• The KillerFrogs

TCU Men's Tennis - 2020-2021

jake102

jake102

Active Member
Norrie rolls Karatsev in two sets. Towards middle of second set Karatsev seemed to start having medical issues, although Norrie was generally out playing him. Another quarterfinal for Norrie.

He will get either Bublik or Draper in the next round. Draper is an up and coming Brit who beat the #3 seed Sinner in the first round.

Looks like Norrie moved up to his career high #40 with that win. If he wins next match will move up to #37 or so.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
This is another big win for Cam - Karetzev is ATP#24 and made the semis at the Aussie. This has developed from what could have been described as a brief hot spurt into a sustained level of success. Norrie now has multiple Top 20 W's.

Jack Draper is leading Bublik 7-6, 5-all. He's 19 years old and ranked #309 - Sinner was Top 20 too. This is Draper's first ever main draw at an ATP event. If Draper wins, this sets up a Battle of the Brits between 2 hot players in the quarters.

Cam and Demon will follow in doubles.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Draper just won (to a massive ovation) at Queen's. The Norrie-Draper match will be a hot ticket to get because both are local favorites.

Rybo is headed next week to a Futures tourney in Klosters (Switzerland) where he'll be an 11th seed. Both Chappell and Aguilar will go to Champaign. Chappell withdrew from the Tulsa ITF tourney and might withdraw from Champaign as he is trying to get into a Challenger in France. Perhaps Rybo will try there too.
 
jake102

jake102

Active Member
Jared7 said:
Draper just won (to a massive ovation) at Queen's. The Norrie-Draper match will be a hot ticket to get because both are local favorites.

Rybo is headed next week to a Futures tourney in Klosters (Switzerland) where he'll be an 11th seed. Both Chappell and Aguilar will go to Champaign. Chappell withdrew from the Tulsa ITF tourney and might withdraw from Champaign as he is trying to get into a Challenger in France. Perhaps Rybo will try there too.
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From the very little I've seen of Draper, he plays a big game that is really well suited for grass. Will be a tough challenge, but Norrie should be favored. Should help that Karatsev is a huge hitter also
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
One of the consequences of Norrie's rise in the rankings (in addition to topping $500,000 in earnings this year and $2,000,000 in career earnings) is that he is now eligible for the Olympics in Tokyo. He had to make the Top 50 to do it by June 10, and as jake said, he's now at a CH. He'd play for the British "team" but it'd be an individual tournament. He said he's considering whether or not to go, depending on his schedule, the COVID bubble situation etc... Kind of a nice situation for him - deciding whether he'll grace the Olympics with his presence. I hope he goes, but he might want to continue his hot streak and earn more ATP points and money instead.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Good to see both Ruehl and Aguilar have signed. Longfrog reported their verbals a while back, but there's always some uncertainty until they're on the dotted line. We look to be loaded next year.

Norrie and De Minaur won in doubles today at Queen's 5-7, 6-1, 12-10. (and that 12-10 wasn't one of those "pro set" thangs...),
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Draft for next year's Kickoff Weekend is starting. The top 15 teams from 2021 automatically get to host their 4-team pods. The next 45 ranked teams go in order and get to select which pod they want to play in. Very cool format imo.

Typically it's a feeding frenzy early as all the best teams opt to go to a couple pods with the weakest hosts. So we'll get an early indication of how much respect there is for next year's squad. Lots of uncertainty as we expect plenty more transfers that could rebalance the field. But for now three host teams look like they've really been gutted by graduation/transfers: UNC, USC, and A&M. I would expect those sites to get a lot of action.

The teams we don't want to see in our pod: Ohio State, Stanford, Michigan, Arizona

Other teams I'd prefer to avoid: Illinois, Kentucky

https://www.slam.tennis/ita/draft/2022/ncaam
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Ten selections in and A&M's pod is already full. Their best player (Vacherot) was on his last year of eligibility. 2nd best player (Habib) had another year of eligibility due to COVID but declined to come back. 3rd best player (Aguilar) transferred to us. Another veteran guy further down the ladder is also transferring out.

Which reminds me of a story on one of their recruits who chose A&M over us, among others. He claimed it was the team camaraderie that won him over even though it seems like the fact they "rolled out the red carpet" for him didn't hurt. And now all those guys who recruited him have left.

https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2...-of-heralded-recruit-luke-casper-boys-tennis/
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Longfrog said:
Field is set for kickoff weekend. We have #37 Wichita State, #46 Tulsa, and #75 Portland in our pod. No excuse not to advance to indoors against that bunch.
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Thanks for following this! As you said, this is always an early indication of who is thought to be good for the following season. I know we disagreed with Grushkin on Baylor this year, but he was proven right. Hopefully, he'll be higher on our squad next year.

Norrie and Demon survived another 3-setter in doubles this morning over Karetsev and Purcell 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. They are now into the semis. Tomorrow morning is the Big British Bash between Norrie and Draper, the young phenom. The time is still TBD.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Longfrog said:
Norrie making a huge jump in UTR rankings. Now #12 in the world.

https://www.universaltennis.com/rankings
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That is, of course, great news for Cam, but that and about $14.95 will get him a cinnamon spiced moche frappacino latte. What he really needs is to make it to the ATP Top 32 so that he'll get a seed in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (and avoid Nadal in the first rounds). I'm wondering if he'll make it with a title at Queens' Club.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Norrie v. Draper has finally started (after many delays). Cam is up an early break in the 1st.

Norrie takes the first set 6-3.

Now up a break in the 2nd (2-0). Looking good as I head to work...
 
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