$15K India F1-F4 futures, Feb/March 2018

[Ravishankar Krishnan]

Saki when fit is easily Ind. No. 2

[sameerph]

Agree with both the above posts.

I watched 2 of Prajnesh's matches against top 150 players in last 2 weeks and he was playing at the same level as them. I think he is playing at least at the level of his current ranking of top 250 level, can get to top 200 level soon. So, he is surely India #4 now perhaps just behind Sumit. Arjun is still moving up to that higher level.

So, tomorrow's match between fast improving Arjun and injury returned Saketh is a fight for India #5 as of now. But, of course as Ravishankar says if Saketh gets fully fit he can quickly move up and challenger RamK for India #2.

[jayakris]

I agree with Sameer agreeing with the previous posts Jay

[Sin Hombre]

x3

[Saniapower]

Saketh has passed his prime. I hope Khade wins.

[kishash]

My support to Arjun too. His service is much better than that of Saket

[kishash]

Carlos Boluda Purkiss (1) beat KU Singh 7-6, 6-4. Tough fight by KU Singh
Arjun Kadhe (5) beat Saketh Myneni (7) 6-3, 1-0 Saketh retired.

[kishash]

Hope for another title for Arjun. Best wishes

[Ravishankar Krishnan]

Saketh's serve at his prime was the best in India at that point. Only Bopanna has had a comparable serve in the past decade

[sameerph]

True, sadly Saketh's injury issues just do not seem to go away and now time may be running out for him at 30+. Unless something changes for the better in next 6 months, he may have to take a call to turn a doubles specialist where chances of injuries are less.

Yet another final for Arjun. Now he faces a tough test against top seeded Spaniard who is ranked 308. Arjun has beaten only 1 player ranked slightly above this ranking level- 287th ranked Nedelko in China futures. This will show if Arjun is ready to immediately make transition to challenger level.

[PKBasu]

Saki when fit is easily Ind. No. 2

I don't know what is the point of saying this. He hasn't been fully fit for nearly 18 months. At this stage, talking about what he can achieve when fully fit is somewhat futile.
In any case, RamK is a considerably better player now than Saketh was even at his peak. RamK is now at a live ranking of 131, a level Saketh never reached even at his peak. RamK is very clearly the India #2.

But yes, I agree that Prajnesh is the India #4, and Arjun is effectively India #5.

[Omkara]

What happened??

[F] Carlos BOLUDA-PURKISS [1] bt Arjun KADHE [5] 6-0 6-4

[Ravishankar Krishnan]

Saki when fit is easily Ind. No. 2

I don't know what is the point of saying this. He hasn't been fully fit for nearly 18 months. At this stage, talking about what he can achieve when fully fit is somewhat futile.
In any case, RamK is a considerably better player now than Saketh was even at his peak. RamK is now at a live ranking of 131, a level Saketh never reached even at his peak. RamK is very clearly the India #2.

But yes, I agree that Prajnesh is the India #4, and Arjun is effectively India #5.

It's unfortunate that Saki has been struggling with his injuries. We must remember just prior to his injury he had qualified to the main draw of US Open which he lost in rather unfortunate circumstances.

I agree that with his injuries, this discussion is merely academic, but I disagree with using peak ranking alone as a metric of comparison. Saki has won more challengers, played a main draw of a GS, in my opinion this is sufficient to rank peak Saki ahead of peak RamK.

Having said that RamK has sufficient time to outdo what Saki has done and hopefully he does that.

[sameerph]

True and Saketh's career high of 137 is not too far from RamK's career high of 133 now in live rankings. With so similar rankings the achievements at higher level should be the criterion for who is the better player. As of now it is Saketh.

Unfortunately, it seems early in his career Saketh had not realised how good a player he can be and therefore he was probably not so serious about turning pro. He only started pros at 24+ which is a bit too late and then he has had those long injury issues.

RamK is much more focused on his pro career and should eventually become a top 100 player.

[PKBasu]

I find these assertions utterly bemusing -- and quite bizarre. Can you please elaborate?

RamK has a ranking now that is higher than Saketh's career-high, and has achieved this at a far younger age than Saketh. RamK has a win over Thiem last year, and has played several rounds of ATP tournaments three times last year, and at least twice before at Chennai. Saketh qualified into an ATP tournament main draw for the first time when he qualified into the USO. That was a great achievement, and he nearly won that match (in fact, won it, but for the lack of a computer to confirm the final line call of the match; to the world at large outside this forum, that is still a loss). Saketh never beat a top-10 player, played just one ATP tour level event, and yet is supposed to be better than RamK (purely on Challenger performances?)?