Prajnesh Gunneswaran thread

[sameerph]

Prajnesh pulled out of next week's challenger in Colombia as he will have to participate in the camp organised by Mahesh in New York.

[Rajiv]

Just wondering what was the need of the camp as it puts a spanner in tournament play and if at all he was so keen , than simply they would have camped near the venue which most of the teams do.

What was the necessity to spend huge sums of money and ask for Grants from the Government and the Association

I am quite curious to know how much money was allocated for this circus and how the money was spent.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh pulled out of this week's Nigeria futures. He is still in the entry list for next week. But, I wonder if he will go all the way to Nigeria for just 1 week. He may go as he has 48 points falling off on 30th October and has only next week and the Ho Chi Minh Challenger the week after that to make up. Let us see.

[jayakris]

Very nice run late in the year since October by Prajnesh with 33 big points from the Tiburon challenger, 14 pts from a couple of Vietnam and China challengers, 18 for the QF at the Bangalore CH and 15 at the $25K in Jakarta this week. That's 80 points in the last 10 weeks. Pretty good work, and the late surge pretty much assured him of making the AO qualifying draw, though sameer feels he may not make the initial cut. But he should make it in, in the end.

This week at the $25K INA F5 in Jakarta,
[R1] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) d. (WC) David Agung Susanto (INA,1412) 36 63 62
[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) d. (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) 64 64
[QF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) d. (6) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,605) 62 64
[SF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) d. Renta Tokuda (JPN,603) 61 36 63
[F] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) l. (1) Duck Hee Lee (KOR,217), 36 64 67(6)

This was the 6th futures final of the year for him. 3 titles from them. He should be moving up near #245 now with 215 points. He has almost nothing to defend till late March, so it is a good time to go for a bunch of good events and raise the ranking further (after some good off-season training this month).

[fabshab]

From the past year AO cut off ,he still seems to be sitting on the edges.But cut off may be a little lower from last year.
As i read somewhere that the rule for showing up in the initial list and later withdrawing (on site or withdrawing very late ) now debarrs players from total prize money and also playing in the initial round and retiring soon will also be kept in vigilance as a bunch of withdrawals took place in the grand slams this year.
If someone else can also throw a bit more light on this that would be great!!!!!!!

[sameerph]

I am not aware of any new rule which you are talking about.

But, from another forum found this cut off for last 4 years at AO ( initial and final)

2017: 229 : 247
2016: 252 -> 269
2015: 248 -> 261
2014: 263 -> 286

I guess the prize money change happened in 2015 which may explain sharp increase in cut offs from 2015. Still last year was the highest cut off ever. Similar to last year, there are 2 challengers in the same week as AO qualies. But, last year those were in Australia and Thailand. This year the second challenger is in Chandler, USA. I don't know if any of the eligible players will prefer to playing in a US challenger instead of AO qualifying.

I hope some do, else the cut off is likely to be similar to last year a few spots up and down.

[jaydeep]

As i read somewhere that the rule for showing up in the initial list and later withdrawing (on site or withdrawing very late ) now debarrs players from total prize money and also playing in the initial round and retiring soon will also be kept in vigilance as a bunch of withdrawals took place in the grand slams this year.
If someone else can also throw a bit more light on this that would be great!!!!!!!

Shahbaz, here are new changed rules ...

* It was Unanimously agreed to support 2018 Australian Open’s application to the ITF for a waiver of the 20 seconds between points required by the Rules of Tennis, in order to allow for enforcement of a strict 25 seconds utilizing a “serve/shot clock” system in line with that trialed at the 2017 US Open.’
* The timing of the pre-match warm-up will be strictly enforced (1 minute after walk-on to be ready for the pre-match meeting, followed by 5 minute warm-up, then 1 minute to be ready to start the match). Violation of this timing may subject a player to a fine up to $20,000.’
* Any main draw singles player who is unfit to play and who withdraws on-site after 12:00 noon on Thursday before the start of the Main Draw will now receive 50% of the First Round Prize Money in 2018. The replacement Lucky Loser will receive the remaining 50% plus any additional Prize Money earned thereafter.’
* Any player who competes in the first round main draw singles and retires or performs below professional standards, may now be subject to a fine up to first round Prize Money in 2018.’
* The 2018 Grand Slam tournaments will continue with 32 seeds in Singles and intend to revert to 16 seeds in 2019.’

[sameerph]

Thanks, Jaydeep. So, that rule may preclude those who do not withdraw till last moment to only earn the prize money to do so and free up 3-4 spots in main and qualies draw. If they have similar rule for qualies draw, it may free up 3-4 more from qualies draw.

[jayakris]

So, that rule may preclude those who do not withdraw till last moment to only earn the prize money to do so and free up 3-4 spots in main and qualies draw. If they have similar rule for qualies draw, it may free up 3-4 more from qualies draw.

I don't think they would have any similar rule for the qualies. But this is a weird rule. If the main draw player withdraws before the qualies start, he gets no prize money. If he withdraws after the qualies start, he gets 50% of the R1 money. Why would any player withdraw till the qualies start, then? That means the main draw cut will not drop at all, and then we will have 4 to 6 LL spots by the Thursday of the week before the main draw???

Am I missing something? If I got it right, the main draw cut won't drop at all, and the qualies cut won't drop other than through somebody in the qualifying list being injured. This might mean that the cut this year may be some 235 in the end. If so Prajnesh is sunk. WTH???

[sameerph]

Yes, I think I misread that rule. Now read some analysis on it. It seems it is a result of the situation which happened at Wimbledon where 7-8 first round matches were a farce and players just turned up to play to collect their first round prize money. To encourage these players to withdraw earlier this rule is being introduced so that it gives them 50 % prize money without getting on court.

But, as you said what happens to those guys who are badly injured and have no chance of stepping on court to play. Even they may now wait to withdraw only after qualies start to collect 50 % prize money.

[fabshab]

It seems I misread it too So i think the cut off will be a liitle higher ....is he planning to play anywhere next week?
If i am not wrong Earlier it was saki who narrowly missed and last year ramk and now blacks clouds already hovering on prajnesh.

[jayakris]

Maybe they will require the main draw players to play somewhere in the first two weeks (or a doctors clearance from earlier or something) to prove that they were okay to play and knew of the injury/illness problem only after the Thursday of the qualies week, to be eligible for half the R1 prize money?

In any event, there doesn't seem to be any reason for the qualies cut to drop because of the new rules. Only thing is that the high cut last year and some uncertainty with the new rules will make a few qualies guys in the 225-260 range to just not take a chance and instead enter the Canberra or Chandler (USA) challengers that week. That would help, if it happens.

This might also make sure that there is some 2-3 lucky loser spots in the end for the main draw. That would help somebody like Yuki or RamK to make it in even with a Q3 loss.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh is now ranked 243 in the latest updated ATP singles rankings. He is at the same spot in live rankings too. So, it seems none of the guys who played futures last week could vault over him. So, this will be Prajnesh's ranking which will be valid for AO qualies list which will come out next week ( around 19-20 Dec). He should have really played some futures last week. A title would have taken him close to Sumit's ranking of 223 and assured a AP quailes entry. A final also would have taken him to around 230.

[bujilover]

Prajnesh plays the top seed Jordan Thompson at the Yokohama CH this week. The match is currently on and he just won the first set 6-2.

Unfortunate for him to run to one of the seeds every week, but can he capture the second set also?

[bujilover]

Brilliant play from Prajnesh to break Thompson early in the second set. Leads by 3 games to 1.

This guy keeps impressing us!