My "first Thursday" post at the Tennis Recruiting Network is usually reserved for the previous month's aces, but the photos of
December's stars were pushed back to today due to the Julia Cohen college announcement. One of last month's 16 winners was Michelle Larcher de Brito, who is featured today in the
St. Petersburg Times. Although the sense of the headline "Game to Match Name" eludes me,
the article is a succinct review of her career to date.
G.D. Jones, who helped lead the University of Illinois to the NCAA team finals last year, is back in his home country of New Zealand, and made his way through qualifying at the ATP Heineken Open in Auckland. Because he is the first Kiwi to qualify in 21 years, it created quite a sensation--
this is the story from the
New Zealand Herald. It seems odd that a story about Jones could fail to mention his collegiate experience or his younger sister Sacha, but it does point out the devastating injuries he suffered through. Anyone who saw him serve underhanded in Athens knows how reluctant he was to let the pain interfere with his contribution to the team; it must be such a relief to be healthy again. For a more personal update from Auckland, see R.C. French's blog
"Yellowballin'", which contains photos and accounts from last week's WTA event as well as this week's Heineken Open. I'm sure he'll report on Jones's first round match with Nicolas Massu of Chile, which is getting underway any moment on stadium court.
