Will Tommy Paul break Petros 35+ win streak at Winston Salem futures?

[jcgatennismom]

Tomorrow starts the main draw of the 2nd $25K Futures held at Wake Forest. Petros won 5 MD matches at the 1st Winston Futures defeating Jared Hiltzik (Illinois), Alexander Ritschard (UVA) and the older Redlicki (Duke /ArK) en route to the title. In the first round, he plays teammate Seraphim while Tommy Paul plays Oliver Crawford of Florida. 2nd round Petros would probably play former UCLA player Marcus Giron who lost to Wake bench player (#8) Yuval Solomon last week. A possible interesting QF matchup would be former UVA players Aragone vs Altamarino. Other Wake players in main draw include Cungu and Skander who received WCs; Botzer lost in 1st rd of Qualifying to Ole Miss’ Grey Hamilton. UVA only has two players playing this week; Thai and Ritschard played last week. Zlobinsky of Wake played last week but not this week. Solomon who had WC to MD last week had a great run to QFs, but lost in 1st rd of Qualifying this week to Lebedev of ND.

It may seem surprising that a top 200 player would play a Futures but Tommy Paul is from NC. Other college bound USTA PD/former top junior world ITF players in MD include Trent Bryde (UGA recruit) and Sam Riffice (rising FL freshmen). Sam Riffice, ranked ATP 663 in April lost to Harvard recruit Brian Shi in Qualifying last week (amazingly Shi made it to MD QFs). Kypson had signed up to play MD of both Winston Futures, but he must have been injured during his dubs match vs Skander/Petros as he retired from dubs last Monday before his singles started. While USTA PD rising freshmen/sophs Crawford, Riffice, and Bryde didn’t qualify to main draw last week, Bryde beat Corwin of Minnesota, Crawford beat Zeke Clark of Illinois, and Riffice beat a rising Big 10 freshmen to qualify this week.

Other college players in main draw this week are qualifiers Trevor Johnson and Reese Stalder of TCU, Lebedev of Notre Dame, Peniston of Memphis who reached QFs last week and main draw direct acceptance players Emil Reinberg of UGA, former UCLA player Karue Sell, former Tarheel Ronnie Scheider, Hiltzik of Illinois, Kircheimer of Northwestern, and 2nd seed former Pepperdine player Sarkissian

Lots of current/former ACC players with a sprinkling of SEC, Big 10, UCLA, and TCU… Will Tommy win or do Petros, Karue or Giron, Aragone or Altamarino or Redlicki have a chance at an upset? Live scoring will be available at https://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100042654 Click live in upper right hand corner.

There is also a Future in Rochester this weekend with a few college players in main draw-Rybakov of TCU, Knight of Mich, McNally of Ohio State, Gianni Ross of uVA, and Arconada of A&M.

 

[Doubles]

I’m pretty sure Paul has been hurt since the Australian Open (maybe he played one tournament after, can’t remember), so no idea what playing shape he’s in. To be honest, I will be surprised if Paul wins a few matches because it seems like he’s been away from matcplay for so long now. I actually really like his game, having seen him in person last year, and I do think he could beat Petros, but I don’t believe he would.

Alexander Ritschard has been on a tear recently as well. He could be dangerous.

 

[ClarkC]

Alex Ritschard is resting in singles, playing doubles only. Tommy Paul won in straight sets over Oliver Crawford. Trent Bryde lost in straight sets to Sam Barry of Ireland. JC Aragone and Collin Altamirano (not Altamarino) are seeds in singles. Some more college players include Henry Craig and Harrison Adams.

 

[andfor]

Peniston takes out Aragone. Overall this tournament could shape up to be an interesting one for those that follow the Futures. Draw looks like a Wake Forest Invitational.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Petros and Skander were supposed to play this afternoon in QF but Petros pulled out and Skander won by walkover. The SF on Saturday will be Tommy Paul vs Henry Craig of Denver and Skander vs Mike Redlicki (Duke/Ark). Anyone know why Martin Redlicki is not playing? It seems like Martin would have played too as there were former UCLA players in draw-Giron who lost to Petros in 2nd rd and Karue Sell who lost to Paul in QF. Wake dubs are in dubs final today. In this Wake Future, 13 college players and 1 rising freshmen (Fl's Riffice lost to Craig in QF) accounted for 14 in the R16 of MD.

In Calgary, there are 3 US former/current college players in QF: Paul Oosterbahn (UGA), Thai K (UVA), and Tyler Lu (Yale). The Ivys have had 1-2 players doing well at Futures each week-rising Harvard freshmen Brian Shi last week reaching QF after winning 3 in Qualis, Tyler Lu still alive in Calgary playing QF this afternoon, and Poling, rising Princeton freshmen, winning 3 in qualis at Rochester and losing in 3 to Arconada in 2nd rd of MD.

In Rochester the QFs dont start until 3. Still alive after 3 rounds of Qualis and 2 MD rounds are Gianni Ross of UVA and Arconada of A&M. WC recipients Andrade of FL and rising VA freshman Goetz along with TCU's Rybakov are also in QFs. UVA future, curent, and former players spread themselves over the 3 North American Futures this week. Aragone lost and Altamirano retired in 1st rd of Wake MD this week. Aragone had won Calabasas Future and won some matches in Challengers before losing in 1st rd of both Winston Futures. The summer US futures with all the college players are some of the hardest futures outside of Western Europe. If you look at the US guys with 1-2 ATP points, many of them won them in Eqypt, Indonesia, Vietnam, or Turkey. Lots of props to guys who win three rounds of Qualis and a couple MD wins at these summer US futures. There are 14+ UTR guys-guys who played 1 or 2 for top 25 teams- who lose in Qualis or 1st rd of MD. Some of these guys lost in QFs after winning 3 in Q and 2 in MD and two days later they start over again with next Quali.

 

[ClarkC]

In Calgary, there are 3 US former/current college players in QF: Paul Oosterbahn (UGA), Thai K (UVA), and Tyler Lu (Yale).

More than 3, as Junior Ore is from Texas A&M; Thai K beat him in a three-set marathon just now. Sam Monette of Canada (former Indiana #1) lost to Oosterbaan in the QFs today. So, five former collegians (four Americans) out of eight quarterfinalists. Tyler Lu is down a set and a break now to #1 seed from Canada, who will face Thai in a SF. Tournament must be behind schedule, with QFs being played on a Saturday.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Finals in Winston for Sunday Martin Redlicki vs Tommy Paul (Redlicki beat Skander who got the QF walkover from Petros who was having wisdom teeth surgery per Wake tennis site)
Finals in Rochester for Sunday Rybakov vs unseeded Russian Rybakov beat Andrade of Florida in SF. Gianni Ross, rising soph at UVA, had a great run-won 3 in Quali, and then 3 in MD, losing in SFs.

Both Redlickis are in the MD for Tulsa that starts Monday along with Tommy Paul, Giron, Sell. and Evan Zhu of UCLA, Altamarino of UVA, Schneider of UNC, Kypson, OSU's Torp and JJ Wolf plus WCs and Qualifiers. Should be a good one. Pittsburgh the other US future that started qualis today was rained out. For the last 3 weeks, there have been 2 US futures each weekend. For the rest of the summer, I think there is only one Future a week so matches will even be more competitive and should be full-the 2nd Winston and Tulsa actually had 5-6 byes in 1st rd of qualis. New site this year-Iowa City (?!) Not sure how Iowa managed that; Illinois and Ohio State host Futures-if another one was needed in Mid west, why not Michigan or Minny?

 

[ClarkC]

The ITF and USTA do not choose sites; someone has to volunteer to host, including coming up with some money. The USTA will foot 50% of the prize money bill, but the hosting club must get sponsors to be able to pay officials and other expenses.

 

[andfor]

The ITF and USTA do not choose sites; someone has to volunteer to host, including coming up with some money. The USTA will foot 50% of the prize money bill, but the hosting club must get sponsors to be able to pay officials and other expenses.

Correct. The typical reason Futures move is the tournament director can no longer raise the required funds. Investors and sometime the tennis venues get fatigued with the ongoing annual effort supporting the events.

 

[ClarkC]

Thai and Oosterbaan into the all-college finals in Calgary.

 

[Deacon Drive]

Why aren't futures events publicized better? With social media it is essentially free to advertise, yet there seems to be so little put out by the events themselves. Many of the great tennis twitter/websites discuss futures events, but the events themselves don't even seem to have twitter handles or social media presences. Also, why do they play the matches in the late morning/middle of the day? If they played at night the weather would be more tolerable for players and fans, and fans that work would be able to attend.

 

[andfor]

Why aren't futures events publicized better? With social media it is essentially free to advertise, yet there seems to be so little put out by the events themselves. Many of the great tennis twitter/websites discuss futures events, but the events themselves don't even seem to have twitter handles or social media presences. Also, why do they play the matches in the late morning/middle of the day? If they played at night the weather would be more tolerable for players and fans, and fans that work would be able to attend.

I don't have answers to all your questions. On time of play, late morning/mid-day this allows for weather delays and long matches. I know, not the best reason, just my observation.

 

[Deacon Drive]

I don't have answers to all your questions. On time of play, late morning/mid-day this allows for weather delays and long matches. I know, not the best reason, just my observation.

If so, that seems like poor reasoning. The Winston-Salem Open schedules matches in the late afternoon/evening so people can actually attend.

 

[andfor]

If so, that seems like poor reasoning. The Winston-Salem Open schedules matches in the late afternoon/evening so people can actually attend.

We've now moved from a question about Futures to comparing them to ATP events. Comparing a no ticket sales, money losing event, to a ticket sale money making event that is likely televised. Maybe I'm a little crazy, but not in common other than they are both professional tennis tournaments. We have a national tournament, they play all those matches morning and end by 5 or 6 PM.

I have a couple of friends who are Future's TD's. If I get the chance and remember, I'll ask them why they play mid-day next time I see them.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Why aren't futures events publicized better? With social media it is essentially free to advertise, yet there seems to be so little put out by the events themselves. Many of the great tennis twitter/websites discuss futures events, but the events themselves don't even seem to have twitter handles or social media presences. Also, why do they play the matches in the late morning/middle of the day? If they played at night the weather would be more tolerable for players and fans, and fans that work would be able to attend.

USTA PD or collegiate should be the one to publicize events, not the venues. UsTA/ITA did a great job of publicizing College Match Days. You would think ITA and USTA could work together to publicize at least the USTA pro circuits hosted at colleges. It is a bit tricky to publicize as the draws are not finalized until the night before tourney starts. Other events that feature great match play but get little publicity are the ITA Regionals and some of the top fall invitationals like Southeast intercollegiate in Athens which hosts 20 teams-many ACC/SEC. For these, you have to research on your own-go to ITA site to find host and then hope host site post draws the night before.

USTA is always talking about growing the game. When Steven Armitraj was head of uSTA Collegiate, USTA started giving college tennis more attention. Now that he has left to work for UTR, college tennis is ignored again by USTA. The organization does not even publicize its USTA Collegiate team. However there is a little bit about team at this site https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/collegiate So far Rybakov on team has won 2 Futures this summer.

As far as the timing of the matches, many Futures are held at private clubs. Nights are probably reserved for adults rec league and drills for members-the clubs' bread and butter. Daytime is time when most courts are vacant unless clubs are hosting summer camps for kids or academy for juniors. Even for Futures held at universities, the university tennis center may have regular lessons or clinics for the paying public at night which helps fund the university tennis program. i think unpaid volunteer coaches and maybe even assistant coaches supplement their incomes with lessons/drills offered to the public at the tennis centers.

Speaking of weather, this past weekend's Qualifying matches got behind due to inclement weather. In Pittsburgh to finish qualifying two rounds were played on Monday with just 2 hours of rest between rounds. Today in Tulsa, Qualifying was finishing while MD started, Usually the first round of MD lasts two days so qualifiers who played Monday would not have to play singles again until Wed, but they will not get a day of rest at Tulsa.

Below is a list of the US futures and challengers through the end of August.To review the entire 2018 calendar click here: https://www.usta.com/en/home/pro/pro-tennis-events/2018-usta-pro-circuit-men-s-calendar.html

To see the tentative acceptance lists (not even close to accurate until the Thurs before Qualis start and even then only about 60-75% accurate-lots of late withdrawals), draws, order of play, and live scores, go to https://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men's-calendar.aspx and click on tournament.
July
Futures
Week of July 2: $25,000 Wichita, KS (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard

Week of July 9: $25,000 TBA (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard Iowa City

Week of July 16: $25,000 Champaign, IL (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard

Week of July 23: $25,000 Norman, OK (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard

Week of July 30: $25,000 Decatur, IL (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard
Challengers:
Week of July 9: $75,000 Winnetka, IL (32 MD, 32 Q) - Hard

Week of July 23: $75,000 Binghamton, NY (32 MD, 32 Q) - Hard

Week of July 30: $75,000 Lexington, KY (32 MD, 32 Q) - Hard

August
Futures
Week of Aug. 6: $25,000 Edwardsville, IL (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard

Week of Aug. 13: $25,000 Boston, MA (32 MD, 64 Q) - Hard
Challenger
Week of Aug. 6: $100,000 Aptos, CA (32 MD, 32 Q) - Hard

Deacon Drive, obviously a Wake fan, I assume you are already aware of the two ACC area challengers- Cary 9/10 and Charlottesville 10/29

With the Cary Challenger, I wonder how the WCs work with NCSU, Duke and UNC all local. Is any of the 3 an official host of the event?

 

[jcgatennismom]

Big10 had a great day in Tulsa today with Torp beating Karue Sell (UCLA), Kovacevic beating a WC, and JJ Wolf beating Altmarino of UVA in MD 1st rd. Reinberg of UGA also beat a seed in MD 1st rd. Most of the 1st rd MD play tomorrow. In the final Quali round, BIg 10 also excelled with Minny player Corwin and Spec, and Illini's Alexander Brown qualifying to play MD tomorrow. From the PAC 12, Logan Smith and Maxime Cressy qualified as did rising UGA freshmen Trent Bryde.
Some interesting matches for tomorrow:
Big 10 vs Pac 12 Alex Brown of Illinois vs Evan Zhu of UCLA
Zeke Clark (Ill) vs Martin Redlicki (won won 2nd Wake Future)
Matic Spec (minn) vs Ronnie Schneider (UNC)
Sam Riffice (Fl rec) vs Max Cressy (UCLA)
Trent Bryde (UGA rec) vs Marcus Giron (UCLA)

There are other college players-Corwin, Kovacevic, Mike Redlicki playing matches vs lucky losers or WCs but the above are the college vs college matches.

Not as many college vs college matches in Pittsburgh, but one interesting 1st rd match will be Gianni Ross of UVA who reached a Future SF last week vs Arconada of Texas A&M. Worthy of mention is that Grey Hamilton of Ole Miss won his first ATP point today in Pittsburgh.

 

[Deacon Drive]

We've now moved from a question about Futures to comparing them to ATP events. Comparing a no ticket sales, money losing event, to a ticket sale money making event that is likely televised. Maybe I'm a little crazy, but not in common other than they are both professional tennis tournaments. We have a national tournament, they play all those matches morning and end by 5 or 6 PM.

I have a couple of friends who are Future's TD's. If I get the chance and remember, I'll ask them why they play mid-day next time I see them.

If you could ask them, that would be great.

JCGA suggested perhaps court availability drives the schedule. That may be the case some places, but at Wake Forest there are plenty of courts and playing at night wouldn't be an issue. I would have gone to many of the futures matches at Wake if they were at night, but they were all during the middle of the day (10 am until 3 pm) so I couldn't attend because of work. I know this is true for others as well.

 

[JAJ]

If you could ask them, that would be great.

JCGA suggested perhaps court availability drives the schedule. That may be the case some places, but at Wake Forest there are plenty of courts and playing at night wouldn't be an issue. I would have gone to many of the futures matches at Wake if they were at night, but they were all during the middle of the day (10 am until 3 pm) so I couldn't attend because of work. I know this is true for others as well.

My Florida club has been hosting a women's $50k challenger for over 10 years now, and it has become a favorite among the players due in no small part to the huge support it gets from club members. The match schedule starts each day at 9:00 and goes until that day's matches are completed; with a two match "feature" usually scheduled starting at 6 PM- to provide an opportunity for people who have to work. I don't know to what extent this applies to other tournaments/locations, but the primary reason the daily schedule starts so early is to provide some cushion in case of weather delays, which is pretty common in May. If you get behind schedule, particularly in the first two rounds, it becomes very difficult to catch up. The club in question has only 9 clay courts of which only four are used for tournament matches, so members still have plenty of access for their own tennis.

 

[JLyon]

some places may not have the proper lighting to run the tournaments at night, especially for a Pro Level Tournament.

 

[MC86]

I have TD'd a number of Futures events. I've often pushed for night matches for the same reasons as what has been listed above but have been overruled by the ITF referee who felt it was unfair on the players/officials to have to be there late into the evening. The best I was usually able to get was one match on the main court not before 6/630pm.

 

[Deacon Drive]

I have TD'd a number of Futures events. I've often pushed for night matches for the same reasons as what has been listed above but have been overruled by the ITF referee who felt it was unfair on the players/officials to have to be there late into the evening. The best I was usually able to get was one match on the main court not before 6/630pm.

Interesting info. Thanks. If the governing bodies want to improve the product and grow the sport...