Deiton Baughman

M

mikej

Hall of Fame
17 yr old fritz took down the sacramento challenger - beating donaldson in the final - and moved up over 350 spots to 339 in the world
(youngest american to win a challenger since DYoung in '07)

18 yo paul up to 329 after losing to kudla in the rd of 16 of sacramento

DB up 9 spots to 352 after medellin
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
mikej said:
17 yr old fritz took down the sacramento challenger - beating donaldson in the final - and moved up over 350 spots to 339 in the world
(youngest american to win a challenger since DYoung in '07)

18 yo paul up to 329 after losing to kudla in the rd of 16 of sacramento

DB up 9 spots to 352 after medellin
Click to expand...

Yeah we really need a Fritz, Donaldson, Paul, Tiafoe, Opelka, Baughman, Altamirano thread....
 
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M

mikej

Hall of Fame
jigglypuff said:
... in the pro forum.
Click to expand...

yeah, god forgive those of us distracting from the intense college tennis back and forth going on around here this time of year
i mean what kind of asian is TSK again? feddie's meaningful discussion is getting drowned out with all this off-topic hullabaloo...

it's a thread clearly labeled to be about a player who doesn't play college tennis - if you're not interested, skip this one thread? - the pro forum is a zoo of fools who follow the top 3-4 players and barely know who anyone is outside the top 10 - so no, when the junior forum disappeared, this became the next best place to find people who also follow futures and challenger level tennis on talk TW - sorry
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
good challenger day for the young americans:

tiafoe looks more focused this week, another straight sets win, this time over james mcgee - he has darian king in the quarters

fritz absolutely throttling #1 seed smyczek right now 6-2,4-1 - he's on some serious hot streak this past week and a half (or maybe dating back to the us open juniors)
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Yes and Donaldson had a nice win against Dancevic and will play Rola next for a spot in the semis. Meanwhile Baughman and Mmoh both won two matches at the Houston Futures.
 
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R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
mikej said:
good challenger day for the young americans:

tiafoe looks more focused this week, another straight sets win, this time over james mcgee - he has darian king in the quarters

fritz absolutely throttling #1 seed smyczek right now 6-2,4-1 - he's on some serious hot streak this past week and a half (or maybe dating back to the us open juniors)
Click to expand...
Hard to believe Fritz lost to Kozlov at K'zoo this year, and then, a couple months later, goes on a tear like he has.

Starting to look like Donaldson might have plateaued a bit. I was thinking he would've been close to cracking the top 100 by now.

I'm guessing DB got a WC into the Vegas Challenger next week. He's in the semis of the Futures in Houston which means he cant play qualies, and, Paul did not get a WC for Vegas, so by process of elimination, DB is a likely candidate. Along with Fritz, of course.
 
M

MC86

Rookie
I image Fritz will get another special exempt so won't need a wildcard.

I wouldn't worry too much bout Donaldson plateauing just yet. Very few players have a ranking trajectory that just rises in a straight line. I remember Wawrinka hovering around 150 for about a year or so when he was a similar age, so that wouldn't be a bad template to follow...
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
tiafoe goes down in 3 vs dustin brown, third set was 2-6 and not so inspiring from tiafoe, but overall a good week from him

rola with an early break up 2-1 v fritz - rola looks on fire from the baseline this week, so we'll see just how much fritz has left after a long week and a half

vegas draw is out and lots of americans back at it - krajicek, smyczek, harrison, donaldson, novikov among the seeds - fritz, tiafoe, and mmoh out there representing the young guns
http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2015/7345/mds.pdf
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Fritz rolled Rola 3 and 3, pretty impressive, this kid looks like the real deal right now. Finals vs. Brown tomorrow will be a big test, Brown has played three consecutive three set matches.
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
atatu said:
Fritz rolled Rola 3 and 3, pretty impressive, this kid looks like the real deal right now. Finals vs. Brown tomorrow will be a big test, Brown has played three consecutive three set matches.
Click to expand...

with a loss to brown in finals, fritz would move up to about 260 in the world
with a win, he'd be around 230

my guess is by roland garros next year he's going to be very close to making GS main draws by his ranking alone, not much to defend for the next 11 months
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
fritz also has a second round matchup looming with brown in vegas, which would be their third meeting in the last three challengers if it happens - sometimes must seem like a small world on the US challenger circuit
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
fritz rolls again - 3 and 4 - impressive young man, very businesslike and composed out there seemingly every match
would love to know who was the last 17 yo to win back to back challengers
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Mmoh wins the Houston Futures, straight sets vs. Lucas Gomez, DB retired against him in the semis, but DB did win the doubles.
 
R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
mikej said:
fritz rolls again - 3 and 4 - impressive young man, very businesslike and composed out there seemingly every match
would love to know who was the last 17 yo to win back to back challengers
Click to expand...
I think Del Potro was the last 17 yr old to win multiple Challengers. As far as back to back, not sure.

Edit: Apparently Tomic was the last 17 yr old to win multiple Challengers, still not sure about back to back titles. Really good company Fritz is in. Other 17 yr olds who won multiple Challengers; Djokovic, Nadal, Gasquet, Del Potro, Berdych, and Tomic.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news...light-19-october-2015-fritz-goes-back-to-back
 
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M

mikej

Hall of Fame
Rob_C said:
Mmoh is serving for the match against Ryan Harrison, 6-2, 5-3.
Click to expand...

impressive stuff from mmoh, that was very routine - harrison could seemingly only win points off his first serve while being outplayed by a wide margin from the baseline

re: harrison
hard to be an attacking baseliner who dictates play (this seems to be his game plan out there) when you set up shop in nadal territory routinely - unless you have nadal's forehand and movement, which he does not
 
mad dog1

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
mikej said:
impressive stuff from mmoh, that was very routine - harrison could seemingly only win points off his first serve while being outplayed by a wide margin from the baseline

re: harrison
hard to be an attacking baseliner who dictates play (this seems to be his game plan out there) when you set up shop in nadal territory routinely - unless you have nadal's forehand and movement, which he does not
Click to expand...
yeah, not even Nadal himself has his forehand and movement any longer. it's now an ancient relic of the past. :D
 
J

JLyon

Hall of Fame
mad dog1 said:
yeah, not even Nadal himself has his forehand and movement any longer. it's now an ancient relic of the past. :D
Click to expand...
whoever about 10 yrs ago or so told the Americans to start grinding should be thrown out of the coaching ranks.
Roddick went away from power game, Harrison when he was on the rise was attacking player then both went to a grinding loop game. Makes no sense and now Roddick retired after ranking fell, Harrison can not buy a win. hmmmm....
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Currently, the only US teens in the top 1000 are:

Rank, name, Age
  • 142 - Jared Donaldson (19 yrs old)
  • 228 - Frances Tiafoe (17)
  • 232 - Taylor Fritz (17)
  • 321 - Tommy Paul (18)
  • 355 - Deigton Baughman (19)
  • 472 - Michael Mmoh (17)
  • 526 - Noah Rubin (19)
  • 534 - Ernesto Escobedo (19)
  • 548 - Stefan Kozlov (17)
  • 728 - Alex Rybakov (18)
  • 812 - Collin Altamirano (19)
  • 906 - Reilly Opelka (18)
  • 970 - William Bushamuka (19)
  • 980 - Eduardo Nava (18)
How many will crack the top 100? Top 10?
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
onehandbh said:
Currently, the only US teens in the top 1000 are:

Rank, name, Age
  • 142 - Jared Donaldson (19 yrs old)
  • 228 - Frances Tiafoe (17)
  • 232 - Taylor Fritz (17)
  • 321 - Tommy Paul (18)
  • 355 - Deigton Baughman (19)
  • 472 - Michael Mmoh (17)
  • 526 - Noah Rubin (19)
  • 534 - Ernesto Escobedo (19)
  • 548 - Stefan Kozlov (17)
  • 728 - Alex Rybakov (18)
  • 812 - Collin Altamirano (19)
  • 906 - Reilly Opelka (18)
  • 970 - William Bushamuka (19)
  • 980 - Eduardo Nava (18)
How many will crack the top 100? Top 10?
Click to expand...

I like the odds of the top four guys on that list getting into the top 100, I'd throw in Opelka too but I think his game will take a bit longer to mature, Kozlov has lots of potential if he grows.
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Donaldson won that match....Dang, watching Fritz just now he was down 2-3 0-40 against Zemlja and he hits two aces, a forehand winner and service winner and then wins the game. Pretty mature for his age.
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
ok, tiafoe has a great future ahead of him, but after watching the end of his match vs rola today i have to say
can he stop being a go44amn brat and destroying a racquet every single (well, maybe just 80%) time he loses a match
donate some racquets to kids with humble beginnings like yourself, dude, and grow up a little
you're not The Who - this trademark isn't going to make you next level cool, just a r3tard
 
GRANITECHIEF

GRANITECHIEF

Hall of Fame
Yeah, Francis really had fun banging his racket 27 times after the loss.

Both other young guys appear to be going to a deciding set.
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
GRANITECHIEF said:
Yeah, Francis really had fun banging his racket 27 times after the loss.

Both other young guys appear to be going to a deciding set.
Click to expand...

fritz down big in the 3rd, finally the end of his streak

i'll forgive him since
1) i jinxed him
2) his loss came to a guy who was top 50 not very long ago (2013)
and
3) he has to be freaking tired by now
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Mmoh and Donaldson both have tough quarterfinal matches coming up, how about some props for #1 seed Krajicek, although not one of the "young" guys, he's really been playing well this year. Edit - Guess I jinxed him :(
 
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GRANITECHIEF

GRANITECHIEF

Hall of Fame
onehandbh said:
Currently, the only US teens in the top 1000 are:

Rank, name, Age
  • 142 - Jared Donaldson (19 yrs old)
  • 228 - Frances Tiafoe (17)
  • 232 - Taylor Fritz (17)
  • 321 - Tommy Paul (18)
  • 355 - Deigton Baughman (19)
  • 472 - Michael Mmoh (17)
  • 526 - Noah Rubin (19)
  • 534 - Ernesto Escobedo (19)
  • 548 - Stefan Kozlov (17)
  • 728 - Alex Rybakov (18)
  • 812 - Collin Altamirano (19)
  • 906 - Reilly Opelka (18)
  • 970 - William Bushamuka (19)
  • 980 - Eduardo Nava (18)
How many will crack the top 100? Top 10?
Click to expand...

A few of these guys playing in Mexico Challenger this week:

http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2015/7351/mds.pdf

Escobedo on now: splits set with Mitchell "Freddy" Krueger
 
mad dog1

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
Escobedo vs Struvay is streaming online right now.

which decade did this fellow Struvay come from? he's coming to net on every point!
 
gino

gino

Legend
NYCtennis13 said:
Given how big this thread has gotten, I feel as if I need to stop lurking and start sharing a DB story. Back in maybe like 2009 I played him in a men's open tournament. By that stage, I had spent around 8+ years in a 60 to 70 hour per week desk job, and was on the wrong side of 30. I had played college tennis for a top 40 program as a legit walk on, but nevertheless a walkon, and had won my share of real small weekend money tournaments in my 20s ($300 to $500). I only say this to give you guys some perspective on the level. I was playing about 1x per month at that stage, and had spent my 20s "playing myself into shape" in sporadic weekend men's open tournaments in the Northeast (Manhattan court time insanely expensive), where admittedly competition was very weak compared to where I played in Florida as a kid.

My friend and I decided to fly out to LA to play a men's open tournament-- maybe a money tournament, I really can't remember. I drew DB in either my first match or second match. He was 13 or 14 I think, though with each retelling of the story from my wife, he gets younger and younger. I think maybe he was 6 years old at this stage in the retelling......

We ended up splitting sets, and I lost in a super-10 like 10-7 or something----this was just when they were starting to get popular in men's tournaments. Anyway, I have obviously followed the kid's career since then, hoping one day to see him on Ashe and tell my friends I played him. At the time, I thought a few things:
1). He was legit. His strokes were clean off the ground, he was a lanky kid, and he certainly had a future in college, easily. His serve was odd---that's all I remember, but I remember thinking it needed some work. He was never going to be a low-level college recruit. Too good already at that age to be that lowly regarded and he had the frame to have real upside. As long as he stayed focused and healthy, he was easily going to be a blue chip recruit. 100%.
2). He was a nice kid. He hooked me on a big call on a running passing shot in the breaker, and I instinctively yelled "that's bull----" and he immediately said "You're right, I missed the call" as my sister and brother-in-law were rolling on the ground laughing at me trying to beat a 13 year-old kid. Now that I think about it, I am not even sure my wife was there....
3). His dad was a unique person, but respectful and not overbearing versus the other crazy parents I met in the tennis scene over the years. I think the Carson Challenger was that weekend, and I remember speaking to him during that, for like 30 minutes, which is about 29 minutes longer than most conversations I have, so maybe he was a bit pushy, but nothing absurd in my interaction. Sure, he elevated his kid and worked hard to sell him, but he was nowhere near most parents I have met over the years. He gave off the Christian vibe but that was all---nothing mean-spirited and he had quite the personal life story, too. I just sorta listened, and if I didn't follow his son's career, the entire content of the conversation would have faded from my memory.
4). I cheer for the guy. He recently lost a match to another player I know very well who I just played at a tournament this summer, and it sort of let me index DB progress. He is definitely not a pushover or an underacheiver based on what I saw of him at 14 versus where that result comes out now. The difference at the level he is trying to get to is so small, that to say he hasn't lived up to the hype or he is a failure, even if he never wins another ATP point, is unfair at this stage. Who knows at 15 whether a kid will be top 10, top 100 or top 350? The number of breaks you need in your favor coupled with the marginal difference at that stage, it's just too hard to predict.
5). If I were his parents I would have told him to spend 1 year at college, just because even if he is sucessful, he will be out of tennis by 35, so why not have that as a fallback no matter what? He definitely never has been a slam dunk, top 20 talent (who is, really?), so I would have pushed him to 1 year of school. But that's just me, and that's not specific to DB here.

Again, I have had zero interaction with the guy in 6 years, and have only followed at a distance as sort of a running family joke, but DB was legit back then, and I am happy to see his good results. I know this is a long post, but I thought I would share given the board controversy on this kid.
Click to expand...

This post is fantastic @NYCtennis13.. Thanks for sharing. I can relate to this story as a lower-level collegiate player, I've been spanked by my fair share of budding stars including two Kalamazoo national champions (Jack Sock, Colin Altamarino, Christian Harrison, MacKenzie MacDonald, David Hsu, Logan Staggs, etc etc). Those guys bring the level of our games up and make for some of the best memories I've had playing competitive tennis. Mackie McDonald was easily the toughest to play, he doesn't miss a single ball. Made me work. Most fun to play was Altamarino, that kid has HANDS.

Anyways, back to DB, glad he is slugging away on the lower levels of the tour. He doesn't deserve those wildcards that some Americans tend to sponge and incessantly request (Yes, you, Donald Young). So I respect the hell out of him for doing it the right way. Grind grind grind. I was too young too make much of the DB threads when his dad was taking heat, but I read some of the posts, unnecessary from both sides. A top 500 ranking is nothing to scoff at, and I wish him the best. Always liked his silky strokes, and I once saw a news program that detailed his low-income upbringing. Best of luck to DB and all our young Americans.
 
R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
gino said:
This post is fantastic @NYCtennis13
Anyways, back to DB, glad he is slugging away on the lower levels of the tour. He doesn't deserve those wildcards that some Americans tend to sponge and incessantly request (Yes, you, Ryan Harrison). So I respect the hell out of him for doing it the right way. Grind grind grind. I was too young too make much of the DB threads when his dad was taking heat, but I read some of the posts, unnecessary from both sides. A top 500 ranking is nothing to scoff at, and I wish him the best. Always liked his silky strokes, and I once saw a news program that detailed his low-income upbringing. Best of luck to DB and all our young Americans.
Click to expand...
Corrected that for you.
 
I

Ihatetennis

Hall of Fame
Speaking of that story lol, my friend beat opelka and tiafoe in a level 4 itf junior tournament 3 years ago... who woulda thought theyd be taking titles like they are now. they were amazing always, but theyre coming on like a wildfire
 
Rattler

Rattler

Hall of Fame
Ihatetennis said:
Speaking of that story lol, my friend beat opelka and tiafoe in a level 4 itf junior tournament 3 years ago... who woulda thought theyd be taking titles like they are now. they were amazing always, but theyre coming on like a wildfire
Click to expand...


Waco ITF?
 
M

mikej

Hall of Fame
kozlov continues a winning streak, following his futures win up with making it through the charlottesville challenger qualifying

and a good chance to get some challenger points, since he goes up against the UVA wildcard altamirano / granitechief junior

should be a good one
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
Kozlov vs. Altamirano tonight, good luck to both players !

Escobedo just came back from an 0-6 first set to beat #224 Liam Broady, nice win. Rubin and Quigley are in the third set on serve.
 
R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
Watching Kozlov Altamirano right now. Good to see CA throwing in a few kick serves every now and then instead of the usual slice all the time.

As far as the match, Altamirano is definitely dictating play, Kozlov is content just slicing the ball back off his backhand side and waiting for the error, which has been happening. CA needs to get to net more, I think.

1st set to Kozlov 6-3.
 
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