Saturday, June 14, 2014

Predicting the Top 10 ATP Americans - halfway there

So, back in December, a few of us fans of US men's tennis on Twitter agreed to predict the year-end Top 10 finishes. I'm honestly not sure whether this is for Calendar Year 2014 or for "Race to London" Year (after which challenger/futures tournaments start counting for the following year) but I think it should be the former. Anyway, I thought now would be a good time to remind everyone who we picked and see how we're doing. Please note there's a LOT of tennis to be played, much of it in the USA. So no bragging rights any time soon!

First, where we stand, both in terms of rankings and the Race (which started after last year's London WTF & so doesn't track with the Calendar Year ranking, but will give us a sense of how guys are doing so far):


ATP Americans as of 6/9/2014

ATP Ranking Race Ranking
1 Isner (11) Isner (17)
2 Johnson (63)Johnson (33)
3 Young (65) Young (59)
4 Klahn (72) Sock (62)
5 Sock (75) Querrey (71)
6 Querrey (78) Klahn (109)
7 Russell (97) Ram (124)
8 Smyczek (106) Kudla (130)
9 Kudla (122) Russell (137)
10 Harrison (141) Harrison (144)



Jonathan (@jokelley_tennis)
Including, for fun, where I thought their ranking would end up 
1. Isner (15) 
2. Querrey (30) 
3. #jacksock (75) 
4. Harrison (80) 
5. Smyczek (90) 
6. Klahn (95) 
7. Young (100) 
8. Kudla (105) 
9. Johnson (110) 
10. (tie) Williams/Sandgren (120)
Lang (@ARhyneMoment) fixed
1. Isner  
2. Querrey 
3. Sock
4. Harrison
5. Smyczek
6. Young
7. Kudla
8. Williams
9. Sandgren
10. Baker

Baseline Bagels (@BaselineBagels) 
1. Isner 
2. Sock 
3. Querrey 
4. Young 
5. Smyczek 
6. Harrison 
7. Kudla 
8. Johnson 
9. Klahn 
10. Sandgren  

Analysis
Well, so far Baseline Bagels is leading this race, with 9 of the top 10 represented, and outside Johnson & Klahn, close to the same order. And certainly concerns about Klahn's health (and ton of points to defend this summer and fall) could drastically affect his final standing. Bagels also seems to have been right to challenge Querrey's #2 status (although again, there is a LOT of tennis still to be played).   Lang was the only one to include Ram in the Top 10, and based on the Race standings she could be right on that one.   [edited to add: maybe should've kept Ram in her Top 10]. Unfortunately, her Williams prediction seems a bit hopeful at this point (he's currently 18th in the Race).... but Rhyne can get hot at any time so who knows!  
And I was way optimistic on the Harry Front. Story of my life :(  Anyway, make sure to bookmark this post for posterity's sake. I'm quite excited to see how the second half plays out, and whether some of the dark horses (Buchanan, Krajicek, Kosakowski) can sneak into the race.


2 comments:

  1. Nice picks guys! Before the year I tried to predict the entire top 100, and I had exactly 10 Americans in it, so I thought I would share it.
    John Isner (16)
    Sam Querrey (22)
    Ryan Harrison (53)
    Jack Sock (59)
    Bradley Klahn (62)
    Donald Young (69)
    Denis Kudla (82)
    Tim Smyczek (85)
    Steve Johnson (87)
    Rhyne Williams (91)
    Apparently, 10 Americans in the top 100 was way too optimistic. Anyways, it will be fun to see where everyone ends up!

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  2. Thanks for adding this! Yes, optimistic it was but there's still time :D

    Honestly it hasn't been that bad a year, and we still have a long way to go. Much will happen when we move to US hard courts.

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