nitin28 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:26 am
Yuki has entered in irving challenger starting 19th march and is in qualifying list (4th out of main draw).
Strong list with most of top 100 entered in this challenger as it is between master tournaments.
Correction, challenger is starting 12th of March, which is in 2nd Week of ATP India Wells.
From 19th March ATP Miami is starting
So it is good idea to play challenger if you have less chance to reach second week as challenger is happening in US itself and winner can take 125 points.
How the hell, Sameer missed this
Normally he works overtime and takes extra effort to find out even minor things than above
nitin28 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:26 am
Yuki has entered in irving challenger starting 19th march and is in qualifying list (4th out of main draw).
Strong list with most of top 100 entered in this challenger as it is between master tournaments.
Correction, challenger is starting 12th of March, which is in 2nd Week of ATP India Wells.
From 19th March ATP Miami is starting
So it is good idea to play challenger if you have less chance to reach second week as challenger is happening in US itself and winner can take 125 points.
Irvine and Indian Wells are quite close - an easy drive between the two places....
Irvine (CA) is Jay's town (and my town too), but the challenger is in Irving (TX) which is about 1,500 miles (2,400 kms) away from Indian Wells (CA). Irvine is just about 110 miles from Indian Wells. I moved from Irving (TX) to Irvine (CA) many years ago, so I know both places quite well
And I live close to Irving ITX) - am in India now but hopefully I can watch the Irving Challenger when I get back. RamK was there last year - surprised Yuki has to play qualies?
Yuki had slid down to 110 in today's ATP singles rankings. He has big 62 points falling off in next ranking update which is in 2 weeks time due to Indian Wells. So, Yuki will need good performance at IW/Texas challenger to not slide down further.
To keep this thread updated, Yuki had his best week on the pro tour ( or at least the second best if we consider his ATP 500 QF in Washington last year as his best) at Indian Wells ATP 1000.
He qualified thru to the main draw with wins over 165th ranked Danis Novikov and our own Ramkumar Ramanathan in qualifying. Then, he had 2 big wins in main draw against Nicolas Mahut and 12th ranked Lukas Pouille.
With this he managed to win his biggest career prize money in excess of US$ 47,000.
Not much leap expected in terms of rankings though as he was defending 62 points from 2 China challengers. With 61 points from IW and 8 points from last year's Granby challenger which will enter his best 18 points, he will be +7 for the week and will move about 2-4 spots from his current ranking of 110 ( based on how others below him do at Irving challenger this week).
His next target ought to be get inside or at least close to top 100 before French open main draw cut off date i.e 16th April, 2018.He has 15 more points to defend by that date. So, he will need to get around 45 or so points to make it safe for him for French open main draw ( although with a little luck he can make it even with fewer points and a ranking of around 104). A similar performance at Miami like IW will do it.
So he's having his traveling trainer with him and Stephen accompanies him for the big tournaments. Not sure of his sponsorship deals but based on the past articles, he seems to have a plan in mind on adding on an incremental basis to his existing setup.. Looks like it has worked although it's too early to say. He needs more such runs in big tournaments and I really hope he doesn't have to depend on the prize money route to handle his expenses. He should target a full time entourage next season.
While Bhambri had the option of playing three Challenger events in China in March, he made the tough decision to travel to Indian Wells even at the risk of losing in qualifying and returning without any ATP points and next to no money. While mother Indu jokes that Yuki enjoys the luxury of having organisers pay for hotel rooms and ball boys hand towels on court, he insists his reasons are professional. "You want to challenge yourself against the best in the world," he says. "That's why you are playing professional tennis. The atmosphere at the Masters is something else and it's amazing to be playing in the main stadium. It's exciting to be doing well and I want to see where I go."
There's a more practical reason too. The costs of travelling with a physio and coach on the tour are exorbitant and players do their best to balance their budgets as best they can. Had Bhambri travelled to China, he would have had to pay for coach Koon to accompany him. By competing in Indian Wells, Bhambri could instead share some of the burden with Chung. "It's a bit of a motivation for me too," he says. "If I want to travel with coach Koon, I need to be playing the same tournaments as Chung."
That is a really good decision by him to got to IW/Miami this year. There is no point of playing same level events events every year. Also practising with Chung is bound to improve his game.
Yes, Yuki does seem to have found the formula that works for him. IF he stays injury free and stays hungry (i.e., continues working hard), he could achieve a peak rankings in the top 50 as his game (ball striking) is already good enough for that level.