Pilot Pen: Tough Draw….Great Experience
August 17-23 / Pilot Pen / New Haven, CT / Prize Money: $708,000
Todd had a tough 1st round in the qualifying draw. He played Ramon Delgado, an experienced ATP and Davis Cup Player.
Read the below article written by Rich Depreta (Stamford Advocate)
New Haven - Todd Paul was exactly where he wanted to be. At an Association of Tennis Professionals Tour event. And playing before friends and family at the 2008 New Haven Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament. However, it was Saturday. Men’s Singles Qualifying Draw day. That means the 15,000-seat Connecticut Tennis Center and its center court was empty. Play was confined to the outdoor courts by the fan plaza by Yale University. Attendance Saturday was in the hundreds not thousands.
In fact, Paul, a Stamford resident, was playing on a newly-constructed Court I - a former practice court at the far end of the complex and hidden from view and easy access. It was there that Paul battled Ramon Delgado of Paraguay in the chase for one of the five qualifier slots in the Pilot Pen men’s singles 64-player draw. It was a good experience and a good lesson but a loss, nevertheless, as Delgado won, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the qualifying round of 16.
“I had one break on my serve in the first set,” the 22-year-old Paul said. “I didn’t really have a chance against Delgado’s serve to break. At this level, you have to beat good players to qualify.”
Paul, a former Atlantic Coast Conference singles champion at Wake Forest University, had his work cut out for him. The left-hander entered yesterday’s match ranked No. 533 in the world.
In contrast, the 32-year-old Delgado, ranked No. 293 in the world, turned pro in 1995. He got into Pilot Pen qualifying via a wild card.
Delgado, who has $1,261,959 in lifetime ATP earnings, needs two victories to reach 100 career wins.
While Delgado has spent much of 2008 playing on the Challenger Tour, he has made his fame playing Davis Cup for Paraguay. He is 35-8 lifetime in Davis Cup matches, including two triumphs over the Bahamas and two more over El Salvador in 2008.
That’s an incredible wealth of experience for Paul to overcome.
“I feel okay about how I played. You really need to hold serve all the time at this level,” Paul said. “Every week I play ends with a loss.”
The difference this week is Paul can get into the car with his dad, Frantz, and be back home after a 40-minute drive.
Most of his losses in 2008 have been followed by the packing of suitcases and trips to the airport for long flights home.
“No flight home today,” Paul said with a smile.
The question now for Paul is, Where does he go from here?
With his current ranking, Paul can get into the main draw of most Futures Tour events. However, Paul has to go through qualifying draws as he did Saturday to reach the main singles draws on the Challenger Tour.
Paul needs to raise his ranking to the 220 to 350 range to automatically get into the main draws at Challenger Tour events.
The bad news is that the summer Challenger Tour and Futures Tour events in the United States and the Northeast specifically are done.
Nearly all remaining tournaments on both tours are overseas through September. And the majority of those events are on clay - which may not be Paul’s best or favorite surface.
The lone exceptions are a string of Challenger Tour hardcourt events in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois.
Either direction the travel is hard and the expenses are not cheap. There is some hospitality that Paul can tap into at the foreign tourneys to save money. But the hotel-based hospitality ends the second he loses at an event so he would have to scramble and make friends quickly.
Either way, the money is significant as Paul’s parents are the ones currently funding his pro tennis dream.
The apprenticeship and paying of dues continues.
Results:
Sinngles Qualifying Draw
Doubles Draw (Todd did not play)
Singles Main Draw (Todd did not play)
August 27 2008 02:59 am | Tournaments
