Turkey Challengers- Jan- Feb 2021

[jaydeep]

At last a good win for Ram.

[Atithee]

Happy to be proven wrong. I’ll take that every time if that’s what it takes for Ram to win. He’s still my favorite Indian tennis player on the men’s side. It’s sad he has not risen as much in rankings as he should have by now.

[PKBasu]

Marvellous comeback win on clay for Ramkumar. His persistence on clay is paying off. He is one guy who just keeps playing, and surely that contributes to eventual improvements in his game, even on a surface singularly unsuited to his style of play.

[jayakris]

I agree with PKB... For all the disappointments we always have about Ram not going into the top-100 like we thought he would, we have to give him a lot of credit for continuing to try his best, like a warhorse. Never stops playing. That gives us hope that good things will ultimately happen to him. This was a really nice win today.

[Rajiv]

Another major attribute about Ram , is that he is always positive , hardworking , and not the one to give up in face of adversities . For example just last week that 6-0,6-4 loss to the Musetti , on paper it looked a straightforward loss playing his second match after few hours , but when I talked to him later , he was ruing this loss , and said to me ..could have changed the course of the match … I had him in the 2nd set ....just that I went big on the BP’s.
His next major test will be in April where he has to protect 83 points , and has Feb to April to protect them , a conservative Top 150 for the rest of the year should be his prudent objective and anything better than that would simply be a huge bonus.

[sameerph]

And with this and last week's R1 win Ram has protected his 15 points which were dropping this week,.and from now until April has no more points to protect.

There is no dropping off of points till 15 March, 2021 for any of the players as ATP extended the ranking window for best of 24 months due to Covid which ends on 15 March. So, RamK's 15 points from Bangkok challenger last January and 10 points earned from Bangalore Challenger last February will stay in his kitty till Jan/Feb 2022 unless they go out of his best 18 points earned from tournaments.

So, many players are holding on to lot of points from 2019. So, there will be a lot of upheavel of rankings starting from April as the tour begins to move back to best of 12 months system.

RamK will have to go deep in few challengers to stay at his current ranking level or move up by April when his big points drop off starts. He is taking a tough route though playing these Euupepan challengers. He could have gone to South Africa for 2 challengers which are taking place there in next 2 weeks. He would have been among top 4 seeds there. Prajnesh is expected to be top seed there provided he does not withdraw.

[Rajiv]

Thanks Samir for the clarification , was writing from memory and did not take it into consideration the extension when last year Bkk points came to my mind.
But are you sure his (Ram's) first points drop off is on 15th March as according to the computer it shows 12th April 2021 as the first drop date for 25 points of Taipei , and after that Anning , Nanchang.

[sameerph]

No, I am not saying RamK's points dropoff will start from 15th March. In general, from 15th March, ATP will revert back to usual system of dropping off points. So, lot of players who have points in their kitty from 2019 will start dropping off. For RamK, you are right. He will start dropping from 12th April and hopefully, he will earn something from now on to compensate for that drop off.

[sameerph]

RamK and Purav lost in doubles first round.

At Antalya Challenger 80,Clay

[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) / Purav Raja (IND) l. Rafael Matos (BRA) / Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (BRA) 36 46

This pair is in bad slide since return from covid break.

RamK's singles match is tomorrow at 11 am local time.

[Sanjay]

I think RR should pick between doubles and singles. Not do both.

[Dinesh]

I know they have had some success but Purav should be working with someone who concentrates fully on doubles. Imagine him and Divij touring around the world entering ATP tournaments and where both players are now. Get a doubles specialist, win CH matches and titles, move on to the next level. Also, what’s happened to Jeevan?

[jayakris]

I feel a bit differently. Based on how they were playing before the Covid break, I doubt if Purav can find a partner better than Ram. I mean, RamK is a fabulous double player and their skills complement each other very well. And if a partner like Purav is rather regularly available, then a singles player does not find doubles to be all that distracting, so RamK was better off with Purav too. The kind of places where RamK could play singles or singles qualies were pretty much where Purav could get into doubles with him too - probably as seeds in many places. So it was all mutually beneficial and was working quite well before the break. I think they should give it some more time. Dropping doubles partnerships too soon, is a mistake many pairs make. If they feel that the tennis style and personalities match, they should stick with it for at least another 5 or 10 events more before splitting. If there are no personality issues, then they are bound to click again pretty soon.

[sameerph]

At Antalya Challenger 80, Clay

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,187) l. (2) Jamie Munar (ESP,103) 46 57

I could not watch but followed the scores intermittently and RamK was up 5-3 in the second set and served for the second set, got broken and then lost the next 3 games. He was so close to taking it to third set. Overall, he seemed to have played at a decent level against solid top 100 level clay courter who was champion here last week.

Next week RamK will be back on indoor hard courts at Cherbourg.

[Sanjay]

There are only few players who can win both in doubles and singles. RR is not among them.

If he wants to be a doubles player, then he should focus and find a partner and stick with him. Become a specialist like LP or MB. Else stay in singles like PG and SN. He is still young and can improve in singles.

It may be a financial issue, if so then it's different.

[Sanjay]

At Antalya Challenger 80, Clay

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,187) l. (2) Jamie Munar (ESP,103) 46 57

I could not watch but followed the scores intermittently and RamK was up 5-3 in the second set and served for the second set, got broken and then lost the next 3 games. He was so close to taking it to third set. Overall, he seemed to have played at a decent level against solid top 100 level clay courter who was champion here last week.

Next week RamK will be back on indoor hard courts at Cherbourg.

I would actually say that RR played better than expected. He was expected to lose in a worse way but still made it somewhat close.