Manas Dhamne thread

[Sanjay]

Should have won this but still good! Dude is playing at a 300 level. He doesn't deserve to be ranked around 750!

This is great news. Keep going MD!

[jayakris]

Bad luck. But, before that this was the most aggressive play I have seen from Manas in the matches I have seen so far. He had much more power in his shots and the serve. It was so close to getting a win but he is getting used to this level fast for sure.

Same feeling here. He hit some hard shots in this match, and much fewer of the loopy shots than he usually hits. I think it is a process, where he is getting more confident in going for his shots that are becoming more accurate. Quite surely playing at a top-500 level now.

[arjun2761]

Should have won this but still good! Dude is playing at a 300 level. He doesn't deserve to be ranked around 750!

This is great news. Keep going MD!

With respect to deserving a certain ranking, the ATP ranking system is based on 12 months of results. Agree that he playing at a top 300 level (or near that) but he's likely been only doing that for the last 2-3 months. If he continues to do that for the next 9-10 months, he'll get his ranking to the 300s by then. Of course, the hope will be that he'll be playing at an even higher level then. Good luck to him!

[jayakris]

^^ Agree. I don't think he is playing at the top-300 level just yet, even in the last couple of months. About top-400 to 500. Meaning that he will pretty much beat players below 650 any day now, and will occasionally beat a top-300 player or often a top-500 player and might lose to some players even below 500 if they are playing well. But he is steadily improving. He was at a top-750 level 3 months ago, but the serve is stronger and the hard and flatter winner shots are coming a bit more often now.

[Sanjay]

Should have won this but still good! Dude is playing at a 300 level. He doesn't deserve to be ranked around 750!

This is great news. Keep going MD!

With respect to deserving a certain ranking, the ATP ranking system is based on 12 months of results. Agree that he playing at a top 300 level (or near that) but he's likely been only doing that for the last 2-3 months. If he continues to do that for the next 9-10 months, he'll get his ranking to the 300s by then. Of course, the hope will be that he'll be playing at an even higher level then. Good luck to him!

ATP ranking is a lagging indicator and takes time to adjust (1 year of work) but what I meant was he is now playing at a much higher level with recent improvement. I want to amend my statement, I think he is at 350-400 level rather than 300. I am reasonably confident he will beat players in this range and it is now shocking anymore when he does. Next is to maintain that level. He is still 17 so it is encouraging.

[prasen9]

In this couple of weeks yes. Does this have any predictive value is the question? I have not seen enough to be convinced that his game is fundamentally in the 350-400 range now. Players have peaks and their base range. The peak range may well be in the 350-400 range. That is, on a good day, he can beat players in this range as he has shown. But, whether he can consistently do that over the longer run, I am not so sure. I would side with Jay that he is perhaps at a 500 range on the average day.

[arjun2761]

For players as young as Manas, 6 months of development can be huge. So smaller recent windows are the best estimate of his current form. In the last few weeks, he beat Branccacio(390), Cecchinato (350), and was leading Travaglia (309) till he got cramps. Lost to Fonio (now 330s), Nardi (100), and Yevseyev (250s). That is the results of someone close to 300. Of course, he has to sustain it for his rankings to rise. Let’s see if he can consolidate at this level and then take another leap forward in 6 months or so.

[prasen9]

Agreed. One point though. We should not discount the cramps. It does show that before he got cramps, he got the tools/skills to be better than his opponent - at least on that day. However, fitness is an integral part of developing oneself. He needs to figure out what he needs to do to avoid cramps. Some people just get more cramps than others, etc. So that is a deficiency. Yes, this is one match. But, his leading over a ~300 level player is also over one match. Some cramps are just because of overuse or overstress. He can do things like taking salts, hydration, to training to strengthen those muscles, etc. There is quite some science on that and I am paraphrasing. Hope he improves on that. I am sure he will since it became such a glaring issue in that match.

I am sure, longer term, he will develop and I expect him to be a 300 level player and go beyond that level. At this point, he is in flux is the best description. Let him just play.

[sameerph]

Manas is playing M25 in Italy.

At ITF M25 Reggio Emilia, Italy (Clay)

[R1] Manas Dhamne (IND,754) vs. (5) Alexander Weis (ITA,447)

[Sanjay]

Manas is playing M25 in Italy.

At ITF M25 Reggio Emilia, Italy (Clay)

[R1] Manas Dhamne (IND,754) vs. (5) Alexander Weis (ITA,447)

Good test. I am expecting a win here. He has bee quite consistent in beating players ranked like Weis.

[arjun2761]

^^^Agree with the good test part. I think it will be a close match. Good luck to Manas!

[Atithee]

[R1] Manas Dhamne (IND,754) vs. (5) Alexander Weis (ITA,447)

Good test. I am expecting a win here. He has bee quite consistent in beating players ranked like Weis.

Uh oh! There go any chances Manas had.

[arjun2761]

At ITF M25 Reggio Emilia, Italy (Clay)

[R1] Manas Dhamne (IND,754) vs. (5) Alexander Weis (ITA,447) 3-2 (Ret'd)

Manas was up a break when his opponent retired.

[R2] Manas Dhamne (IND, 754) vs. Justin Schlageter (GER, 1195)

Manas should be favored against a 24 year old former college player (with a peak college rank of 73 and a peak ITF junior ranking of 41) who hasn't done much on the pro tour although hasn't played too many matches yet.

[jayakris]

[R2] Manas Dhamne (IND, 754) l. Justin Schlageter (GER, 1195), 46 64 75

I only saw the last 3 games from 4-5 in the third, when Manas looked dead tired to me. He saved 3 match points and went through 4 ad-in ame points to hold to 5-5, but was again down 15-40 in the 12th game. He saved a 4th MP, but fell at the 5th. He was clearly running on adrenaline, which would kick in on some shot when he had to fight, or if it was on a long rally, but then he would hit a tired shot to fall back into trouble.

Tough life for the kid.