listen.

Behind the Racquet with Ben Shelton and Special Guest Host Christopher Eubanks

Listen to this episode from Behind the Racquet Pod on Spotify. Really enjoyable chat with the rising junior at the University of Florida, Ben Shelton. We talk about how he's planning his summer, what he's learned from his father and coach, Bryan Shelton, and Christopher Eubanks gives his advice...

open.spotify.com

 

[bobleenov1963]

Tennis needs the money more than Golf.

You can play tennis for free on public tennis courts. You have to pay green fee to play golf even on public course, a lot more with private Country Club. At the professional tennis level, even the first round loser still gets some money. Not so in golf, if you miss the cut to after the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, you will get nothing because you don't qualify to play on Saturday and Sunday.

 

[silentkman]

You can play tennis for free on public tennis courts. You have to pay green fee to play golf even on public course, a lot more with private Country Club. At the professional tennis level, even the first round loser still gets some money. Not so in golf, if you miss the cut to after the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, you will get nothing because you don't qualify to play on Saturday and Sunday.

What you stated is common knowledge. compare the top 100 in golf and tennis. Golfers make much more than tennis players. Generally tennis players don't much money until they play ATP events. with this LIV golf money grab, golfers are making even more.

 

[bobleenov1963]

What you stated is common knowledge. compare the top 100 in golf and tennis. Golfers make much more than tennis players. Generally tennis players don't much money until they play ATP events. with this LIV golf money grab, golfers are making even more.

There are 48 players in an LIV golf event. Most of the guys in the 48 players pool were at one time or another won on the PGA or majors or both. That's why they are highly sought after. LIV tennis is not going to pickup JJ Wolf, Riffice or Eubanks to start up LIV tennis league.

 

[Sureshot]

There are 48 players in an LIV golf event. Most of the guys in the 48 players pool were at one time or another won on the PGA or majors or both. That's why they are highly sought after. LIV tennis is not going to pickup JJ Wolf, Riffice or Eubanks to start up LIV tennis league.

I have come across countless parents who would rather have their gifted offspring play golf rather than tennis in the hope that they can make a career out of the sport. Okay “countless” is an exaggeration but for sure “many”. I read somewhere that the 100th ranked pro golfer makes $1.5 mil and this was from five or more years ago

 

[silentkman]

There are 48 players in an LIV golf event. Most of the guys in the 48 players pool were at one time or another won on the PGA or majors or both. That's why they are highly sought after. LIV tennis is not going to pickup JJ Wolf, Riffice or Eubanks to start up LIV tennis league.

There are 48 players in an LIV golf event. Most of the guys in the 48 players pool were at one time or another won on the PGA or majors or both. That's why they are highly sought after. LIV tennis is not going to pickup JJ Wolf, Riffice or Eubanks to start up LIV tennis league.

My point is that golfers make infinitely more than tennis players. LIV Golf is just increasing the golf money pool. LIV Golf does have some bums playing too. They guy who won last week won 4.5 million.

 

[silentkman]

I have come across countless parents who would rather have their gifted offspring play golf rather than tennis in the hope that they can make a career out of the sport. Okay “countless” is an exaggeration but for sure “many”. I read somewhere that the 100th ranked pro golfer makes $1.5 mil and this was from five or more years ago

Yes, Golf is a no brainer over tennis financially. .

 

[Liam Grennon]

Yes, Golf is a no brainer over tennis financially. .

Also you could argue athletic wise. You don't have to be ridicously athletic to be a great golfer. Sure helps, but if you are under 5 '10 as a D1 tennis player - you have to be pretty fricken athletic.

 

[mikej]

Also you could argue athletic wise. You don't have to be ridicously athletic to be a great golfer. Sure helps, but if you are under 5 '10 as a D1 tennis player - you have to be pretty fricken athletic.

oh man, bob isn’t going to like this post either

was only a couple months ago I had to take it upon myself to post a few photos of some of the mega-obese that have succeeded on the PGA tour, in response to his comments about how poorly understood the physical demands of golf are

 

[Sureshot]

oh man, bob isn’t going to like this post either

was only a couple months ago I had to take it upon myself to post a few photos of some of the mega-obese that have succeeded on the PGA tour, in response to his comments about how poorly understood the physical demands of golf are

Craig Stadler (Walrus) and John Daly come to mind. Daly was the longest off the tee until he wasn’t. But I digress!

 

[andfor]

Golf is just another version of lawn darts.

 

[Wild Card]

Wimbledon wild card playoffs - plenty of college grads and current student athletes
Charlie Broom (Dartmouth/Baylor), WC Toby Samuel (S Carolina), WC Lui Maxted (TCU), Finn Bass(Baylor), Will Jansen( Yale, Fall 2022), Dan Little(Utah)

Holly Hutchinson (ODU), Alicia Dudenly (Florida), Erin Richardson (Cal), Lauren John Baptise (ASU), Sofia Johnson (ODU), Ester Adishina (Tennessee), Anna Brogan (Tyler)

LTA - Tennis for Britain

Find local Tennis Tournaments and Competitions in the UK. Tennis Competitions near you for all ages - Play tennis more often with the LTA.

competitions.lta.org.uk

 

[ClarkC]

Nice on Swenson. He’s a talent to track. To beat Boitan in straights is no easy task. Michigan just gets to add another top flight junior. It’s also possible Ozan Colak heads there. Imagine that!

Ozan Colak decommitted from Michigan State, then recommitted and signed the letter of intent with MSU, per @ParsaBombs on Twitter.

 

[andfor]

UofM alum Ryan Peniston wins again, def. #46 Cerundelo. Now in the quarterfinals of Queens, faces winner of Querrey or Krajinovic next.