Sao Paulo Challenger: Day One
Happy new year, fellow tennis geeks! By chance, I found myself in Sao Paulo at the same time as the beginning of the first challenger of 2013. Plenty of challengers these days are streamed online, so...
View ArticleSao Paulo Challenger: Day Two
In Sao Paulo, Tuesday brought the second half of first-round singles, a scattering of interesting doubles matches, and inexplicable swarms of gnats. The gnats were almost as aggravating as the singles...
View ArticleNick Kyrgios and the Youngest Challenger Titlists
Last week at the Sydney Challenger, 17-year-old Nick Kyrgios won the title while only dropping a single set. The young man has been on quite the run, first winning the Australian Open boy’s singles...
View ArticleThe Historically Strong Dallas Challenger
All eyes are on Indian Wells this week, with seven of the top eight-ranked men in the world in the quarterfinals. (Oh, and one epic streak coming to an end.) Look a little deeper, though, and you’ll...
View ArticleNational Showdowns in Challenger Finals
If Dudi Sela and Amir Weintraub both win their semifinal matches at the Leon Challenger today–against Donald Young and Jimmy Wang, respectively–it would the first time that two Israelis face off in a...
View ArticleYen Hsun Lu’s Challenger Choices
Yen Hsun Lu has played in a lot of tournaments with fields that look like this month’s Leon and Guadalajara Challengers. Ranked in the bottom half of the top 100, he is often the only top-100 player...
View ArticleChallenger Tour Finals Forecast
I wrote an extensive preview of this week’s Challenger Tour Finals for The Changeover, so you should check that out first. (Also worth a read is the preview at Foot Soldiers of Tennis.) Because so...
View ArticleNick Kyrgios and the First Fifty Matches
When Nick Kyrgios lost the Wimbledon quarterfinal to Milos Raonic yesterday, he was playing his 50th career match at the Challenger level or above. Round numbers invite big-picture analysis, so let’s...
View ArticleWesterhof, Van Der Duim, and a Strong Whiff of Match Fixing
This afternoon at the ATP Meerbusch Challenger in Germany, all eyes were definitely not on a first-round match between Dutchmen Boy Westerhof and Antal Van Der Duim. Both are ranked outside the top...
View ArticleBenoit Paire and Overqualified Challenger Contenders
With three ATP tour-level events on the slate this week, Benoit Paire considered his options and elected to play none of them. Instead, the world #23 is the top seed at the Brest Challenger, making him...
View ArticleTranslating ATP Statistics Across Main Tour and Challenger Levels
Italian translation at settesei.it What is the gap between the top-level ATP Tour and the lower-level ATP Challenger Tour? Some players pile up trophies in the minor leagues yet have a hard time...
View ArticleIdentifying Underrated Players With Minor League Elo
I’ve just revised my published Elo ratings (men, women) to better reflect the performance of players who mostly compete at the (men’s) ATP Challenger and (women’s) ITF levels. Previously, my Elo...
View ArticleTuesday Topspin: A New Big Man
Not so wild: Last week marked a big accomplishment for Dutchman Thomas Schoorel–he won his first challenger-level title, and ascended to a career-high ranking of #126. It’s now more than a big week,...
View ArticleWednesday Topspin: Gonzo’s Back
On the road: I’m travelling for most of this week, so blogging will be light. Moving on… Belgrade: It’s a good thing the top four seeds got byes into the second round, since all the seeds who were in...
View ArticleThursday Topspin: Tweeners
Oh-for-three: A couple of days ago, Dustin Brown blew open the bottom half of the Munich draw by upsetting Stanislas Wawrinka. Yesterday, three men’s matches were completed, and each one knocked out...
View ArticleThursday Topspin: Tiebreak Madness Redux
Lopez threatens: In one of the best matches of the season so far, Roger Federer snuck past Feliciano Lopez 7-6(13), 6-7(1), 7-6(7). It’s a shame there had to be a loser: given Lopez’s form right now,...
View ArticleThe Weak, Weak Newport Field
The ATP 250-level tournament in Newport this week is empty of the game’s best players. The top seed is John Isner, ranked 46, and the 8th seed is Tobias Kamke, who is barely within the top 100. This...
View ArticleRik De Voest, Man on the Cusp
You don’t have to read much of this site to know that I am particularly interested in the second tier of pros. Some of that is due to spending countless hours at the U.S. Open qualifying tournament;...
View ArticleGraduating From Challengers
The best players don’t take long before they show you how good they are. Tennis fans are rightfully excited about guys like Bernard Tomic and Milos Raonic, youngsters who have already established...
View ArticleA Quarter of Missing Challengers
The ATP Challenger calendar (PDF) has been released for the first quarter of 2013, and it looks mighty thin. In the next three months, we can expect 21 challenger events, compared to 30 in Q1 2012 and...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....