Category: PRS Admin

Hello fans. My good friend Sudsy Monchik and I talk racquetball all the time. Maybe not as much lately, but we frequently catch up on important events, the state of the sport, pro tours, USAR, etc etc.

Sudsy suggested, hey, why don’t we frigging tape these conversations? We’re often talking about topics that cut to the heart of where our sport is right now, and we try to mix in stats and opinion from one of the most decorated and involved names in the sport. So lets see if you guys like to listen in to the kinds of stuff we talk about on the regular.

So, here’s the first cut.

You can listen in (the first one was a zoom audio, though we could try saving video for subsequent ones) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgKwHYFO-Wg

For those of you want to read instead of watch, here’s a transcript (lightly edited for clarity).

Sudsy & Todd discussion –

International Youth movement in Racquetball at the IRT Shamrock Shootout

⏰Tue, 03/18 13:00PM · 24mins

Transcript

Todd Boss

All right, you ready?

Sudsy Monchik

Ready.

Todd Boss

Sudsy, how are you doing?

Sudsy Monchik

Doing good, doing good, Todd. Driving to my real job.

Todd Boss

Yeah, I’m on lunch break for my real job. So this works out for both of us.

Sudsy Monchik

But we both love racquetball so much that we can’t help it

Todd Boss

That’s right. So here’s the context of today’s conversation.

Are we seeing the next generation of pros, and does it matter based on the state of our sport?

For some Background, when I did the recap of last weekend’s Shamrock Shootout, I noted that a ton of U21 or junior world champions were in Chicago competing. Just to run through them really quickly:

– We had reigning U21 champion Joel Alexis Acha

– You had the world U21 semifinalist Trujillo and Barrios.

– You had the USA U21 champion Benjamin Horner.

– You had the reigning U18 champ and Jonathan Flores, who made a huge impact. We’re going to talk about him in a sec.

– You also had the likes of Sendrey, Mendoza and Herrera Jr., who are top junior national players in the U.S.

– You had top Mexicans like Gastelum here

– And, you had a couple of a little bit older recent Junior World champions, former Bolivians now turned Argentinians, Miranda and Garcia.

Well, that’s a lot of U21 players, and many are starting to get real results on tour.

So the question I have for you, Sudsy is this: Is this the next generation of talent on tour?

Sudsy Monchik

I think clearly you just named a bunch of really talented players, but the thing that jumps out at me is that you didn’t name nearly as many Americans. It’s clear that the level of play of these South American and Mexican Central Americans is so much greater right now than what we have to offer, and that’s that’s something that really bugs me. You know that that hurts my soul, but it is what it is.

When you say next generation, I think that’s connected to the age, right? You said 21 but historically we’ve seen that at like 18 and 19 years old, right?

Sudsy Monchik

When players get into their 20s it’s kind of like, ‘well we’re not really seeing much different now,’ so like I’m looking at who’s 17,18,19 and who is out there, traveling to play tournaments. You have to be playing events and you can’t do it in your hometown, home city, or home country.

The first thing I did when I got to Ecuador; I said, ‘let me see the budget you guys have to get out of here and play internationally.’ You have to get out, you have to play other players, you have to deal with other game styles, and you have to experience adversity and uncomfortableness.

There’s no doubt it’s the “next generation” but how would you define “next generation?”

Todd Boss

Well, if you look at the players who have been ranked in the top 10 as of late,

I’ll just run through them quickly. At the end of last season:

– Kane was 43

– Conrado was 29

– Adam Manilla 29

– Sam Murray’s 31

– Rodrigo 28

– Andres Acuna 29

– Jake’s 33

– Natara is 29

– Martel is 32

– Thomas Carter is 28.

These are the players that you see day in and day out reaching the quarters and semis. Where are the young guns?

Even someone who we think is kind of young is Eduardo Portillo, he was 25 at the end of last season and he’s already turned 26. You know, these are not the young kids. These are not 22 year olds flowing through. So the tour has been dominated by players in that are kind of getting old.

That’s what I thought was notable about the total volume of young players in Chicago.

Sudsy Monchik

Yeah, it was great. I would counsel the young guys to take advantage of it while they can now, because those older guys and players need to really start considering how they are going to parlay their racquetball career into what’s next, right? Like, is it sustainable for a 33 year old to continue to travel around trying to be a professional racquetball player?

I think it’s turning into a young man’s game. Now that seems a little opposite of what you just said, right? I think that the younger generation certainly need to focus and kind of maximize the time they have now because it goes fast. It doesn’t last a long time.

I think the bigger question is, when do you really start seeing those guys you just mentioned, the mid twenties and up, say, it’s time for me to look at what’s next.

Todd Boss

I think you already see it. We know Montoya has an engineering degree. Same with Javier Mar. They’ve been top players for a while, but full-time.

Sudsy Monchik

But there’s not enough stops right now for them to “tour full time.”

If the IRT is successful the first thing they’re gonna do is release like double digit tour stops If we see that happen then that’s a great start especially for the younger generation but when you say “they don’t tour” I mean how many stops were there last year?

Todd Boss

That’s a good point. There were only six stops last year.

Sudsy Monchik

Yeah, I mean, Mark Frank and I, we played more local events.

Todd Boss

No, it’s a good point. Pivoting a little bit, almost every one of these top U21 players we mentioned is from South America. So for them to get to the United States is tough. You lived in Ecuador so you tell me, how long of a flight is it from Buenos Aires or from in or from the middle of Bolivia to get up here so they can even compete?

Sudsy Monchik

Yeah, it’s a full day, it’s a full day of travel. You said Argentina; just to get to Miami and then from Miami go wherever, that’s eight or nine hours. From Bolivia, same thing, seven or eight hours. Not to mention, depending on the city you’re from within that South American country, you might have to make a connection. It’s a full day of travel.

I did it from Ecuador for seven years. And we were actually a lot closer where it was easier for me from Ecuador because one of the major airports went right to Miami. That was wheels up, wheels down in about four hours. But within the country, I still had a three hour drive to get to that airport. So it’s a full day.

The biggest benefit that these players have, Todd, is that their governments financially support them.

Now, I don’t know how many people know this: the tour is actually used as a training/practice platform for these players. All these international countries are more interested in the medals at the international events. Pan American Championships, World Championships, Pan Am Games, World Games. That is more valuable to them in the country and they use the tour, both IRT and LPRT, as training mechanisms to prepare them for those.

Todd Boss

What you just said is absolutely consistent with the conversations I’ve had with the previous commissioner, Pablo Fajre. I won’t name names, but a couple of seasons ago, we were looking at the end of the season rankings and it was going to be really close as to who won, right? And there was an international player who was prominently involved in the race, if that person did really well, they could have finished number one.

Pablo told me that, not only did that player have no idea where he stood in the rankings, but he couldn’t have cared less whether he is number one on tour, because of exactly what you just said. His country, his federation, and his priorities were in order, Winning worlds, Winning the Pan Am games, winning PARC, and then winning whatever other regional competition there was. Then if he happened to come up and take home four grand for winning a pro tour event, great. Four grand is the equivalent of like three months wages in Bolivia, which is obviously a lot. But that’s kind of an interesting mindset for people in this country to consider.

Sudsy Monchik

It’s a fact. I mean, you know, me, I played my whole career, it was all about professional titles, right? It was about that. In fact, the era of the Cliff, Sudsy, Ellis, Mannino; We didn’t do the international thing. Rocky was the only one that did it, and he openly admits he did it for the health insurance.

The US open title was less valuable to these countries than a bronze medal at one of the international events, because that’s how their government funds the team, entirely based on results at the international events.

Todd Boss

So that puts a different spin or a different color on why you see international participation in some of these tournaments. Another side note, oftentimes you’ll see a pro event, whether it’s an IRT or an LPRT event, and you’ll see like the entire Guatemala national team there suddenly, right? This weekend in Chicago, you didn’t see a single Guatemalan player there that I can remember. And it’s because their federation chooses to send the team to get practice for an upcoming international.

Sudsy Monchik

Correct, exactly how it works. So when I had the Ecuadorian Racquetball budget, we get a budget at the beginning of the year from the Olympic Committee, and then we pick and choose the events we’re going to go to to use as training platforms. That’s it, period. Yeah. So Guatemala just didn’t choose to fund this one.

Todd Boss

I’m going to ask you a different, more difficult question. If the next generation is predominantly Bolivian and Mexican, how can they flourish if there’s no pro events in Bolivia or Mexico?

Sudsy Monchik

That’s their biggest obstacle. They need to be able to get out. But here’s the thing, Todd, getting out used to be coming to the US or Canada because we were the best. They don’t have to do that now. They can go around South America, Mexico, Central America and deal with better players.

The travel and getting out is what will help them to be more well-rounded to have to deal with being uncomfortable, right? Like take Conrado. Conrado is a rock star superstar in his little country and little city in Bolivia. And like he’s in his comfort zone. But when he gets out and comes out here, it’s very different. So if they don’t have enough travel events (and I do think rumor has it there might be a planned international professional event or not. I don’t know yet, we’ll wait and see. Hopefully the IRT is making that happen), they still will do that internally. So they’ll pick and choose where to go, when to go and how to go.

But still, yeah, I think it’d be great if there were more events. I think it’d be great for the IRT, for the LPRT and they’re working behind the scenes to do that. But who it really hurts is our players, our next generation of players here in the States.

Todd Boss

We talked about our new generation. There were four good examples playing in Chicago. That was Cole Sendry, DJ Mendoza, who were both on the 18U national championship team that played in the last worlds. Plus you had U21 champ, reigning champ, Benjamin Horner. And we also had a lesser known player who played in 18Us in high schools this year, Juan Herrera Jr.

No, they’re not the only top juniors that get out and about. There’s other names out there, especially in the NorCal area where you have like Prasad and Chauhan and players like that who are winning junior national titles, but almost never travel.

But, What is their impact? We’re not talking about those American players right now as pushing for top 10 spots. We’re talking about Trujillo, who’s ranked in the top 10. We’re talking about Gastelum and Miranda, who show up and get wins. And then there’s the kid we’re going talk about in a moment, Jonathan Flores, who looks like he might be the next big thing. What’s going on with U.S. juniors here?

Sudsy Monchik

Yeah, we’re well behind and I think it started years ago and Todd, I mean, you followed my career, and of course Kane’s results speak for themselves. When you go to international junior tournaments, you have to win gold medals.

Are USA juniors winning gold medals and championships and matches? No they’re not. I think we’re a little bit too much of, “Oh, you’re doing great.” Like kind of mediocrity and like, that’s acceptable. But who’s winning? That’s what I want to see. Who are the gold medalists? Those are the next best players, and those are the players doing everything in their power to be the best they can be or the next best player in the world.

It goes back to, well, what’s their motivation? USA isn’t funding them, right? What if the U S Olympic committee said, “Hey, Cole and DJ, if you guys go win a gold medal at the junior worlds, we’re going to pay you a couple of thousand a month and give you health insurance” for being on team USA, maybe they would be more inclined or have the ability, the resources to do everything in their power to wake up every day with that goal in mind.

Or, maybe they’re doing that anyway and we just have a talent gap right now. Because of the years of these other countries doing it, right?

Todd Boss

Yeah. A hundred percent agree.

All right, one more player I want to talk about is Jonathan Flores, Bolivian, two-time 18U Junior world defending champion. I’m just going to read you a couple, some of his recent exploits. He’s now played a handful of pro events. I’m going to start a year ago in Minneapolis.

– In March of 2024, he flies in, and he plays the Hall of Fame event in Minnesota, loses in 32s to Jake Bredenbeck.

– Two weeks later he enters the Lombard event, beats Jake 5,7, turns around and beats Robbie Collins and then in the 16s takes a game off of Kane before he loses 11-7 in the tiebreaker

We don’t see him again in the states, and he wins Junior Worlds 18U without too much trouble.

He shows back up here a couple weeks ago in Minnesota.

– He beats Javier Mar,

– Then he loses 11-10 to Andree Parrilla in the 16s

– A week later he’s in Chicago he beats Diego Gastelum easily

– then in the 16s he trashes the number four seed Alan Natera 9,6

– He faces Andree Parrilla, beats him 15-4 in the first game and then had the match on his racket and loses another 11-10.

The Parrilla match we just saw was a match that, as I wrote and I think that you believe, he really should won to put himself in the semis.

So, what do you make of Jonathan Flores?

Sudsy Monchik

How old is he?

Todd Boss

He’s just finished his 18 year season so he’s playing in his age 19 year.

Sudsy Monchik

Yeah, so one other time in the history of my career, did I ever look at a player and say, that’s different. And that was about Kane Waselenchuk. It was when Kane was 18 or 9 in Chicago. And Cliff said, “hey, take a look at this kid, what do you see?”

I watched about five points of Kane. And I said, “that’s different. He reminds me of us.” That was my exact quote, Todd. And I’ve never said that about any player in the history of the sport, except Kane.

Today, Flores, from what I see with my eye and experience right now, after a healthy Kane and a healthy Conrrado, is the most talented, best all-around player in the sport, period. Now, does that mean he’s the third ranked player in the world? No. I think that all things being equal, weapons, tools, ability, he’s got it. What I don’t know, does he have a dog in him? Is he a fighter? Is he tenacious? Does he have balls? As far as skill, ability, talent, he’s on a different level. Let’s not forget Daniel, too right? But Daniel just isn’t playing right now.

Once he learns how to play, how to win and close those matches out, He’s the most talented player in the world after the first two guys. I just said, I just don’t know if his DNA is made up to now go put it all together.

Todd Boss

I agree. And, then going back, of course, to the first part of this conversation, he lives in Bolivia. So he’s facing a day long flight every time just to get up here, you know, those flights are not cheap. And is he going to have the same kind of priorities as Moscoso?

Is it more important for Flores to win Pan American Racquetball Championship versus come up here every time there’s a pro event and try to win? I guess it remains to be seen, but what I worry about is exactly what I worry about with all these all these Bolivians. I’ll throw the likes of Garcia and Miranda in there as well, even though they are now represent Argentina.

Sudsy Monchik

Can I represent Poland? I’m going to go represent Poland, playing a tournament. I’m Polish. Filipino too.

Todd Boss

I mean, who was it that Woody Clouse represented in one year? A small country in Africa. Eritrea?

Sudsy Monchik

You’re a better speller and much smarter than me, you tell me.

Todd Boss

Yeah, well anyway, so that’s what I wanted to talk about today. Sudsy, any parting words before you crash your car?

Sudsy Monchik

I think there’s a ton of great talent and players out there. Hopefully, the IRT keeps doing what they need to do. To really showcase these players, you know, and see truly who is or who will be the next best player in the world, because until Kane Waselenchuk hangs up his sneakers, it’s still not close.

So I would love to see what’s next. And I would tell a lot of these young guys that, you know, if that’s what they want, they need to do everything in their power to make sure that they can reach that goal and I know these countries support them. If that’s training and coaching and getting out and playing, do that.

But again, Todd, you and I both know, we don’t know what what they’re made of. It’s easy to “hit a ball, get a ball, see ball,” but like, what are you made of when the dust settles and you know you got to go to a dark place to try to get to that finish line? I’m telling you when I saw Flores, I was watching, you know, one of the top three players in the world in the moment, and he didn’t even win that match so whatever that tells you.

Todd Boss

Sounds good. All right, thanks, Sudsy. Drive safe.

Sudsy Monchik

Thanks, bud.

In part 3, we’ll talk about the notable players outside the top 20, talk about who’s left the sport or seems to be leaving the sport, and then at the end talk about the recent IRT ownership news and provide some commentary about the state of the sport.

Notable Players outside the top 20 this year:

– #22 @Sam Bredenbeck played the first three events of the year, then opted out of everything after May. His brother continued to tour for the rest of the year. Is Sam done playing the tour? He’s entered 28 tournaments in his career, with 8 round of 16s to his name. Round of 16 money isn’t enough to justify the expenses of touring.

– #23 Rocky Carson showed up for 2 events this year to secure his 29th career season with a tournament played. He’s now 3rd all time in terms of seasons with appearances behind Cliff’s 35 and Ruben’s 32.

– #25 @Jim Douglas played all 6 events, lost in the round of 32 in all six events, but is one of the few to play in every event this year.

– #26 @Jhonatan Flores could be the next big thing coming from Bolivia. He cruised to the 2024 18U junior world title (defending the same title he won in 2023), only dropping two games in the semifinal against Mexico’s Eder Renteria. He popped into the USA to play two events in March, and made a run to the quarters in Lombard with wins over James Black, Jake, and Collins. He took then stretched Kane to a tiebreaker, eventually losing 3, (13), 7. This guy is the real deal … and of course he’s Bolivian so we’ll probably barely see him on tour thanks to financial challenges inherent to the sport.

– #32 Diego Garcia Racquetball , another guy we rarely see in the states but who very well might be one of the best 10-12 players in the sport. His IRT results were lacking this year, but his international results were decent (semis at PARC, qtrs at Worlds).

– #36: @Alejandro Cardona, Mr. WRT, is still playing events and getting results. He played the first three events of the season and still can hit the ball.

– #38: @Daniel De La Rosa , 3-time IRT tour champ, now retired from touring. Despite what he said publicly in October 2024 and despite what his sponsors promised, his pickleball calendar basically crushed his racquetball season. After entering the season-opening Lewis Drug event, DLR wasn’t seen on the IRT again. He made time though to dominate US Nationals, and then cruise to a world title in San Antonio. He also played the team event at 3WB, then hopped a red-eye to make his MLP event in Virginia Beach. But the realities of the pickleball commitments are clear; he’s done playing racquetball on any regular basis. The Pickleball community values having “the racquetball champion” play their sport, so i’m sure he’ll find time to play amateur nationals and major IRF events going forward, but his time on the IRT may be done.

– #45 Gerson Miranda, #47 Hector Barrios, and #55 Sebastian Hernandez are all top-notch junior players who would represent the next generation on tour if they could play it regularly.

– #60: @Coby Iwaasa played one event, another guy who probably could be a top 15-20 player or better if there was the financial incentive to tour.

– #65: @Alvaro Beltran managed to play one event; he played the Lewis Drug and got beat by Lalo in the opener. He’s still a fantastic doubles player and continues to be a force in outdoor, but his singles time may be done except for the occasional drop-in event close to home.

– #77 @Brad Levine played the SoCal Open, and in doing so extended his own personal record of being the oldest known entrant to an IRT event.

—————

2024 saw an entire season pass without appearances from several notable players who have been active, and in some cases highly ranked, in the past few seasons.

– Alejandro Landa has retired as announced and has not appeared.

– Sebastian Franco, a regular tour player in 2022, did not play a single event this year.

– Maryland resident, former top 10 player, and Formula Flow partner @Mario Mercado did not play a single event. His business partner Zelada had one result.

– Carlos Keller Vargas continues to represent Bolivia internationally but did not play a single tour event in 2024.

– Nick Riffel, who is Adam Manilla’s regular outdoor partner and former touring pro; zero results this year.

– Sebastian Fernandez filled in last minute to win a US National title but played no pro events.

– Bobby Horn did not even enter his own event this year, but apparently is training to compete at the Lewis Drug later this month.

– Charlie Pratt’s usual single season appearance at his home town event didn’t sanction this year.

– Nothing from Mexican talents Javier Estrada, Eduardo Garay, Christian Longoria, or Gerardo Franco.

With several top-10 stalwarts now gone, there’s certainly opportunity for the next generation of players to move up, and we’re already seeing that with new players in the top 10 this year.

——-

Thoughts on 2025 and the future of the Men’s Pro Sport.

It’s not really controversial, or even penetrating, to say that the sport is in trouble. The Men’s tour in 2024 had just six stops; Lewis Drug, Minnesota HoF, Shamrock Shootout, SoCal Open, Inland Empire, and the Golden State Open. Only three of these even existed a few years ago.

That means that, just from the 2022/2023 seasons, the IRT has lost:

– Longhorn Open (UT changed its policy on hosting)

– Suivant Consulting/Williams Accounting Atlanta event (has Donald Williams stopped sponsoring events?)

– New York Open (Baer brothers stepped away)

– World Singles & Doubles (coming back in 2025 but probably for last time)

– Capital Classic (IRT co-owner Warigon has stopped sponsoring IRT events)

– Tracktown Open (maybe a one and done for 2023)

– Dovetail/Sarasota Open: Kinkin redirecting funds to support Jrs and USAR

– Rally for our Warriors in Boston (Stuart Solomon has a longer history sponsoring LPRT)

– US Open (USAR financial debacle with then-staff failing the sport and the event)

– John Pelham (more money for charity, less for pros)

That’s an entire TOUR worth of events gone in 2 seasons.

Go back a couple more years and you have former events like Arizona Open, the Lou Bradley, the Valentine Open, the Los Compadres guys in SoCal, an event in St Louis, and event in San Antonio, and the Mercedes Benz sponsored event in Cincinnati. All of these tournament directors and events are gone. Can they be reclaimed?

The 6 events last season is the fewest number of events on tour (skipping the covid-related 2021) since the tour collapsed in 1988-1989. They were able to recover then; can they now? In both cases new ownership took over; this time its Keith Minor, who has brought along the financially-connected Negrete, the motivated Manilla, and a big checkbook to hopefully rebuild relationships with the 15 or so tournament directors who have left the sport in the last few years.

Also, nowhere on this list is a single event outside the United States. The tour is dominated by Mexicans; when was the last time an IRT stop was held in Mexico? The answer? 2011. LPRT has had stops in Mexico pretty regularly but nothing for IRT. The WRT came and went, holding dozens of Mexico based events and driving a huge following in the country, and then the IRT literally hires the WRT founder … and still no Mexican events. It’s just as bad for Canada: last pro stop north of the border was in 2008 despite a Canadian national winning a dozen titles since then. We managed to put one event in Bolivia, that sport-crazed country, in 2019 … but nothing since. On the one hand, yes I understand the financials and exchange rates. But on the other hand … where the hell are the sponsors in these countries? Racquetball is crazy popular in both countries, but there’s nobody who can get a pro stop funded??

2024 Junior Worlds showed the Mexican/Bolivian dominance in the sport pretty well: 29 of the 30 titles were won by Mexican or Bolivian players/teams, yet those two countries never host pro events, and as a result their top players struggle to compete on the established pro tour of the sport. I’d really like to see how U21 winner Acha or U18 winner Flores would fare if touring regularly; instead we may get one or two annual trips from them and probably a seeding in the 30s and a brutal round of 16 loss with almost no prize money to dissuade them from coming back.

The tour is likely going to be won by a 44 yr old next year, with a slew of 29-yr old players populating the rest of the top 10. Where’s the next generation of players who will take the mangle? Can a 22yr old like Erick Trujillo step up, or will we see a 50-yr old Kane still winning titles in the year 2030?

I’m hoping to see a more robust tour schedule for 2025; we’ve already seen a slew of new event announcements, which is a good sign. My conversations with Keith indicate we may literally double the stops in 2025 from 2024 (fingers crossed), but certainly we’re in a better place than we were on tour late last year. The new group has some new ideas, and that might bring a spark to the sport.

Best of luck to Minor and the new team, and I can’t wait for the first event of 2025.

We went through the top 10 in part 1. Lets talk about the guys who finished 11-20, which include a combination of grinders, former top 10 players who missed time, guys on their way out, and guys on their way in.

We start with the #12 ranked player b/c there was a tie for 10th on tour, so technically our first post had one additional player reviewed.

– 12: @Jordy Alonso . One of the biggest stories of the season was the run Alonso made at the SoCal Open in May (see https://rball.pro/pno for the match report. As the #30 seed, he won a round of 64 against Mexican Alejandro Bear, then gave Kane Waselenchuk his earliest career loss in the 32s, beating him in the breaker 11-1. He didn’t stop there, then topping Collins, Martell, and Montoya to make the final before falling to Moscoso. Making the final as a #30 seed was the second highest seed in the history of the sport behind only Kane’s return from his 2-year suspension as a #39 seed making a final. He continued getting success the rest of the way and nearly powered into the top 10. Alonso is not a flash in the pan; he had gotten signature wins before, whether it was on the IRT or it was in Mexican Nationals, but has rarely played on tour over the years.

Outlook for 2025: if he plays full time, he’s got the talent to finish deep in the top 10. I think he’s better than the guys who all finished in the 6-11 range, and could push deep into the top 10 with some results. Prediction for 2025: #7

13. Carlos Ramírez ; the Torreon, Mexico native quietly has played nearly every event on tour over the last two years, becoming a constant presence in the main draws, and for his troubles earned enough points to finish #13 on tour. He’s never advanced past the round of 16 in his career; his best result on tour probably was a tie-breaker loss to Carrasco at the 2024 Minnesota event.

Outlook for 2025: Ramirez is a regular on tour, and regularly gets to the 16s. That means he’s bound to finish in the 13-16 range; i’ll guess he gets pushed down a couple of slots and finishes in the 15-16 range in 2025. Prediction: #16

14. @javier Mar; Mar had his typical IRT season: played about half the events, got a couple of solid results (made a semi in Pleasanton), upset a couple of top-10 players (Jake, Acuna) had a couple of early round battles that didn’t go his way (round of 32 losses to Carson, Trujillo), and showed well on the doubles court (won a title in Pleasanton and finished #6). He can really shock the field (in 2022’s Capital Classic he beat, in order Roland Keller, Garay, Parrilla, Jake, and Murray to make a final). He struggled with a core injury that limited his singles play for months, and has a career that prevents him from committing to the tour full time.

Outlook for 2025: I’ve always been a fan of Mar, ever since watching him stare Kane down at the 2018 US Open and play him as tough as anyone had played him, losing 12,10 to a guy who owned the tour at the time. But Mar has had trouble replicating those results on the regular. It seems like this is who he is: a guy who makes about half the events, can get a run going, but just doesn’t play enough to crack the top 10. Prediction for 2025: #15

15. Eduardo Portillo Rendon : After four straight season in the top 10, including some significant wins and a title in 2022, Lalo missed four of the six events this season while doing flight training, studying to become a pilot. If he plays the tour regularly, he’s a top 6-8 player easily. But his schedule is an unknown; it may be very difficult for him to commit to a 4-day weekend to play a tour event while being low-man on the pilot totem pole call sheet.

Prognosis for 2025: I’m going to assume he’s missing a big chunk of the season again, playing when he can, and thus will be limited in what he can accomplish. I’ll guess #13 for next year.

16. @Robby Collins continues to chug along on tour, playing all six events, making four round of 16s but taking a couple of early losses. This has been his pattern over the past three season and seems likely to continue. He’s a veteran player who’s a tough out for a lot of his typical round of 32 opponents, but a long shot to advance past a top8 player.

Outlook for 2025: the new US Junior national team coach and sometimes-partner to Horn and Manilla in their organizational exploits seems set to continue touring regularly, so a 16-18 finish seems likely once again. Prediction: #17.

17. Diego Gastelum comes in at #17 and along with Trujillo represents the next generation of top players in this sport. Trujillo, Gastelum, Acha, Sebastian Hernandez, and Jhonatan Flores are all in the 18U/21U circle and are of similar talent levels, and they seem set to follow in Trujillo’s footsteps to try to make noise in the sport. We havn’t seen a ton from some of these players yet domestically (cost and visa issues), but some we have, including Gastelum. He beat this year’s U21 world champ Acha at worlds last year, and has some back and forth results with Trujillo in both juniors and adult events.

Prognosis for 2025: I sense Gastelum will continue to tour regularly, and I favor him to make a bunch of 16s. I can see him incrementally jumping up the ranks. I’d love to see him h2h against players like Natera or Carter or Collins to see where he rates. Prediction: #14

18. @Samuel Murray . Murray showed up at the season opener and won it for his second career tier 1 title… then he missed the rest of the pro season. He continued to play for Canada and Internationally, but not on the pro tour. Right now, he represents a first for the sport; he won his last event and may actually be retired. If this is the case, he walks off Pete Sampras style with a win, and may end up breaking a bunch of my reports that all assume players lost their last match.

Outlook for 2025: is he retired? Seems like it. He’s now 31 and is in kind of the same boat as Jake Bredenbeck: he’s a power-guy who’s aging and spent most of his 2023 season struggling to make the quarters on tour. He’s got a good thing going in Canada though, where he hasn’t relinquished the National title in a decade and thus guarantees an influx of money from the association for a while. Still, I have to think he’ll sneak across the boarder for the Lewis and Minnesota events and may get some results. I’ll go #20 next year.

19. @Kadim Carrasco continues to do what he’s done for the past few season: plays most of the events, sometimes gets to the round of 16, never beyond. In 33 career pro events he’s never gotten to the quarters. But, he has had decent success on the doubles court with Moscoso and can hold his own on the forehand side.

Outlook for 2025: more of the same; at age 36 he’s still solid and apparently likes the travel, so I’ll guess he finishes in the 19-20 range again. Prediction: #19

20. Cole Sendry. one of the top USA juniors has been a traveling man this year, flying all over the country to play pro-stops and top events. He’s shown some solid progression, with a win at the Kelley Brother’s event, and he’s gotten some decent IRT results, generally winning when he should have . His IRT losses this year were mostly understandable (Carter, Cuevas, Jake, Parrilla, Portillo). He made two round of 16s, lost in the 32s the other times.

outlook for 2025: clearly he’s actively touring, so I’d expect him to rack up points similarly to the way Carlos Ramirez does. I’d like to see him get some wins against the likes of Cuevas and Ramirez, but his seeding often has him playing a tougher opponent in the 32s. Still, playing all the events and getting wins guarantees a top 20 finish these days. Prediction: #18

Stay tuned for part 3.