If you are deciding between option 1 and option 4 and you used to play with sriver then I think you would be more suited to tenergy rather than hurricane as it can take a while to get used to hurricane so i think option 1 is best for you.
I was thinking that they should maybe do this in other countries to decide who plays but then it is a bit more black and white for other countries to decide who plays
A robot is good but because you know where the balls are coming you just have to make sure that you keep moving and dont just stand there hitting the balls...you should be ok with the new balls but I dont know for sure
It seems that you started to improve quickly and climb up the rankings over the last couple of years, what did you do to achieve this burst of improvement and what differences did you do to make the top 50?