Usual thing, if you can say who you vote for and why, it helps people keep engaged and, I think this time, could help people decide who to vote for - sell your vote to others!
Vote will close at 9pm on TUESDAY 30TH APRIL.
Nominations list:
1. Amelia Rajecki - for achieving 100 [college] career singles wins. Only the 4th player in NC State history to do so. And in the week ending April 23rd rosé 3 places to #2 in national D1 college rankings
2. Hollie Smart (born 2009) - for becoming U16 British National Girls Champion (despite being year one)
3. Mark Ceban (born 2009) - for becoming U16 British National Boys Champion (despite being year one)
4. Henry Patten - for winning his first ATP250 title (with Harri Heliövaara) in only his second ATP250 final. Followed up with the Madrid Challenger 100 title, and then another ATP 250 final in Bucharest, moving to 11-1 for the month
5. Johannus Monday - for achieving 100 (college) career singles wins. Holds an impressive .806 winning percentage at Tennessee & a 42-6 career mark at no.1 spot in the line-up. Named SEC Player of the Year 2024. He's the fourth player in conference history to receive player of the year accolades in back-to-back seasons. He is the highest-ranked SEC player, standing second nationally in the latest ITA rankings with an impressive 22-2 record atop UT's singles lineup, including a perfect 10-0 mark in conference action. He notched a stellar 17-1 record vs. ranked opponents in 2023-24.
6. Mimi Xu (2007) - for becoming U18 British National Girls Champion (for the second time, and still only year one) along with U18 national Doubles title with Mika. As though one title wasnt enough Mimi also reached the doubles final in the J500, cementing her doubles and singles potential.
7. Oliver Bonding (2007) - for becoming U18 British National Boys Champion (also year one)
8. Emma Raducanu - for winning both her matches after such a long time out injured and helping GB through to the Billie Jean King cup final, beating 2 top 50 players Garcia and Parry on clay in France against a hostile French crowd, fighting through 3 sets against both. The way she played the clinching final set tie break was very impressive.Had she lost that a deciding doubles against Garcia / Mldanovic would have been tough to say the least. She then followed that by beating Kerber and Noskova to reach the Stuttgart quarter finals keeping the world no 1 out there for more than 2 hours before going down 7-6, 6-3 . A great week for Emma who played more like a top 10 player than player ranked 300 .
9. Rhys Lawlor - both U16 and U18 British National Boys Doubles Champion.
10. Oliver Crawford - for winning the doubles title (with Tristan Boyer) at the ATP Challenger 75 in Sarasota. This is his first title since switching to playing for GB and his best title to date, having only won titles at M15/M25 level previously.
11. BJK Cup team - for their brilliant win against France, now finalists on merit. Bringing it home girls! Outstanding performances from Emma and Katie on the second day, so well supported by Harriet, Hev and Fran and all the support team. Shout out for Anne K as well - you got it right!
12. Henry Searle - for taking out the Top Seed JJ Wolf (ranked 102) on clay in the 1st round of the Tallahassee Challenger with what I presume is a Career High ranking scalp.
13. Conor Brady (born 2007) - for winning the singles title AND the doubles title at the J100 in Latvia (his first ever singles title, I believe, and smashing his previous best wins by a country margin)
14. Emily Appleton - for defending her doubles title in Chiasso, Switzerland (with a different partner this year) and immediately travelling and winning again in Charlottesville, USA - her second and third W75 titles of the year and taking her close to her career high from February.
15. Emily Webley-Smith - age 39 (!) - re-enters the singles rankings - WTA 1204 - joint 3rd oldest ranked player - an inspiration.
16. Sophie Drakeford-Lewis - for making it through qualifying and winning her 1st MD match at 25 years old at the W35 in Nottingham.
17. Mika Stojsavljevic - Wonderful Mika secures her first senior title, taking the W35 Nottingham. Now ranked just behind Hannah K (58 to 60 points) in the world rankings and only a couple of months older, she moves up to 675 WR (unconfirmed). Way to go Mika! Also won under 18 national doubles title with Mimi.
18. Luke Johnson - having spent the first three weeks of April reaching the semi-finals of an M125 and an M75, followed by the final of an M125, Luke (with Skander Mansouri) capped off the month by winning the title at the M75 Roma Garden Open. This will move Luke up to a new CH of around 77, having started the year with a ranking of 117.
note Mimi entry edited as it claimed the German title for her by mistake!
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Sunday 28th of April 2024 07:57:32 PM
Remember, 48 hours to vote - I think this one could be very close in any of half a dozen ways, so do shout out for your vote; this is fun and it is also serious at the same time, so please feel to try and big up your player and why you voted for them
I thought about BJK Cup team but they , for me, were headed by Emma. I thought about Emma as well, but felt Madrid let her month down.
Mimi was great and won Nationals, and beat Mika handily there. Despite Mika winning this week in a W35, surely Mimi's head to head win (thrashing) trumps that?
My other two were Henry P and Luke - similar records, Luke though has done challengers before, and Henrys title at 250 level trumps Luke
So it was Mimi or Henry for me. I reckon loads of others will vote Mimi, and Henry won a 250 title and went through the month with week after week of great wins with two good titles.
I went for the BJK team, preferred over Emma R alone, as Emma's best moments were all in those BJK matches, and Katie B and management also deserve credit.
Jon, I am sorry I don't follow your logic in one of your reasons for plumping for Henry over Mimi being that you reckon loads of folk will vote for Mimi.
1) That's still to be seen since you are voting at the start of the process.
2) Do you not want a vote that reflects who people ( including yourself ) really think should win for the month rather than use your vote as some sort of potential balancing exercise?
Jon, I am sorry I don't follow your logic in one of your reasons for plumping for Henry over Mimi being that you reckon loads of folk will vote for Mimi.
1) That's still to be seen since you are voting at the start of the process.
2) Do you not want a vote that reflects who people ( including yourself ) really think should win for the month rather than use your vote as some sort of potential balancing exercise?
Hey - yes, of course I want people to vote for who they think is best and I want the player of the month to be the most deserving. I think Henry is that; I had him probably neck and neck with Mimi , maybe 51/49 and think it is quite possible Ill be the only person who votes for him, which is what I was really getting at. Regardless of whether I think Mimi will get more votes, Henry I think is the player of the month; it also helps that he needs my vote more, I think.
And it seems my logic is, in many ways, well apart from other voters, judging by the votes so far, haha.
Thats what makes it fun - all 40 or 50 voters have different logics and emotions and end up in different places or the same place for different reasons!
I've not voted yet. My thoughts have been re Emma, the BJK Cup team or Mika ( yes, over Mimi, though your thoughts on Mimi thrashing her in the nationals are noted ).
I've not voted yet. My thoughts have been re Emma, the BJK Cup team or Mika ( yes, over Mimi, though your thoughts on Mimi thrashing her in the nationals are noted ).
Haha, so youre giving me 6 or 7 out of 10 - a decent 2:1 effort? Ha.
plenty of time to vote - i vote early so I can keep an eye on how the vote is going, but sometimes Id like to wait. That said, Ive usually decided where to vote during the time im preparing the poll.
Note - I copied across the list of names and reasons from the nominations thread, and dont check any details - Ive spotted Mimis record says she won the J500 doubles title in Germany but I think she was only runner up?
I cant edit the initial post without kicking out the timer for the vote close, but assuming Im correct with Mimi not winning , Ill go in and change it and reset the vote close for a 9 pm Tuesday finish.
Sophie for me. To return to the sport after 8 years and get to the semi-finals of the British Tour Premier event, only narrowly losing to a top 600 WTA player and then backing that up the following week by narrowly losing to the WTA 336 in a epic 3 setter with only 1 British Tour and a couple of National League matches since her return and while still competing at the top of her main sport for me trumps every other achievement this month.
So Ive edited the Mimi entry - if Ive made a mess tell me and Ill change it back, apologies but I dont check the nominations thread for each entry as I work on it being a sort of Wikipedia thing!