New USA Career-High Rankings, Jan. 12, 2015

Each week I will bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking (CHR). This list covers all players in the Top 1000. Any player outside the Top 1000 will not be included unless they actually have earned at least one point from their previous career-high ranking. See all the CHR-related posts.


New ATP career-high rankings, January 12, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= pvs CHR	+  from last wk	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Jack Sock	41	42*	+1		11/3/2014
Dennis Novikov	287	288*	+1
Connor Smith	325	326*	+1

Really not much to say  here. I mean, Jack Sock did this while recovering from hip surgery. I promise a bigger and better men's chart next week! PROMISE!!

**UPDATED**

My most sincere belated apologies to Bjorn Fratangelo and Jared Donaldson, both of whose career highs last week I completely skipped due to a rush to publish or a dearth of sleep or just laziness. In fact, those two talented youngsters had the biggest men's jumps of the week, thanks to qualifying for and, in Fratangelo's case, winning a match in the main draw of the Noumea Challenger.

So here is their own personal chart:

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= pvs CHR	+  from last wk	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Bjorn Fratangelo	243	262	+19	255	10/13/2014
Jared Donaldson	252	257*	+5		11/17/2014

New WTA career-high rankings, January 12, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= previous   CHR	+  from last week	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
CoCo Vandeweghe	37	38*	+1		8/11/2014
Madison Brengle	84	91	+7	88	10/13/2014
Taylor Townsend	100	103	+3	102	11/3/2014
CiCi Bellis	251	253*	+2
Tornado Alicia Black	406	408	+2	407	10/6/2014
Rianna Valdes	749	752*	+3
Alexandria Stiteler	765	766*	+1
Ingrid Neel	789	792*	+3
Kelly Chen	814	815*	+1
Nicole Frenkel	818	819*	+1
Olga Morozova	855	856*	+1
Daniella Roldan	886	887*	+1
Emma Higuchi	890	891*	+1
Natalie Suk	897	898*	+1
Kristina Smith	959	961*	+2

Left off: Arconada, Dolehide, Tehrani, Failla, and 7 others.

There are three big stories this week, and all are in the Top 100!

Big Story the First, of course, is the debut of Taylor Townsend into the Top 100! She had spent the last 20 weeks hovering just outside it (ever since her second round run in Cincinnati) but had not quite gotten over the hump. A three-set win in the first round of Auckland was what did it. She then had to face top seed Caroline Wozniacki and lost but gave a decent accounting of herself (even going up 5-2 in the second before dropping the set -and match - in a tiebreak). Slowly but surely, Taylor!

Big Story the Second: The Woman, The Myth, The Absolute Legend - Madison Brengle! The 24-year-old Delawarian (Delawarite?) (that is a Taxi reference for you youngsters) won three matches to qualify for the premiere event in Brisbane, and then took out sister qualifier Lesia Tsurenko. She then had to face world #52 Kaia Kanepi and lost but gave a decent accounting of herself (even going up 5-2 in the second before dropping the set - and match - in a tiebreak). A year ago she was ranked #145 and the Top 100 seemed like a bit of a pipe dream. No longer.

Big Story the Third: CoCo Vandeweghe!! She took out two recent Top 20 players in Roberta Vinci and Kirsten Flipkens, both in three sets, to reach the Auckland quarterfinals. She then had to face #4 seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and lost but gave a decent accounting of herself (even going up 5-2 in the second before dropping the set - and match - 7-5).

Unfortunately CoCo, like Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens, will finish outside the seed cut-off for the Australian Open. All three of those women will be hoping for a remarkably kind draw, but chances are NOT all three of them will get what they want.

Week 1: So. Much. Tennis.

Week 1 of the 2015 tennis season has started, and boy has it been a doozy. A DOOZY I TELL YOU! It's like there was all this pent-up energy created during the off-season, and it burst all over the place over the course of this week. Among the stories we had included:

Nadal losing his first match. Djokovic losing his third match. Raonic/Nishikori and Ferrer/Karlovic playing three-tiebreak matches in consecutive days. Roger Federer winning his 1000th match (and 83rd title). Timea Bacsinszky reaching her first WTA final in 5 years. Vera Zvonareva continuing to try to come back, reaching her first quarterfinal in nearly 3 years, but then having to retire after 5 games against Timea. And despite plenty of titillating upsets, mostly the finals were between marquee names.

All that was well and good, but this blog focuses primarily on Americans, and this post shant be the exception. Which is good, because it was a really solid week for Team USA.

Venus Williams

There are legends. There are superlegends. And then there's Venus Williams.

The 34-year-old straight-setted her way to the final and then overcame a set deficit to beat red-hot marathoner Caroline Wozniacki at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. 17 years after her first title, 4 years after her Sjogren's diagnosis, she continues to burn like a silver flame.

Here's her acceptance speech/love letter to New Zealand.

Ryan Harrison

2014 was an incredibly rough year for Ryan Harrison. He had 1,000,000 first round losses, even in challengers, and his ranking plummeted as low as 197 - his lowest point since 2010, when he was 18 years old.

At first, 2015 looked to be a continuation of last year. He dropped the first set of his first-round match to 18-year-old South Korean Hyeon Chung in a tiebreak. It wasn't looking good.

Harrison broken at love.... Chung serving for the set. This could really be rock bottom
— Daitarn III (@MutekiDaitarn) January 5, 2015

 But then he won the next two sets 6-1 6-1. Next he took on top seed Blaz Rola and again dropped the first set (1-6). But again he rallied, recording his third breadstick of the week and then taking the final set 7-5. Next up was qualifier Maxime Authom, and Ryan yet again lost the first set. But he rallied in a slog, winning 5-7 7-5 7-5. His last two matches were straight-setters, with the final a 7-6(8) 6-4 win over former world #8 Marcos Baghdatis, Ryan's first title since spring 2013.

Among his accomplishments this week: 1) matches his 2014 total deciding-set wins with 3 (went 3-10 last year); 2) earned 80 points, or 32% of his 2014 total; 3) won five main draw matches, or 45% of his 2014 total of 11. Pretty much a fairy tale week for the Louisianan.

@ryanharrison92 wins Happy Valley Challenger. Ranking jumps 40 spots. pic.twitter.com/vwQ0xvR0np
— IMG Tennis (@IMGTennis) January 11, 2015

Varvara Lepchenko

Lepchenko told Matt Cronin that her goal for 2015 was to reach the Top 15. Her run to the Brisbane semis - her first at a Premier event - is a spectacular start. In her first round she went down 1-5 in the third to hometown girl Samantha Stosur. Then won the last 6 games of the match.

She backed that up with a surprising 4&4 win over compatriot Madison Keys (who had her own solid win over Dominika Cibulkova), and then took her quarterfinal 7-5 7-5 over Lucky Loser Alla Kudryavtseva. Although she lost 6-7(2) 4-6 to world #5 Ana Ivanovic, it took six dramatic seven match points for that match to end.

Lauren Davis

Harrison's comebacks this week were impressive, but Lauren Davis' were extraordinary. Playing in the bottom half of the Auckland draw, Davis overcame first-set beatdowns in her first three matches - vs. Shelby Rogers (1-6), Sloane Stephens (1-6), and Ula Radwanska (2-6). Not only that but she was down a break in each of the second sets - 0*-4 against Rogers! Although she lost 0-3 to Venus, she reached her first career semifinal and showed that when she's on, she is a ruthless 5'2" assassin.

American teens

The USA hosted two Futures tournaments this week, one in Florida and one at the USC campus (which meant live streaming for all the matches, including qualifying!) and the breakout stars were US teens.

In Plantation, FL, qualifiers Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) and Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) recorded first round victories before bowing out in three sets to Fognini-beater Chuhan Wang and eventual finalist (champion?) Julian Lenz, respectively. Their reward for such impressive work?

7 days, 6 matches = $172 #lol
— Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (@thaikwiatkowski) January 8, 2015

Also in Plantation, wildcard Deiton Baughman recorded his second career semifinal appearance (and second in his last three tournaments), and secured a main draw entry into the USA F3 event in Sunrise, FL.

More great performances game in Los Angeles, where five teens made the second round, including two top-5 juniors: Stefan Kozlov and Taylor Fritz, who upset #1 seed and Top 300 newbie Dennis Novikov 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5. Kozlov and Fritz met in a blockbuster quarterfinal, won by Fritz in straight sets. Matt Lin was awesome enough to record and upload match highlights:

Finally, an enormous round of applause to relative unknown Nathan Ponwith, who qualified and then drew #2 seed Daniel Nguyen. After dropping the first NINE games of the match, several of which went to deuce, the 16-year-old finally won a game and proclaimed, "YES!! I'm so happy." He then used that glee, plus some devastating groundstrokes, and lost only one more game on his way to a 0-6 6-4 6-0 win. He followed that with a straight-set win over another Trojan, Eric Johnson, and had fiery Texan Mitch Krueger on the ropes before finally falling 7-6(4) 4-6 1-6 (video here). Still, Ponwith showed that the coming generation is more than just the eight Zoo quarterfinalists.

And finally...

They were kind enough to let Poland win its first-even Hopman Cup but the team of Serena Williams and John Isner provided plenty of fireworks en route to the final.

Yes, the team exhibition will be most remembered for Serena's epic espresso order, but honestly it should be remembered for this Aga reaction following a hindrance controversy.

We can only hope that the rest of 2015 will bring us as much joy, consternation, and sleeplessness as Week 1!

Edited to add.....

Mitchell Krueger

After his last match of 2014 - the final of the Dominican Republic F4 Futures, which he lost 2-6 4-6 to #1 junior Andrey Rublev - his sixth loss in six finals last year - Krueger tweeted this:

2015 is when it all comes together #makingstrides
— Mitchell Krueger (@mitch_krueger) December 20, 2014

Well, it looks like, at least through Week 1, Krueger was precient. A mere 22 days later, Krueger won his second-ever pro singles tournament, the USA F2 tournament in Los Angeles. Krueger lost a couple of sets in the first three rounds, and then, due to rain yesterday, had to play his semifinal and final in the same day. Facing two tough customers in Dimitar Kutrovsky and Jason Jung (who had defeated Fritz in three grueling sets earlier in the afternoon), the 20-year-old Texan (who is actually 21 in Nova Scotia - his birthday is  January 12) dropped just 9 games in two matches to take his second career title.

Krueger came to the net after winning match point and, before Jung had a chance to meet him there, spiked his racquet in a sign of victory, and to release over a year of pent-up frustration.  Congrats to him!

New USA Career-High Rankings, Jan. 5, 2015

Each week I will bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking (CHR). This list is not necessarily exhaustive but covers at least all players in the Top 1000. Any player outside the Top 1000 will not be included unless they actually have earned at least one point from their previous career-high ranking. See all the CHR-related posts.

Happy New Tennis Year!

Congratulations to all those who are listed in the first edition of New Career High Rankings (CHRs) for 2015!  This new year brings a new policy to On the Rise (a Tennis Blog): in order to not bore us all with quite so many players who move up 1 or 2 spots without actually playing, we are limiting our lists to players who:

1) Are inside the Top 1000
2) Players who have increased their point total from their previous CHR.

So any player with, say, 3 points won't get moved up just because another player with 3 points dropped down. But you'll still get to see most of your faves a bit higher up who have thusly benefited!  This will provide a HUGE incentive for players to break into the Top 1000, which is another reason I'm doing it. Because nobody wants to get a CHR and not be recognized for it by On the Rise (a tennis blog). Nobody.

New WTA career-high rankings, January 5, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= previous   CHR	+  from last week	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Jennifer Brady	217	219*	+2		12/22/2014
CiCi Bellis	253	254*	+1		12/22/2014
Katerina Stewart	354	359*	+5		12/22/2014
Alexa Guarachi	519	522*	+3
Nadja Gilchrist	571	576*	+5
Ellie Halbauer	601	605	+4	604	12/22/2014
Rianna Valdes	752	755	+3	753	12/22/2014
Alexandria Stiteler	766	769*	+3
Ingrid Neel	792	795*	+3
Kelly Chen	815	817*	+2
Nicole Frenkel	819	821*	+2
Olga Morozova	856	858*	+2
Daniella Roldan	887	891*	+4
Emma Higuchi	891	895*	+4
Natalie Suk	898	902*	+4
Kristina Smith	961	963*	+2
Terri Fleming	973	976*	+3

Left off: Arconada, Dolehide, Ho, Tehrani, and 8 others who didn't fit the new criteria. Sorry, ladies!

By the way, Jessica Ho is probably the epitome of whe we've instituted this new policy: she debuted in the rankings in October thanks to qualifying for the Rock Hill, SC $25K event and earning 1 point. Though she lost in the first round, that was the third tournament in 12 months in which she'd earned a point -- which qualified her for her first WTA ranking. However, she has not added a point since then, and yet has been on this list EVERY SINGLE WEEK since that rankings debut. That's 12 weeks, 12 CHRs, and no additional points. It had to stop, people!

Even so, we have 17 women who crept up without adding points. And kudos to them. :)

New ATP career-high rankings, January 5, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= pvs CHR	+  from last wk	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Jarmere Jenkins	190	193	+3	192	12/15/2014
Dennis Novikov	288	291*	+3		12/22/2014
Connor Smith	326	328*	+2

Congrats to these three gentlemen and scholars (all three went to college, although for varying lengths of stay)!

Left off: none 

11 takeaways from Day 1 of 2015

It's finally here - the 2015 tennis season officially* started on Thursday - well, Friday, in Brisbane, but Thursday in the real world - and boy did we learn a LOT. Here are 11 things all true tennis fans should know about pro tennis in 2015. Warning: lots of statistics ahead!

1. Will Americans lose a match this year? So far they're an amazing 3-0 with Julia Boserup, Madison Brengle, and Irina Falconi scoring big wins in their opening matches. Projecting out through the end of the year (assuming 300 tennis days in 2015), Americans could easily go 900-0 in 2015. How huge would that be? Consider that 10 countries, including Russia, Australia, the Netherlands, and Slovakia, have already lost at least one match this year and thus already after one day have proven themselves incapable of meeting that mark.

2. WTA 16, ATP 0. Yes, you read that right: the WTA has played INFINITY times as many matches as the ATP so far in 2015. I can't say for sure whether this trend will continue throughout the year but suffice it to say - if the ATP doesn't play any matches at all, it may be time to start questioning whether they really are deserving of more prize money than the WTA.

3. The Curse of Sam Stosur. It can't be a coincidence that on the same day that Sam Stosur joins Twitter, her follows go winless.** Should players consider blocking her from now on? It's a question worth asking.

4. Wildcards must go. All four WCs granted by tournament organizers went to players who lost. Put another way, no wildcard player has won a match in 2015. Can there be any clearer evidence that the entire wildcard system must be done away with? This blogger says no.

4. WHAT was that player THINKING with that KIT?? Simply awful. Another Stella McCartney miss. OR SHOULD I SAY MESS?!

5. Zero retirements. Yes, that's right. Assuming this isn't just an anomaly, and there's no reason to think it is, 2015 will mark the first year in which NO players retired from a match. I'm not just talking Open Era history - I'm talking EVER. Which brings us to:

6. The offseason is too damn long. The lack of retirements in 2015 shows that we quite possibly have entered a new age in which players are, more than ever, indestructible freaks of nature whose ability to play high-level tennis every day for 15 years straight can't be doubted. This, combined with my utter boredom for the last six weeks or so, provides near-incontrovertible proof that a 50 (or even 51) week calendar should be instituted ASAP.

7. Rodionovas. Amirite?

8. Czech mate. After a fantastic 2014, including a major championship, Fed Cup title, and a slew of new, exciting faces on the scene, many thought 2015 would bring even greater glory for Czech tennis. And yet so far, they have been completely absent from tennis. Not one point played. It's a stunning development that will raise a lot of questions should it continue.

9. Kimiko Date-Krum ... forty-four? More like forty-SOAR! Halfway through her career ... the Japanese wunderkind sailed through her first round qualies match 63 63. I predict she continues playing at this high level, well into her 70s.

10. Are commentators a thing of the past? It's tough to say for sure but you will notice that all the matches so far in 2015 have been entirely without commentary. For some, this is a blessing! For others, a curse - especially since this phenomenon may be connected to the fact that no 2015 match has been televised/streamed.

Which leads me to my question of the week: Do you prefer matches with commentators - and that are streamed - or matches with no commentary, and no stream?

And while you're at it - what are your big takeaways from Day 1 of Tennis 2015? Has the season lived up to your expectations so far? What has been your biggest thrill, most massive disappointment - and most hilarious moment! - of 2015?

Let me know in comments!!

*I'm not counting the Hong Kong $10K event going on all week, even though it marked the return to tour of Vera Zvonareva (towel over her head during changeovers and everything), who won two matches there before withdrawing from the tournament for unknown reasons.

**Players Stosur follows are 0-1 following Storm Sanders' loss to Anastasia Rodionova.