The Sports-India Community

A tough one but also a good experience of playing against a top player

Sumit and Verdasco's UTR ratings are closer than their ATP rankings. Expect a close match.

To me this new UTR thing is too confusing to understand.
I personally prefer rather to rely on ATP rankings and players class to judge the final outcome.

Rajiv wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:24 am To me this new UTR thing is too confusing to understand.
I personally prefer rather to rely on ATP rankings and players class to judge the final outcome.

I don't under stand UTR very well. But I have (anecdotally) noticed that UTR seems to correlate better than ATP rankings at the moment. This could also be cause of the roll over that ATP is currently using.

Sumit wins the first set 76(5).

Very close so far. Verdasco served for the set at 5-4 but Sumit broke him. 48 points against 47 for Sumit. So, it can still go either way. Sumit will have to keep playing strong.

Sumit lost the second set 67(3). 2 hours 12 mins for 2 sets.

Verdasco is no longer a strong player but is very clever. He had an amazing drop shot in the second set tie break. Sumit will need to dig in deep to win the third set.

In the third set, Sumit came from 1-4 and double break down to level it 5-5 but lost the next 2 games.

At Lyon Challenger 100, France (Clay)

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,143) l. (2) Fernando Verdasco (ESP,99) 76(5) 67(3) 57

Tough loss after a 3 hour 13 mins match.

Not only Verdasco is the same player who he used to be, but he has hardly played 3 or 4 tournaments this year as he was struck with Covid not once but twice, Sumit with over dozen tournaments under his belt this year should have won and should be winning such matches if he has to graduate to the next level.

Agree with Rajiv, but still happy that Sumit got a chance of playing against Verdasco in a closely fought match.

suresh wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:38 am

Rajiv wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:24 am To me this new UTR thing is too confusing to understand.
I personally prefer rather to rely on ATP rankings and players class to judge the final outcome.

I don't under stand UTR very well. But I have (anecdotally) noticed that UTR seems to correlate better than ATP rankings at the moment. This could also be cause of the roll over that ATP is currently using.

Agree with this. I think UTR is more dynamic and also based on who you beat, so I suspect it will be a better predictor than ATP rankings which does not differentiate between recent results (and ones 11 months ago) and also does not account for who you beat (i.e., playing easier tournaments can inflate your rankings). In this case, it predicted a close match and close win for Verdasco....

Terrific fight from Sumit, particularly with his back to the wall in the final set. But immediately after drawing level at 5-all, he was broken, and that was it. Sumit's serve remains a big weakness -- and of course Verdasco's serve is a big weapon (albeit one that should theoretically be blunted somewhat on clay). Sumit really needs to be winning these close matches.

There is no shame in this loss. Well played, Sumit.

arjun2761 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:31 pm

suresh wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:38 am

Rajiv wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:24 am To me this new UTR thing is too confusing to understand.
I personally prefer rather to rely on ATP rankings and players class to judge the final outcome.

I don't under stand UTR very well. But I have (anecdotally) noticed that UTR seems to correlate better than ATP rankings at the moment. This could also be cause of the roll over that ATP is currently using.

Agree with this. I think UTR is more dynamic and also based on who you beat, so I suspect it will be a better predictor than ATP rankings which does not differentiate between recent results (and ones 11 months ago) and also does not account for who you beat (i.e., playing easier tournaments can inflate your rankings). In this case, it predicted a close match and close win for Verdasco....

I think UTR also does false advertising. Men and women never play one another (for most part other than some low level tournaments) so how will a UTR 5 male be the same as a UTR female? The only time they will both be the same is if the player pools are the same else there is no proper benchmarking. My son has a female classmate who was of the same UTR and beats her comprehensively and consistently. But the folks from UTR claim that it is a single indicator of all tennis players which I don't buy.

But it is a useful indicator of progress if you know it's limitations.

^^ Why should one be comparing men's UTR with women's UTR ratings? Isn't it like comparing ATP rankings with WTA rankings?