North American ATP tournaments Feb-March 2018

[S_K_S]

This is ugly viewing. Matches like this shorten careers.

<edit> You can't loop the ball and drop half way inside the service box and get away with it. You can't do that in challengers, let alone a 250. Young has all the time in the world while the opposite is the case for RK

[ankit1407]

Yup , watching him after a long time , I hope he can play better than this .. this is very very poor ...

[S_K_S]

I have seen him quite a bit over the past year and he has played much better than this. Recently though he has become really hyper on court and really aggressive. I don't think it suits him. I'd rather he went back to the calm and collected RK because that RK made better decisions on court.

[S_K_S]

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,140) lost to Donald Young (USA,75) 1-6, 2-6

The last game to get broken for 2-6 summed up the match. RK giving it all on his serves, and getting them in, but Young nailing his return winners every time.

[vparam]

Watching this performance shows me that Ram has no idea how to work a point and get prepared for the next shot. It’s clear that Yuki is a much more complete player.

I truly don’t see Ram ever achieving a top 100 ranking. Way too many holes in his game. An occasional ATP appearance is what Ram will see in his tennis career.

[kishash]

Am truly surprised by the level of play by Ramkumar. How come he qualified in this tournament and how come he beat Theim? Seeing him first time and not impressed at all

[S_K_S]

Watching this performance shows me that Ram has no idea how to work a point and get prepared for the next shot.

I can only assume that he really did think he could hit through Young which in hindsight was a foolish plan. Sameer had mentioned before how in his previous match he had used a lot of bh slice to upset Fratengelo. I only recall him doing that on one occasion and that resulted in Young miss-hitting it long. To be fair to him, most of the time Young had him running this way and that so not as if RK had time to dictate the play but overall the decision making was scrambled. When you are losing 1 and 2 it doesn't allow for rational thinking.

[sportsfan]

how come he beat Theim?

it's only the first set, but you will get an idea -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VjBWkjGeMg

this one covers all 3 sets -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRS2kKn-aM

[sportsfan]

Watching this performance shows me that Ram has no idea how to work a point and get prepared for the next shot. It’s clear that Yuki is a much more complete player.

I truly don’t see Ram ever achieving a top 100 ranking. Way too many holes in his game. An occasional ATP appearance is what Ram will see in his tennis career.

should never say ever.. scorelines can be misleading, don't let a bad day at office cloud your judgement.

[kishash]

how come he beat Theim?

it's only the first set, but you will get an idea -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VjBWkjGeMg

this one covers all 3 sets -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRS2kKn-aM

thanks sportsfan. Even in the first set he does not seem to have any real game plan. Not impressed

[arjun2761]

Surprised by RamK's easy loss although did not watch the match.

Consistently rushing the net is just not going work at the ATP level perhaps outside of grass courts as the players now have great groundies which puts the net player at a disadvantage. Not even Federer, who has a great serve and great groundies, goes to the net consistently although it can be a useful change of pace tactic.

[Rajiv]

Am truly surprised by the level of play by Ramkumar. How come he qualified in this tournament and how come he beat Theim? Seeing him first time and not impressed at all

It seems like you have just joined this forum with an agenda to insult and criticise Ram from the way you are talking negative about him in your posts
And you don't seem to have any clue how he has traversed as 17 year old fighting against all odds to reach this level, and to all of us who have followed him in his journey would know the pain and sacrifice he had to undergo.

Today he is 133 in live rankings and if you are to be believed reaching there has nothing to do with his ability and hard work but all due to the munificence of ATP Gods who plucked him out of nowhere and placed him close to Top 100 pedestal , Do you even know what it takes to reach 133 in world rankings , how many of our Indians have achieved this . If you understand tennis you never make such idiotic statements.

Fine Ram is bit unorthodox , but that is him , in the Lendl type of mould where by he puts whatever options available to optimum and maximum use .

Playing high level tournaments is all part of his process to learn and understand where he stands and what adjustments are needed for him to reach top 100 and stay there for along time ,

[kishash]

Rajiv there is absolutely no reason for me to join the forum to criticize and insult Ram as that would happen if one personally knew him and had some animosity neither of which is the case with me. Even I am completely supportive of all our tennis players and of their achievements in spite of odds. I was truly surprised at the level of play today and hence expressed it. I have witnessed firsthand the Pune challenger and Atp tournament in pune recently and witnessed Yuki losing to Herbert in spite of a much better play. Basic tutoring of Tennis says " play deep". Most of Rams shots were short and nearr the service lines and this surprises one.

Anyway like any other forum this too is for expressing genuine opinion and not for any hidden agenda as I have witnessed following the forum for quite some time now. Please do not get me wrong and remove from your mind that I am against Ram. I am completely for all indian players.

[sameerph]

Watching this performance shows me that Ram has no idea how to work a point and get prepared for the next shot. It’s clear that Yuki is a much more complete player.

I truly don’t see Ram ever achieving a top 100 ranking. Way too many holes in his game. An occasional ATP appearance is what Ram will see in his tennis career.

I think it may be not be right to conclude that just based on 1 match. It is obvious that RamK has lot of weaknesses in his game (backhand being major one of them). But, he has a big serve and a very good forehand which matters a lot in modern day tennis. He did beat 2 players ranked 109 and 158 in the qualifying rounds quite comfortably in the last 2 rounds. Seeing his results in last few months, he has successfully made a transition from being a top 250 player at the same stage last year to a top 150 player now. So, improvement is evident. Taking the next step towards top 100 may take 1-2 years but one can never count him out based on just this match.

Perhaps, Young was a bad match-up for him or he just had a bad day at office and Young having a very good one. Just hope that his coach was there with him today to figure out what needs to be done.

[PKBasu]

I was shocked at the scoreline too. Judging from the comments of those who watched, it looks as if RamK had the wrong strategy for the day, or perhaps was just outplayed by Young’s deep groundstrokes and service returns. Perhaps the fact that he had to play on the day after his final qualifier didn’t give him adequate time to prepare as well. Anyway, despite the forgettable day at the office, RamK rises to a new career-high ranking of 133.