I randomly came across the Greater Boston: May/June 2010 version of the ESPN Rise magazine, and as I was flipping through it I noticed that the magazine has a list of the Top 10 Boys' Tennis Players in Massachusetts. Cool Right? Yeah, that's what I thought, until I read the list. If you're going to make a list, why not make it good? I've always respected ESPN for being the leader in sports reporting but I have to say their list is not good.
ESPN RISE TOP 10:
10. Aaron Segal (Needham, So.)
9. Christian Heaney-Secord (Westwood, Sr.)
8. Andrew Lebovitz (Milton Academy, Sr.)
7. Roland Hence (Cambridge, Sr.)
6. Mesa Mei (Somerville, Sr.)
5. Aaron Revzin (Needham, So.)
4. Christian Boulanger (Winchester, Jr.)
3. William Spector (Weston, Jr.)
2. Cameron Ghorbani (Lexington, Sr.)
1. Alex Steinroeder (Concord-Carlisle, Jr.)
I have to say at first glance that I don't/ can't understand how ESPN Rise compiled this list. Initially, I figured that they went by high school results, but I know that at least one (Roland Hence) of these players don't play high school tennis. My next instinct was that maybe they combined tournament results and high school tennis but there's no way that's possible becaues Boulanger is ranked 47th in the 18 & Unders. ESPN needs to keep it real and take Boulanger and Segal out of the Top 10 (no offense to them) because there's no way to justify ranking them that high. In response to ESPN's rankings, I'm going to create my own top 10. Without putting myself at number 1 (because it's too controversial) here is my top ten:
ISL TENNIS BLOG TOP 10:
10. Chris Barnhart, Longmeadow
9. Lavrensky Araghamia, Sharon
8. Andrew Lebovitz, Milton Academy
7. Carl Reid, Belmont Hill
6. Roland Hence, Cambridge
5. Aaron Revzin, Needham
4. Mesa Mei, Somerville
3. William Spector, Weston
2. Cameron Ghorbani, Lexington
1. Alex Steinroeder, Concord-Carlisle
Steinroeder
I made my list using high school results, TennisRecruiting.net and USTA New England Rankings.
I'm very interested to see what people think of my list and of the ESPN Rise list. Please comment below.
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