Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Rajiv »

On paper, Ram has quite a favorable draw to make it to the MD.
In the opener ,faces 323 ranked Darian King and if he wins , 195 Mitchel Kruger or 386 ranked Noah Rubin for a spot in the MD.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by arjun2761 »

Go Ramk!! This is his tournament to shine!!
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

He starts with a straight sets win.

At Hall of Fame Open, Newport ATP 250

[Q1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,216) d. Darian King (BAR,327) 63 64

Next,

[Q2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,216) vs. (4) Mitchel Kruger (USA,195)
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by PKBasu »

Ramkumar has a 0-2 career record against Krueger, and it isn't going well for him today either. Down 4-6, 2-3 (with Krueger to serve). He was broken at the same time in the previous set as well.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by vparam »

RamK goes down 4-6 in the 3rd set. Loses to a journeyman who has never had success on grass.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Dinesh »

Oh boy! Provides further evidence to Vishnu’s argument that Ramkumar is nowhere near the top-100 level on grass. What a wasted opportunity! :damn:
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by jayakris »

Nothing ain't working for nobody, and none is never going nowhere!... Yikes. Ain't I super-negative today or not? :damn:
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by jayakris »

^^^ I mean, our best on grass loses to some guy on grass, our best on clay loses to somebody on clay, and the best two on hard courts are injured and not even playing much.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Rajiv »

This was a dissapointing result, playing against a guy, who has just played a lone solitary match on grass the entire year and that too just to collect his Q1 paycheck at Wimbledon, whereas Ram playing his 16 or 17th (singles & Dbls ) match with 5 weeks of continious grass court play.
Expected atleast a MD entry if not more.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

I watched the first 2 sets of this match. RamK was playing bad for a set and a half and looked on his way out down 2-4 in the second set. But, then suddenly he sprang to life and took 5 of the next 6 games to take the second set. I went to sleep at that point thinking that RamK should now wrap it up. Surprised and sad to see the final result today. Very disappointing loss.

At Hall of Fame Open, Newport ATP 250

[Q2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,216) l. (4) Mitchel Kruger (USA,195) 46 75 46

15 Aces but 8 double faults in the match for Ramk which seemed to have made the difference in the end.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by PKBasu »

Undoubtedly a disappointing result. Ramkumar was broken early in each of the first two sets -- surprising in itself, but reflective of the fact that Krueger probably has decent grass-court skills (he lost in Q1 at Wimbledon in two tiebreakers, having not played on grass this year until then; this time, he of course had a Q1 win behind him). Krueger beat Jack Sock at the Orlando Challenger II last month, and he did have a psychological edge over Ramkumar from his two previous wins over him. But Ramkumar HAS to be able to ensure that he never gets broken on grass, and he hasn't been able to ensure that in his latest two losses on grass (in the final qualifying round at Wimbledon and here at Newport).

Doubles with Aisam still coming up later today. And let us pray for a LL spot in singles too.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by PKBasu »

Nearly half of the R1 singles matches have been played, so the chances for a LL spot are pretty low now. However, if a Lucky Loser spot does open up, Ramkumar (as the highest-ranked loser in FQR) would be first in line (if normal rules are followed).
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Rajiv »

PKBasu wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 3:55 am Undoubtedly a disappointing result.

Doubles with Aisam still coming up later today.
Dbls with Querishi is just the glamorous factor, shouldn't get embroiled in covering half the court, at this stage, his objective  still should be like RK and Yuki with singles as his main focus.

Thanks to these hybrid rankings Ram is still able to get into GS qualies , but once that is off after the USO , will be under great pressure as right now has fallen in the 225 range a position which he held about 4 years ago in 2017.

Lack of tournament's on HC's are going to make task of rising or maintaining the ranking all the more difficult, as previously until to the run up to the USO there were different options to play on HC, but now there are only 2 this year, Cary & Lexington,  after which only the biggies like Washington,Atlanta, Toronto, Cinci, and Challengers during this period are only across the Atlantic in Europe , and all those will be on the tough Red Clay.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Rajiv »

Rather than playing an unproductive waiting game for the biggies, or try a risky criss cross between continents, he should be trying out the conservative 2 weeks of 25's in Illinois starting 1st week of Aug.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by VReddy »

Rajiv wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 7:28 am Dbls with Querishi is just the glamorous factor, shouldn't get embroiled in covering half the court, at this stage, his objective  still should be like RK and Yuki with singles as his main focus.

Thanks to these hybrid rankings Ram is still able to get into GS qualies , but once that is off after the USO , will be under great pressure as right now has fallen in the 225 range a position which he held about 4 years ago in 2017.
I am probably crossing my limits here by mentioning this as you know him well, Rajiv. RamK will turn 27 in a few months and around that time, he will possibly be ranked outside the ATP top-250 (hope I am wrong and Ram has a great run soon). Its a extremely long and laborious journey from top-250 to get into top-150 again - takes at least a couple of years and needs lot of luck going his way.

Doubles is not the same as it used to be. It has become a real power game now. If RamK turns to doubles now, he can turn himself into one of the top doubles players in the world and have a career like Aisam or Bops and have a Grand Slam title or two in mixed. If he switches to doubles after 3-4 years in his early 30s, that time is lost. He can expect to have a career where he makes few Grand Slam appearances but nothing substantial.

As an outsider, I hope RamK can consider the following approach

1. Review where he stands when he turns 27
2. Review self critically on whether he has any clear roadmap on how he can get into top-150 again. Specifically: What changes he needs to do in his game and not just going through with the motions of playing tourneys regularly
3. Review the opportunity cost of delaying doubles till the early 30s: Grand Slam titles in his kitty vs only Grand Slam appearances

This probably applies to lot of athletes ofcourse but I am mentioning for RamK only because he has a solid alternative path of becoming a probable Grand Slam champion in doubles (whereas in singles, unless he has a clear methodology in mind, top-100 could be a long way away). He can continue playing singles while prioritising doubles and can switch it if something clicks.
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