Tristao and Ellison head the 2016-17 End of Season Rankings

News

Dan Tristao and Will Ellison continue their battle at the top in the newly published End of Season Rankings. Dan regains top spot in the Singles while Will retains his dominance in the Doubles.

With Will winning 6 out of 9 of the open Singles events on offer, some might have expected to see Will at the head of the Singles. However, in the 5 events where both players were present, Dan took a 3 to 2 advantage, with one of his wins over Will being in the National Singles which carries the most ranking points. Dan’s other wins came in the South East and the North East. So these two maestros swept the board in the season’s singles and are to be congratulated by all, possibly excepting those on the circuit who are striving to win a title themselves!

Elsewhere in the Singles, Ed Kay moves up to 3 after winning the U25 & University events, and reaching the final in Manchester and the semi-finals in the National, while Charlie Brooks shoots up to number 4 following his return to the circuit after recovery from injury. Charlie was also a National semi-finalist and reached the SW final. In the top 20 Theo Parker and Sam Russell make good progress after solid performances in a number of events, while Ben Jourdan rises to number 20 after a good season. Goodwin, Tilston, Rew, Whitehorn, Watkinson, and veteran Roberts all move into the top 30.

There are a total of 11 new singles entries for the 2016-17 season. Worthy of note perhaps are the Spanish pelota ace Enrique Castillo Carbonell and Loretto schoolboy Patrin Maddison, who both did well up in Scotland. Tonbridge player Alfred Ainsworth comes in at number 38 after his Plate win in the SW.

In the Doubles Will Ellison picked up 5 of the 7 open Doubles titles on offer, two of these with Charlie Brooks including the National Doubles. These wins enabled Charlie to move up the rankings into 2nd place. Will’s other titles came with Dan Tristao (London), Ed Kay (WofE), and Dan Grant (NE). The two other open titles were won by Ollie Arnold & Theo Parker (Yorkshire) who both move into the top 10, and Ed Kay & Matt Shaw who picked up the NW. Ed and Matt were also successful in the U25s, whilst Matt picked up another title in the University Doubles this time partnered by Ben Beltrami.

Gareth Price (NW finalist) and Peter Hanton (who picked up points in 5 events) both make good progress into the top 20. Other progress of note is made by Jim Hughes & Alex Rew (SW semi-finalists), Henry Jefferies, Francis Thomas, Tom Watkinson, Craig Baxter and Christian Blackaby.

The “draw for partners” events (where just 50% points are awarded) see Alfred Ainsworth from Tonbridge hit the big time by winning the South East with Will Ellison, while two new names from Scotland, Loretto’s Patrin Maddison and Jonathan Lee from the Caledonian Club, appear after their win in Scotland. And it’s good to see another female player added to the rankings with Alley Scott winning the Scottish Plate with Richie Murby. These players are amongst 19 new entries in the doubles rankings.

Tournament entries were once again encouraging, broadly maintaining the levels of the last few seasons.

Finally, to amuse myself I keep a record of where ranked players learnt their fives (usually but not always their school). Looking at the top 50 ranked singles players and awarding 50 points for number one, 49 for number two, etc., we come up with a table which might contain a few surprises for some. No surprise at the very top with St. Paul’s dominating, but Edinburgh Academy at three is perhaps unexpected. Here are the top 10:

Singles Rankings top 10 clubs:
1    St. Paul’s  452
2    Alleyn’s  124
3    Edinburgh Academy 99
4    Winchester College 77
5    Merchant Taylors’ 74
6    Derby Moor  55
7    Bradfield  46
8    Bedford Modern  42
9    Radley College  37
10  St. Olave’s  36

 

To see the full official rankings, just click on the link below.

Official RFA rankings (opens in separate window).

The official RFA rankings are prepared by Dave Hebden.