The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
After the madness of a major tournament weekend, Tennis Central had a smaller 12 U invitational in mind, as well as the more substantial fare of a USTA event. But Mother Nature intervened, and both were rained out.
Yet three big ticket events from May 2023 were dropped from the rankings this same week, making for a huge splash of its own in the rankings despite the weekend off from play. Plus, these rankings set the field for the year's second major championship.
In the 18U division, the top five were shuffled. While Atlee Hilliard remains the overall No. 1, Honor Saxe improved to the No. 2 spot, placing two ladies ahead of the field for the first time in our short history. William Van Horne also moved up to No. 3 at the expense of Solomon Ravitz and Jon Ozenci.
It was Daniela Corona Schturman who joined the Top 10 while little of note changed lower in the table.
Hilliard's lead is almost double the points held by Saxe as we head into another tournament weekend and, beyond that, the year's second major and first UTR major, the UTR Spring Finals.
She also retains the 16U top billing. Joining her on the podium is Carter Mills, who supplanted Ozenci by just eight points, and Likitha Gaddipati, who drew level on points with Ozenci for the third spot.
Despite losing championship-winning points from a year ago in his point calculations, Ozenci still holds the 14U No. 1 rankings. But it's much closer than before. Mills has cut the deficit down to just forty points, within striking distance of one weekly Tour stop, as he guns for his first No. 1 ranking.
Arnav Nadikatla skipped into the Top 5, while both Nicoletta Savvas and Zahra Doriwala entered the Top 10.
Less waves were made on the 12U Tour with Shiloh Auzoux firmly in the driver's seat. But Alexander Yu passed Van Horne by twenty points on his way to No. 5. And Elijah Park finds himself in the Top 10 for the first time.
While little shuffling of the deck occurred on the 10U Tour, the point redistribution means Siena Auzoux trails Shiloh for the top spot by just seventy points now. It will be interesting to watch as she looks to claim that ranking for the first time over the next few weeks.
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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