Why not, let's pay attention to Challengers too...

flyingboris · Jul 19, 2022

chicagodude said:
First off, he will need to start winning regularly outside of grass. This might take a while.

Definitely. For those interested, there are highlights available, see here. First thing to notice: what a difference a few weeks make!

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 20, 2022

chicagodude said:
THB, after his grass season he was bound to have a setback on his way to hopefully becoming a steady top-100 player.
First off, he will need to start winning regularly outside of grass. This might take a while.

Well, in fairness TVR is among those who got ripped off the worst by the Wimbledon affair. With the points earned at SW19 he'd be ranked inside the Top 70 and in position to ditch challenger life instantly. Instead he has to play (a very intriguing match) against Ben Shelton on some random public court, in front of two rows of empty plastic chairs.

James P · Jul 22, 2022

This Yibing Wu kid is pretty interesting, just keeps winning. I thought Zhizhen Zhang, or maybe even Juncheng Shang, would be the first Chinese man to crack the top 100, but Wu is coming out of nowhere and might beat them to it.

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 22, 2022

James P said:
This Yibing Wu kid is pretty interesting, just keeps winning. I thought Zhizhen Zhang, or maybe even Juncheng Shang, would be the first Chinese man to crack the top 100, but Wu is coming out of nowhere and might beat them to it.

Hey ZZ Zhang is having himself quite a little moment too! 11-2 since Wimbledon, playing QF in Trieste as we speak. Top 100? Don't know.

Aabye5 · Jul 22, 2022

Baseline_Bungle said:
Hey ZZ Zhang is having himself quite a little moment too! 11-2 since Wimbledon, playing QF in Trieste as we speak. Top 100? Don't know.

I think Zhang likes faster surfaces -- like grass. Maybe he could have some good runs at the indoor events this year.

The Hangzhou Hammer, aka Yibing Wu, has had a meteoric rise, and seems to play well with on both hard and clay.

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 22, 2022

Aabye5 said:
I think Zhang likes faster surfaces -- like grass. Maybe he could have some good runs at the indoor events this year.

The Hangzhou Hammer, aka Yibing Wu, has had a meteoric rise, and seems to play well with on both hard and clay.

Zhang is doing pretty well on the clay! Will play semis at the Challenger 100 in Trieste tomorrow and in recent weeks has nice wins over Kovalik, Cuevas, Pedro Martinez, Cecchinato (twice), Geerts, Meligeni and others.

Wu of course has the higher ceiling - it seems like a century ago when he was dominating at junior level, but he's only just 22... caught a few glimpses during his recent streak and he can obviously still play. Now it's time to show that he can do it at ATP level.

In other news, IL MAESTRO appears to have no intention of cooling off. Just demolished old Caruso for his tenth consecutive victory, and is into the semis of Trieste as well. One more win would put him in the top 200 for the first time - a scenario most people would have laughed at just a few weeks ago. He now takes on Passaro, whose rise out of nowhere this year has been perhaps even more mind-boggling.

TennisLurker · Jul 22, 2022

Does Ben Shelton have any hype in the USA?

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 22, 2022

TennisLurker said:
Does Ben Shelton have any hype in the USA?

I'm gonna say no but he looks pretty damn good to me. Looking forward to watching him at ATP level starting next week in ATL - think he may do some damage this summer already.

James P · Jul 22, 2022

TennisLurker said:
Does Ben Shelton have any hype in the USA?

It's starting. I'm hearing his name more on podcasts and on tennis boards. Think it's going to be hard to justify returning to college in the fall.

Aabye5 · Jul 22, 2022

TennisLurker said:
Does Ben Shelton have any hype in the USA?

Yes, he has had some for a while. They did a TC clip on his dad/him last year or maybe two years ago?

Aabye5 · Jul 22, 2022

Both Cerundolo brothers are having banner weeks. Good to see JM reaching the semis in Finland.

Humbert has been knocked down to the Challenger level, but is finding the success that has eluded him this year in Pozoblanco.

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 24, 2022

After losing 3 challenger finals in the past couple of months (Sanremo v. Rune, Forli v. Musetti and Milan v. Coria), Passaro finally breaks through and takes the title in Trieste with a 3 set comeback win over Zhang Zhizhen.

He rises to an unfathomable n. 144 in the rankings and n. 9 in the Next Gens. Of note, 7 of the top 15 Next Gens - and 11 of the Top 30 - are Italian. Clearly the endless surplus of Challengers on home soil is helping. Nevertheless, the country has never had such a depth of high quality players between the ages of 18 and 21. It will be interesting to see which ones, if any, have the stuff to compete on the top tour...

BGod · Jul 24, 2022

Federer>Djokovic>Nadal said:
They should televise the challengers!

I think there's good streaming options now. Certainly with notable names.

Baseline_Bungle · Jul 24, 2022

BGod said:
I think there's good streaming options now. Certainly with notable names.

The guy you're replying to was banned a decade ago, but yeah, every single challenger match is visible live on Challenger TV - qualies included. Usually fixed camera behind the court, but some (mostly in the States) actually have a full multi-cam production.

Open Castilla y Leon Pista 1 [1] Kacper Zuk (POL) vs Edan Leshem (ISR)

ATP Challenger Tour streaming match [1] Kacper Zuk (POL) vs Edan Leshem (ISR)

www.atptour.com

Aabye5 · Jul 24, 2022

Baseline_Bungle said:
The guy you're replying to was banned a decade ago, but yeah, every single challenger match is visible live on Challenger TV - qualies included. Usually fixed camera behind the court, but some (mostly in the States) actually have a full multi-cam production.

Open Castilla y Leon Pista 1 [1] Kacper Zuk (POL) vs Edan Leshem (ISR)

ATP Challenger Tour streaming match [1] Kacper Zuk (POL) vs Edan Leshem (ISR)

www.atptour.com

Which is perhaps where they spend all that money that they don't spend on the venue, as you pointed out

Aabye5 · Jul 24, 2022

Your champions for the week of 2022.07.18 -

Trieste: Francesco Passaro over qualifier Zhizhen Zhang, 46 63 63
Indianapolis: Yibing Wu took out Aleksandar Kovacevic, 67(10) 76(13) 63. Fighting for those tiebreaks.
Nur-Sultan: Roman Safiullin outplays Denis Yevseyev, 26 64 76(2)
Pozoblanco: Constant Lestienne defeats Gregoire Barrere, 60 76(3)
Tampere: Zsombor Piros spots Harold Mayot a set, but wins, 62 16 64

Aabye5 · Jul 24, 2022

This week we are in:

San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy (clay)

Why not, let's pay attention to Challengers too...

Legend

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