The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
As Tennis Central summer camps pop up all along the Northeast, the competitors had the week off from tournaments. But that didn't stop the Tour rankings from shuffling as players gear up for two big events at the end of June.
In the 18U Division, Honor Saxe moved into third place, while Likitha Gaddipati and Caroline Peterson also improved within the Top 5.
No one could yet touch Atlee Hilliard in first place. Jon Ozenci's two championships within the last two weeks leave him just forty-six points behind in consolidating the older age group's top billing.
But the biggest shakers were Koby Bragg and Grace Xiao, who jumped four places into the Top 50 for the first time. Joining the Top 15 and Top 20, respectively, we're Brayden Garcia and Connor Young.
The top two positions on the 16U are flipped from the division above--Ozenci leads Hilliard, by a larger margin of one hundred points. Arthur Rosenstein benefitted the most from Solomon Ravitz's points drop, a key result from last season that had propped him in the top three. But Ravitz remains in the Top 10 as Carter Mills, flush with recent success, moves into third.
Speaking of great recent results, Ashvin Ellentuck sits in eleventh primed to strike for the higher rankings.
Ozenci's lead is largest in the 14U Tour rankings, where he has amassed almost double the points of Mills in second. Lara Isler trails by eighty in third as things tighten up, with Spencer Weiss just ten back. Bridget Zimmermann made the biggest leap, from tenth to eighth this week.
Lara Dabney gained a spot into the Top 5, and William Van Horne did the same to reach the Top 10, but the big story at the 12U level involved leader Shiloh Auzoux and chaser Siena Auzoux.
Fittingly during the T20 World Cup full of great chases, Siena is now just thirty-three points from completing a years-long chase to catch Shiloh after his major points drop from a tournament victory in 2023. One good performance could put her at No. 1.
Shiloh's cushion is more substantial at 10U, where he leads Siena by eighty-eight, which is still more manageable for the challenger than a week ago.
Jack Kivov put in the best improvement among the 10U competitors, gaining two places and landing in the Top 20. Leonardo Martinez, fresh off big victories, jumped to fourth.
The players eye two tournaments in Bethesda at the end of June, the 10U Orange and 12U Green, both USTA events.
After a few weeks to regroup for summer camps to start up, Tennis Central returns with two simultaneous Tour stops. TCJC hits Princeton, NJ for its second tournament there and first USTA event on June 29-30. Then Green and Orange makes a return to Holton-Arms on June 30.
2024 Points Change
A change to the points applied to higher-level tournaments from lower levels should reflect ages and skills better from now on. It used to be that all points were halved when applied to a higher age group's rankings. Now, the points are halved each step up the ladder, not just once.
So a player can no longer earn 80 points at 10U and count them as 40 at 16U. They would be halved at 12U (40 points), again at 14U (20 points), then again at 16U (10 points). It provides the incentive without disrupting the older players' earnings too much.
However, a younger player earning points in an older tournament, much as Arnav Nadikatla did in this Tour Championship edition, is still a sure way to rise faster in those rankings.
Remember the newly added feature to the rankings: the Plus / Minus, which will tell you how far up or down the player has moved within the last week.
The full tables now look like this.
Each weekend this spring and summer, Tennis Central is bringing you USTA and UTR tournaments at Holton-Arms School. Earn points for advancing through each round, just like on the pro tours, and qualify for the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP at season's end.
Bigger events offer more points, with the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP offering the most, as well as prizes.
Check here for updates each week to the Tennis Central Tour Rankings, a 52-week points system based on the pro tours, as well as recaps of all the action and photos. We'll post the 2024 schedule soon!
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