OSU's Wolf wins 1st challenger title-got in on WC

jcgatennismom

Hall of Fame
This is why college players need more WCs into Challengers from USTA. JJ dominated 3 top 300 ATP players allowing 4 or less games per match even though his ranking at the time was ATP 367. He had a close 3 setter with former teammate Torp in the final winning even though Torp had double the aces (14 to his 7). He won 2nd serve points (both on his and Torp's serve) and 3 break points to make the difference.

Per the link below, USTA gives out to US boys 18s 15 $25K WCs (includes 2 ea for top 5) and 4 Challenger MD WCs. USTA gives college players (but only if American) received 3 Challenger and 6 $25K MD WCs. It is ridiculous that SFists of the NCAAs get 2 WCs to $25K Qualifying! Most of the guys who reach NCAA SFs have reached finals of a $25K MD! Torp who has won one Challenger title and finished 2nd today in Columbus only reached NCAA QFs last year. The boys 18s and 16s also receive $15K WCs. Junior players also can get into $15k MDs as 5 spots are reserved for top 100 jr ITF. There are no reserved spots for top college players in either $15k or $25K or Challenger main draws. While JJ was a great junior player, he is better after 2 years of college; USTA should be giving more WC to college players. At least college players, including internationals, can get WCs from the host sites. Some WCs are given out by USTA and others by tourney sites/sponsors/universities. If juniors get 5 reserved spots in $15Ks, college players should get 5 reserved spots in $25K MD and maybe at least 2 in Challengers. Many can get in Futures by direct acceptance, but having some reserved spots for players who dont already have points would be fair and improve the quality of the draws. College players may have a lower ATP ranking simply because they play fewer Futures than full time pros but they may be just as talented. I hope ITF adds some reserved spots for top college players in the future. USTA is just helping out Us college players; ITF should set aside WC that could benefit college players regardless of nationality. Luckily host sites of Challengers have given out WC to college players, and often those players have gone deep in tourneys. However, top college players that dont attend a university that hosts a Challenger or reside in a state that hosts one may have trouble getting one of those WCs even if they are talented. The top 2 US ATP ranked college players JJ Wolf and Roy Smith reached their rankings playing tourneys they got in on WCs.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ustaassets...tive_pathway_merit_based_wild_cards_final.pdf USTA WC chart

Here's an interesting article from TRN on how ITA president and college coaches think the Transition Tour will affect college tennis: https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=284677268
College Bypassed in ITF World Tennis Tour Pathway by Colette Lewis, 11 January 2019
 
It was played in the Ohio State indoor venue

Wild cards Martin Joyce, Kyle Seelig, John McNally, and JJ Wolf are current Ohio State players and the last WC Torpegaard was on the team last year at Ohio State

The finals was WC Wolf vs WC Torpegaard

That is the way forward. If you want your players in you have to host events.
 

tennisjunky

Rookie
Great article…… so many good points that I don't know where to start...…..
But the very last paragraph..... for me and parents (that I know) of tennis players speaks volumes.
Just remember, kids can dream all they want, but its good ole mommy and daddy that are paying the bills.
And at the end of the day, if there is no REAL payoff...…. then parents will pull their kids out of tennis in favor of another sport.

“Even though these ideas are all very well intentioned, my biggest concern is that they are going to kill off the dream at the bottom of the pyramid,” Russell said. “Every kid who is 9, 10, 12 or 16 aspires to play pro tennis and this idea that they’re saying this number should be 700, or even, I’ve heard people say, 300, who are pro tennis players, I personally think you could kill off the dream.”
 

jcgatennismom

Hall of Fame
“Even though these ideas are all very well intentioned, my biggest concern is that they are going to kill off the dream at the bottom of the pyramid,” Russell said. “Every kid who is 9, 10, 12 or 16 aspires to play pro tennis and this idea that they’re saying this number should be 700, or even, I’ve heard people say, 300, who are pro tennis players, I personally think you could kill off the dream.”

I have looked at Future Quali results from 2018, and I know of several example of teenagers who didnt play junior ITF (or played just 1-2 near home)that actually beat some of the USTA PD junior world top 50s in national USTA events and/or Futures. These kids may have been TRN top 50-100 but rated much lower than the top 10 blue chips they beat. These kids as well as late bloomers who develop in college will be shut out of even trying with these changes. Often the reason they did not play more junior ITFs was because school was a priority or finances were limited. Current juniors need to hear the stories of those kids and also those of players who made the lineup of power teams even though they never played Kzoo or national tourneys-there are a few of those. Instead we mainly hear about the 6-8 kids for each class sponsored by USTA PD. Now the door is closing on those exceptions... The message juniors and parents are hearing instead is if you cant play junior ITF choose another sport.
 
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