Tennis wasn’t always fun for Michal Przysiezny in 2014 (pic: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images AsiaPac
While the tennis year of 2014 brought improvement for many, by the same token it also brought disappointment, injury and racket hurling in an expression of impotent rage for others (well, many too.)
The sport is nothing if not relentless, and the year long ranking system makes continual demands on its performers.
Gilles Muller and Simone Bolelli were two players always capable of top 100 tennis who made it back.
But casting an eye down last year’s top 100, there are others who have disappeared off the list into territories unknown, unwelcome, or not visited for some time.
There are also players who seemed to be heading in the right direction a year ago, but who have found their upward curve no longer has any interest in testing the the laws of physics. It’s all part of the ebb and flow of the tennis year. Sometimes people just seem to disappear. or just get overlooked as the next generation attempts to trample their way into tournaments like a juvenile rhinoceros barging aside their ageing counterparts.
So here’s a selection of some potentially angst laden players who can’t wait to sing “Auld Lang Syne”, assuming they can remember the words, as they prepare for the first tournaments of the year. Hopefully, for them, old acquaintance might not be forgotten.
MICHAL PRZYSIEZNY (Age: 30, WR 174)
No-one did catastrophic for the first half of 2014 quite like the ‘Polish Federer’, Michal Przysiezny. From January until the week before Wimbledon, he won one match.
After that lone victory, against Horacio Zeballos in the opening round of the Australian Open, there was a run of 14 losses in a row – and that was only ended on grass at Eastbourne against the British doubles specialist Neal Skupski in a qualifying match. From pushing for a place in the top 50, he was quickly outside the top 100 and the Challenger circuit wasn’t to offer much joy to start with.
Przysiezny does seem to be a streaky player with an ability to bounce around the rankings, and his game could probably do with faster court surfaces than those often favoured by modern tournament directors.
Yet among the wreckage, there was a little bit of hope to finish things off – there was qualification for Metz and Tokyo, and a win in Kuala Lumpur, plus perhaps the most unlikely doubles success of the year, as he formed a scratch pair with Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert to win the ATP 500 title in the Japanese capital. After only getting in as lucky losers, they took out the Bryan brothers and the Marcelo Melo/Ivan Dodig combination en route to the title.
Add a Challenger final in Geneva and perhaps Przysiezny does have a chance of a good 2015 – he certainly doesn’t have many early season points to defend.
JAMES McGEE (Age 27, WR 200)
Grand Slam McGee hopes for more steps forward in 2015 (pic: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images North America)
James McGee’s year is one of the happier tales among this list, which is largely laden with tennis woe.
After plenty of years of sweat, toil and Challenger grind, McGee broke through to qualify for the US Open, making his ATP Tour debut with the benefit of some partisan Irish-American support at Flushing Meadows.
It was the end of an exasperating spell where McGee had suffered some painfully close defeats, firstly in a final set-tie break in Newport qualifying, where he lost to the big-serving Ante Pavic, and also at Queen’s, where he suffered a narrow three set loss to Daniel Brands.
So success after so many near misses was the good side. The frustration will be in getting one of the most winnable draws available, in the shape of Aleksandr Nedovyesov, and to go down in four sets. McGee’s Challenger form after that match saw him reach one quarter-final in his last six events of the year.
The big challenge for McGee will be to find more consistency on his forehand side, because by all accounts his work ethic can’t be questioned. 2015 might be the year that shows us how much higher he can go.
MATTHEW EBDEN (Age: 26, WR 237)
2014 saw Matthew Ebden head down the rankings with alarming speed (pic: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images North America)
After spending the majority of his time in the top 100 since getting into the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters in 2011, Matthew Ebden had a grim year that saw his ranking collapse.5 ATP level wins did at least include victories in the opening round of the Australian and US Opens, as he persisted on largely playing the main tour rather than adopting the David Goffin approach and rebuilding confidence on the Challenger circuit.
Ankle and wrist problems did not help, as he was unable to effectively defend a flurry of late ranking points from 2013, where he feasted on the fields at post US Open events, especially those in the often weak Japanese end of season Challengers.
He now faces difficult decisions as to how to start his 2015 – although he says he feels fit and healthy, would it be wise to fight in the play-offs for an Australian Open wild card, as there are plenty of contenders ahead of him on rankings and late 2014 form, or is there time for actual rest for the mind, as much as anything else?
DAN EVANS (Age: 24, WR 297)
Can Dan Evans find the focus & consistency that got James Ward close to the top 100? (pic: Jan Kruger/Getty Images Europe)
Perhaps this is a British perspective, but there can’t be many players ranked close to 300 who get talked about quite as much as Dan Evans.
In 2013, Evans was disposing of Kei Nishikori in the First Round of the US Open, and doing it with considerable nonchalance. One year on, while the Japanese was preparing for his Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows Evans was contemplating an opening round qualifying loss to Jimmy Wang.
At the start of 2014, Evans showed signs he could be building on his US Open run and good American Challenger form from 2013. A lucky loser route into Zagreb was admirably exploited, as he reached the semi-finals, knocking out Philipp Kohlschreiber in the process.
There was also qualification into Doha and Marseille,but the year gradually fell apart, with an ongoing knee tendon problem not helping.
Let’s be frank, Evans is not much loved by many despite plenty of talent. His social media presence has rubbed plenty up the wrong way, and he’s infamous for enjoying the good life as much as time on the practice courts.
However, British tennis has Andy Murray, and a number 2 James Ward, who has had a career best year. He is not essential to Davis Cup plans and won’t receive significant support from the Lawn Tennis Association. He has an injury to recover from and a ranking that is going to struggle to get him into a number of Challengers.
This is the year when Dan Evans can show he really wants to make it at the level he’s capable of – but he’ll probably have to do it by himself.
MOHAMED SAFWAT (Age: 24, WR 314)
2014 was the year where Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat attempted to take the step up from being consistently successful at Futures level into Challengers.
It proved an uncomfortable transition, as his end of year record sat at 8-18, including a concerning 7-13 on clay. Three of the wins did come against Peter Gojowczyk, Michal Przysiezny and Damir Dzumhur – but it required a late season return to Futures to restore morale and ranking points.
Safwat remains his country’s undisputed number one and Davis Cup regular. but it would have been good to see him be able to push on and offer a challenge to Malek Jaziri as one of Africa’s elite, Arabic players – this blog is happy to see the game pushed to all available corners of the earth.
It’ll be interested to see Safwat’s plans for 2015, as there are always Futures at Sharm-El-Sheikh to fall back on – that’s where’s he ended his season to rebuild confidence, but he needs to have learned from his first Challenger experiences if he’s to become a more global figure.
