I finished it yesterday - really enjoyed it, and the insight into behind the scenes on tour.

JonH wrote:

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Born2WinTennis wrote:

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I really enjoyed reading this book. Every tennis player's dream (not just at a professional level) to take a year off work and concentrate on playing tennis. I had no idea that players ranked over 1000 could get into major ATP events qualifying. Is this still the case or have the smaller qualifying draws prevented this from happening now?

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 I wondered the same, good question. Fascinating and v interesting read.

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 Thanks for reading Born2WinTennis and The addict. I'm very glad you enjoyed the story.

As for getting into ATP qualifying, anyone with at least one ATP singles (or doubles) point has the right to try and sign in. Ten years ago the draws in the 250 ATP events were 32, so if you did your research and rode your luck you had a good chance to get in. I travelled to 5 ATP events, and never missed out. On the other hand over time I've missed out on about 5 Futures qualifying (when I was relying only on National GB ranking).

About 3 years ago, the ATP in their annual meeting at the US Open voted on making all ATP qualies draws 16 to basically stop people with low rankings getting in and "improve the quality". Out of every ATP tournament director present, only Buenos Aires and Munich directors voted to keep 32 draws, mainly because they liked giving opportunities to middle ranked Argentinian and German players. And also these tournaments had strong local support during the qualifying events. Since that time to make all qualifying from 250 500 a 16 draw, the cut-offs have never gone beyond 300, or occasionally 400. Therefore, that window to do what I did a decade ago has effectively been shut.

For the moment though, with one ATP point, it is still possible to get into Challenger qualifying draws.

For one year in the 1990s, the Wimbledon qualifying draw was empty. A Swedish friend of mine got in with a couple of ATP points, and even better his brother (or could have been a friend) who was unranked, and about a current LTA 5.2 rating, had signed in for the sake of it and made it into the draw. It has never happened before or since. 

Born2WinTennis wrote:

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Thanks for the info GH, that's a real shame they changed it. I love the fact you could earn a point and then rock up to those events and be mixing with top 10 players in the dressing room and players lounge. It would also act as an amazing short cut for the next wonderkid, who at 17/18 doesn't have much of a ranking but is superbly talented and destined for the top echelons. 

I also distinctly remember Fed's quotes from that final you mentioned in your book. Usually such a cool customer, Murray clearly riled him and being such a big Murray fan I've never thought as much of Fed since then. Not loosing a match, is just as valid a strategy as winning one (in terms of going for winners/not making errors) and deriding the tactics of a player, 5 years his junior, when he was probably world no.1 was bang out of order, in my opinion. Attacking players always hate getting beaten by a grinder/retriever at all levels of the game, but it struck me as a massive case of sour grapes.

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 I can see why they didn't want players with a couple of ATP points playing ATP qualies, but it did allow some people to really live the dream. I met an American called Will Ritter in the 1990s. He was a limited player, probably came late to the game. But he would 'buy' a wild card into a main draw Challenger back when that'd guarantee you one ATP point, then he would sign into a series of ATP events. I believe he would have played at least 10 events. He lost badly, but played some top players and I'm sure his life is better for the experiences. It takes some guts though to play ATP events when you know you're way out of one's depth. That or a lack of realism.

As for Fed's comments after the Murray match, it probably wasn't his final hour. To say he stormed back to the locker room is an understatement. That Dubai tournament was special. A 36 in the world cut-off for a 500 event was unheard of. Then Federer was dumped out in round 1. The atmosphere was electric. It also symbolized the peak of Dubai and it was at the height of its money-making frenzy. It was never the same, and this year's event felt like a Challenger with no big names.

 I have ordered it and when doing so read the excellent reviews on Amazon.  All 5s and most of them were from non-tennis players.

Unstrung dvd

Thank you for the suggestion GH, had not heard of Unstrung and will look out for it 

Thanks gh, really enjoyed the book- a fun and entertaining read - and the interview. Good to get the insider info about the tour and the interesting people and places along the way. Oh and the little snippets about the names we're familiar with. A little bit sad that no one can repeat the feat now with the rule changes and that you won't be able to inspire a few like-minded tennis guys to do their own grand tours