Spring Nationals Fields; Easter Bowl Moving to Clay?; Sarmiento Blogs from Spain; More on Oudin, Brodsky, Stephens

The USTA 18s Spring Nationals begin on Sunday in Mobile, Ala. This is the fifth year of the event, which was created when the Easter Bowl 18s was converted to an ITF event. The boys field isn't particularly strong this year, particularly with the recent withdrawals of Ryan Noble and Ryan Lipman, but the girls field features Beatrice Capra, Kate Fuller, Ester Goldfeld, Lilly Kimbell, USTA Winter Champion Hanna Mar, Chichi Scholl and a strong group of wild cards including Grace Min, Lauren Herring, Chanelle Van Nguyen and Liz Begley. For the complete list of competitors, see the TennisLink site.

Inside Tennis is now putting their local edition news online, and Steve Pratt has written on the Easter Bowl's past and future for that publication. Lew Brewer, the director of junior competition for the USTA, is quoted as saying they have explored the idea of playing the tournament on clay, which would most likely mean a move from Palm Springs, where hard courts are the norm, to Florida, where Har-Tru is prevalent. For the complete story, click here.

The U.S. juniors currently in Spain, another sign the USTA is serious about development on clay, are taking turns with the blog for usta.com. The current entry, by Raymond Sarmiento, (photos by National Coach Mike Sell) can be found here.

Melanie Oudin certainly raised her professional profile with her Fed Cup win last month in Arizona, with a New York Times profile of her published yesterday.

And Bonnie Ford of ESPN provides a bit of detail on the competition between Gail Brodsky and Sloan Stephens that kicked off Tennis Night in America's Madison Square Garden exhibition. It doesn't sound like they got the diva treatment, but then, it's not everyone who can get in the Knicks' locker room. Scroll to the bottom of Ford's column for the part about Brodsky and Stephens.

Tags: junior tennis, USTA Spring Nationals, Easter Bowl, Raymond Sarmiento, Melanie Oudin, Gail Brodsky, Sloane Stephens, Colette Lewis

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Furman's Scarpa Sets D-I Win Record; Tomic Suspended; UCLA Team Wins Pacific Coast Doubles; Indian Wells Qualifying; Gilbert Joins Bollettieri's

As I mentioned when he wrote a story about Melanie Oudin a couple of weeks ago, ESPN's Greg Garber is back on the tennis beat, and in an article posted today, he examines the career of Furman's Paul Scarpa, who became the leader in NCAA Division I men's tennis wins when his team defeated Yale 6-1 on Friday. Now with 821 victories (Furman beat Army on Sunday), Scarpa surpassed Jim Schwitters of Hawaii, and according to Garber, his retirement, at least any time soon, is unlikely. Until recently, I wasn't aware that Scarpa developed the 3-6 system, with three doubles matches for one point, played first, and six singles following, that is now employed in NCAA Division I tennis.

The ITF has made its decision regarding the case of Bernard Tomic, and he will not be able to play in ITF events until after April 6, as punishment for walking off the court in a Futures tournament match back in December. He was also fined $1560, according to this story from the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Given that Tomic has recently won an ATP Challenger title, and his participation in that level of tournaments is not affected by this ruling, it probably will have very little impact on his schedule in the next four weeks. He is now 382 in the ATP rankings.

The 120th annual Pacific Coast Doubles tournament (that number's not a typo) was contested at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, with UCLA's Haythem Abid and Nick Meister winning the title. Due to some questionable seeding, Abid and Meister were one of the No. 9 seeds, and fell in the same 1/16 as co-No. 1 seeds Robert Farah and Steve Johnson of USC, but the Bruins won that 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 (isn't it refreshing to see real doubles scores again?) and went on to beat Rice's team of Christoph Muller and Tobias Scheil, one of the No. 8 seeds, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Marc Lucero was there covering the tournament for his blog, Luch by Marc Lucero. For the complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

The women's qualifying began today at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Julia Boserup lost to Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-2, while Angela Hayes, also a wild card, defeated Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3. Gail Brodsky, who won the other qualifying wild card when she saved match points against former UCLA star Riza Zalameda, according to this story in the Desert Sun, couldn't pull off another three set triumph a day later. In a match that took nearly two and a half hours, Brodsky lost to France's Aravane Rezai 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. Sixteen-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito won her match in three sets; CoCo Vandeweghe and Asia Muhammad have not finished their matches as I write this.

For complete results, see the BNP Paribas website.

Nick Bollettieri has announced on his website that Brad Gilbert will be joining his staff as a "guest coach" beginning in April.


Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Furman, Paul Scarpa, Bernard Tomic, Nick Meister, Haythem Abid, UCLA, Gail Brodsky, BNP Paribas Open, Brad Gilbert, Nick Bollettieri, Colette Lewis

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Wild Cards Announced for Indian Wells; Davis Cup Ballrunners

I spent a soggy, gloomy Saturday afternoon playing with some new software I heard about, Shape Collage (try it, it's free!), and the result was the above photo. When I heard that the Indian Wells (formerly known as Pacific Life, now BNP Paribas) wild cards were out, I challenged myself to find a photo of as many of the players mentioned in the release as I could. I did pretty well--only Lester Cook, who is a finalist in the McAllen, Texas Futures this week, Jelena Dokic, Sania Mirza and Michaella Krajicek eluded me.

The women's main draw wild cards went to:

Dokic, Alexa Glatch, Vania King, Krajicek, Mirza, Melanie Oudin, Urszula Radwanska and Alja Tomljanovic; qualifying wild cards were given to Petra Martic, Coco Vandeweghe, Julia Boserup, Asia Muhammad and Angela Haynes, with another to be decided in a pre-qualifier this weekend.

The men's main draw wild card recipients are:

Kevin Anderson, Taylor Dent, John Isner, Wayne Odesnik and Ryan Sweeting.

Only Cook and Alex Domijan have been announced as qualifying wild cards; I believe there are two more remaining, not including the pre-qualifier winner.

So match the name to the face in the collage if you can!

The Bryan brothers won the doubles point today in Birmingham, becoming the all-time leaders in Davis Cup doubles wins, and giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead over Switzerland with Andy Roddick in line to clinch the tie in Sunday's first singles match with Stanislas Wawrinka. The Birmingham News has been covering all aspects of the Davis Cup, and didn't ignore the contributions of the local juniors, who have served as ballrunners during the weekend. Click here for the full story.


Tags: junior tennis, BNP Paribas Indian Wells, Shape Collage, Davis Cup, Colette Lewis

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Bhambri Given Sony Ericsson Main Draw Wild Card; New Tennis Blog Debuts

India's Yuki Bhambri, the world's top-ranked junior and the reigning Australian Open Junior champion has received a main draw wild card into the Sony Ericsson Open, which begins on March 25. That news, first reported by The Hindu, was confirmed by IMG Vice President Olivier Van Lindonk. The 16-year-old had earned a qualifying wild card by virtue of his victory at the Orange Bowl, on the site of the Sony Ericsson, but IMG, who owns the tournament, has decided to upgrade him. He'll join Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt, who have already been announced as wild card recipients.

Bhambri recently came in for some criticism for choosing to play in this week's Pro Circuit event in Texas rather than serve as a practice partner in India's Davis Cup tie with Chinese Taipei this weekend, according to this story from DNA. (University of Virginia's Sanam Singh, who is mentioned here as a part of the Davis Cup team, is not participating). Bhambri, using a junior exemption gained by finishing in the Top 10 of the ITF Juniors last year, lost in the first round of the Futures event to Lester Cook 6-4, 6-2. He also lost, in three sets, to Singh in the first round of qualifying for the ATP's Chennai Open back in January. IMG needs to use some caution in handing out a wild card to such a big tournament--it worked fine with Michelle Larcher de Brito, who last year used hers to win two Sony Ericsson matches before losing to Shahar Peer, but Bhambri is well behind her in terms of physical maturity. No one wants to see the Donald Young scenario repeated with another precocious and talented teen who is being viewed as the best hope to improve his country's tennis fortunes.

I recently spoke with Chris Woodruff, the associate head coach at the University of Tennessee (this is a teaser for my Tennis Recruiting Network article next week) and he made it very clear to me the danger of playing at the wrong level--and this was as an NCAA champion who felt in over his head. The occasional wild card is generally not harmful, but as Woodruff said, word gets around that you haven't earned your way in and there's not much sympathy from professionals for that circumstance.

Although there are plenty of tennis blogs out there (see my links for some of my favorites), a new one by my Tennis Recruiting Network colleague Marc Lucero is definitely worth a read. He has posted only once, but his account of the Stanford and USC men's match last week will be much appreciated by those of us who can't get enough college tennis match reports.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Yuki Bhambri, Chris Woodruff, Marc Lucero, Colette Lewis

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February Aces; Domijan at Davis Cup; UCLA Gets Two Wins over USC; ISC Deadline Friday

My weekly column for the Tennis Recruiting Network is the usual one for the first Thursday of the month, with the top performers in February featured.

Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe is writing a blog for usta.com, and in his first entry Wednesday, he passed along his observations on first-time practice partner Alex Domijan. In today's second entry, Domijan also rates another mention. And the USTA also posted a Q and A today with Domijan. I'm not saying that anyone there is tired of Roddick, Blake and the Bryan twins, but after so many ties featuring that group, a fresh face is probably going to get his share of attention.



USC and UCLA played both men's and women's dual matches today, or rather finished them today, as they were originally scheduled for Wednesday, and suspended by rain. The UCLA women, at home and ranked 11th, had won the doubles point before the rain came (in a tiebreaker at No. 1); the visiting UCLA men were leading in their doubles matches but had not yet recorded the point before play was halted. Both matches went to UCLA, with the women winning 4-3 and the men 5-2 (correction: the score, first reported as 5-2 UCLA was actually 4-3, with Matt Kecki beating Nick Meister 10-7 in a match tiebreaker), with the women having the much more riveting contest.

The UCLA women took a 2-0 lead when Yasmin Schnack defeated Sarah Fansler at No. 1, but 11th-ranked USC had won the first set in the other five singles matches, and they went on to win three of them, with Amanda Fink, Gabriela Niculescu and Maria Sanchez giving the visitors a 3-2 lead. Bruin freshman Carling Seguso battled back to beat Leyla Entekhabi 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 at No. 6, leaving the decision on the racquets of UCLA's Ashley Joelson and USC's Alison Ramos. Ramos had a 4-2 lead in the final set, but Joelson won the last four games to give UCLA its fifth straight win over USC, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. For the complete results, see the UCLA website.

The men's match wasn't nearly as dramatic. After No. 13 UCLA won the doubles point with victories at No. 3 and No. 1, Steve Johnson of eighth-ranked USC quickly disposed of Michael Look at No. 3 to even it. But that didn't last long, as Holden Seguso (the brother and sister combo were 3-0 against the Trojans) stormed past Abdullah Magdas at No. 4, Haythem Abid beat top-ranked Robert Farah of USC at No. 1, and UCLA's Amit Inbar clinched it with a three set win over Jason McNaughton at No. 6. For detailed scores, see the USC website.

For more on last week's Stanford-USC match, especially Trojan freshman Daniel Nguyen's role in it, see this article from the Ventura County Star.

And a reminder that the entries for next month's ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif. close on Friday. For more information, see the usta.com page, or the TennisLink site.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Tennis Recruiting Network, Alex Domijan, Ashley Joelson, Daniel Nguyen, International Spring Championships, Colette Lewis

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February Aces; Domijan at Davis Cup; UCLA Gets Two Wins over USC; ISC Deadline Friday

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McEnroe Names Davis Cup Team; Domijan Selected as Practice Partner

I had the opportunity today to participate in a USTA conference call with Patrick McEnroe, who formally announced the Davis Cup team that will take on Switzerland next week in first round action in Birmingham, Ala. There were no surprises, with Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers selected, but while those names seldom vary, the names of the practice partners always do. For this tie, Amer Delic, the former NCAA champion while at Illinois, and 17-year-old Eddie Herr champion Alex Domijan will be accompanying the team. McEnroe admitted that he had picked Delic prior to the withdrawal of Federer from the Swiss team, but called Delic "such a good guy" and sounded happy to have him involved again, even though Delic doesn't fit the usual profile of a practice partner (he's 26). Here's what McEnroe said about Domijan:

Obviously Domijan is a guy I saw play a little bit down at the Orange Bowl, where he had a great couple of weeks there and at the Eddie Herr. Some of our coaches have been communicating with him and following him pretty closely, and we kind of like his attitude and what we've seen from him. I think it will be a great experience for him. He's practiced with some of our players already up at Saddlebrook, with the Bryan brothers and with James, and they seem to know him. We think he's got tremendous potential. It's a nice combination of a veteran practice guy, and someone like Alex, who's getting his first taste of that situation.
I spoke with Alex this evening about his selection, which came about three weeks ago, and he said he considered it an honor to be chosen, although he did express some disappointment that Federer wasn't playing.

"But Roddick and Blake and all the people are still going to be there, so I'm going to train with them. It should be pretty fun."

I asked him what he was most looking forward to about the experience, which starts on Sunday.

"Just playing with those guys a lot. Usually, if I play with them, it's only like one day every three or four weeks. So to play with them on a consistent basis, and hopefully I'll improve."

For the complete transcript of McEnroe's press conference today, see ASAP Sports.

At the ATP Delray Beach International today, 16-year-old wild card Evan King lost to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-4. King was up 3-1 in the second set, but lost five of the next six games against the 115th ranked ATP player. According to this story about King in today's Sun-Sentinel, the boys 18s Clay Court winner next year will get a qualifying wild card, not a main draw wild card. There was some controversy this year, when two-time champion Xavier Malisse did not get a wild card, with King, Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Querrey getting the three available.

The Charleston Post-Courier covered the finals of the SMASH Junior Cup, and had this report on Alison Riske's win over Kristie Ahn.

Tags: junior tennis, Alex Domijan, Amer Delic, Davis Cup, Smash Junior Cup, Delray Beach International, Colette Lewis

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King in ATP Debut Tuesday; Riske Wins FC Cup Qualifying Wild Card; 1998 NCAA Champ Vanessa Webb

Way back in July of 2008, Evan King won the USTA National Boys 18s Clay Court singles championship, and tomorrow, he will take the courts again in Delray Beach, to use the main draw wild card he earned with that victory, although this time the surface will be hard.

King, who trains with the USTA in Boca Raton, was back home in Chicago watching his future teammates at the University of Michigan compete at the ITA Men's Indoor, and he was obviously very excited about his first match at the tour level (he has played a few Futures and Challengers). The Delray draw, which was posted yesterday, puts him against 21-year-old Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, who is currently ranked 115th, although he finished last year 89th. The down side of not drawing Tommy Haas, Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Querrey or Mardy Fish is that King won't be playing on the Stadium court Tuesday. According to Tuesday's order of play, he'll be the third match on court 1.


Today at the SMASH Junior Cup in South Carolina, Alison Riske defeated Kristie Ahn 6-4, 6-1 to earn the qualifying wild card into the Family Circle Cup in April by winning the girls 18s title. The stakes were not as high for the boys 18s, but John Harrison Richmond, the 2008 Junior Orange Bowl 14s winner from Pawley's Island, S.C., has a head start on his USTA 18s ranking, winning the Southern section's Level 3 event. For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

My colleague McCarton Ackerman recently caught up with Vanessa Webb, the 1998 NCAA women's singles champion from Duke, and filed this story for The Tennis Recruiting Network, detailing her business career and her continued involvement in the highest levels of the game.

And in case you missed it yesterday (I did), the Baylor men defeated UCLA 4-3 in a dual match in Waco, giving head coach Matt Knoll his 300th victory.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Evan King, Delray Beach International, Alison Riske, John Harrison Richmond, Vanessa Webb, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Baylor Bears, Colette Lewis

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Emory Wins D-III Men's Indoor; Kentucky Upsets Tennessee; Ahn vs. Riske for FC Qualifying Wild Card

The Division III ITA Men's Indoor was this weekend at Gustavus Adolphus in Minnesota and the No. 2 seed, Emory University, defeated top seed Washington University 6-3 to take the title. The ITA tournament website with complete scores and draws is here.

For in-depth coverage of Men's Division III tennis, including the Indoor championships, see the blog d3tennis.blogspot.com.

In Division I men's tennis, No. 31 Kentucky went into Knoxville Saturday and beat the fourth-ranked Volunteers 4-2, winning the doubles point and getting wins from No. 1 (Bruno Agostinelli), No. 3 (Eric Quigley), and No. 5 (Alex Musialek). Kentucky gave Mississippi all it could handle during the Kick-off Weekend, demonstrating they can play with the SEC's best, although this was not a match that will count in the conference standings. The Wildcats' record is now 7-2, with the losses to Virginia and Ole Miss. For the complete account, see the Kentucky website.

A top men's team struggling right now is Tulsa, who was beaten by No. 39 TCU yesterday in Tulsa. TCU is on probation for another year, but they extended Texas A & M before losing 4-3 on Wednesday, so they are not a team to be taken lightly. The Tulsa website has the account of yesterday's match here.

In a clash between two top four programs today on the women's side, No. 1 Northwestern got by No. 4 Georgia Tech 4-2 in a just completed match.

In the SMASH Junior Cup, Alison Riske and Kristie Ahn will play Monday for the qualifying wild card into the Family Circle Cup in April. Riske was initially a No. 5 seed, and I'm not sure what happened exactly, but she was moved up to the No. 4 seed, the draw was redone, and she and Ahn fell in opposite halves, instead of the same quarter, where they were previously. Riske barely got by Shelby Rogers in the semifinals, needing a third set tiebreaker to advance. Ahn was a subject of this profile prior to the start of the tournament by the Charleston Post and Courier's James Beck. For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, ITA Men's Division III Indoor, Kristie Ahn, Family Circle Cup, Smash Junior Cup, Colette Lewis

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February National Opens; SMASH Junior Cup Seeds/Draws Announced; Bricker on Dimitrov

The year's first National Opens were played over the holiday weekend. Although there are too many to detail here, I did want to post a link to the article that appeared in the Dothan (Alabama) Eagle about the boys and girls 14s National Open held there. Any time a local paper takes the time to cover a junior event, I'm going to make sure they get credit for it. Although they sent a reporter, there are no photos, so I'm including one of girls champion Rasheeda McAdoo, the daughter of former NBA star Bob McAdoo, from January's Plaza Cup. To see all the February National Open results, see the TennisLink search page, and click on the short cut National Junior Tournaments in the box on the right. It will take you to 2009, and once you select February, you will get a page with all 19 of the different tournaments.

The SMASH Junior Cup, which begins Saturday, and features a WTA Family Circle qualifying draw wild card to the girls 18s winner, has published its draws. Kristie Ahn has entered the event and is the No. 1 seed. Alison Riske is a No. 5 seed, but unfortunately is in the same quarter of the draw as Ahn. For complete results see the TennisLink site.

While I was in Chicago, Wimbledon and U.S. Open Junior Champion Grigor Dimitrov made quite a splash; following up his win over Tomas Berdych in Rotterdam, the 17-year-old Bulgarian took a set from Rafael Nadal in the second round. This week in Marseille, he drew Gilles Simon of France, the No. 2 seed, and barely lost again, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Charlie Bricker, the longtime Sun-Sentinel tennis reporter who left the paper last summer, is writing regularly now for Bob Larson's Tennis News, and he evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of Dimitrov's game in this post.

Tags: junior tennis, Rasheeda McAdoo, Grigor Dimitrov, Smash Junior Cup, Colette Lewis

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Dimitrov Beats Berdych in Rotterdam; USTA Hires Armando; ITA Team Indoor Draws Released

2008 Wimbledon and US Open junior champion Grigor Dimitrov posted his first ATP tour victory today in Rotterdam when he defeated 23rd ranked Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. It doesn't get any easier for the wild card, who is likely to play world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the second round, if the Spainard beats Simone Bolelli of Italy on Wednesday. For more, see this story from The Sofia Echo.

The USTA announced today that Hugo Armando has been hired as a National Coach and will be based in Boca Raton. For the complete press release, see usta.com. And who says no one remembers who was No. 1 in the 12s? The USTA does!

The draws have been released for the ITA Team Indoor Championships this weekend in Chicago and Madison. The men are seeded 1 through 16, the women only 1 through 8. In the men's first round, Stanford vs. Florida and Tennessee vs. Baylor will be on my must-see list for Friday, while in the women's first round, Georgia vs. USC and Stanford vs. Notre Dame will go a long way in deciding the Pac-10's strength this year. For the women's draw, click here; for the men's, click here.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Grigor Dimitrov, ITA Team Indoor, Hugo Armando, USTA, Colette Lewis

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Smash Junior Cup Deadline Next Week; Oudin Helps USA Defeat Argentina in Fed Cup

As in years past, the girls 18s winner of the Smash Junior Cup will receive a qualifying wild card into the WTA Family Circle Cup, a Premiere event paying $1,000,000 in prize money that will take place in Charleston, South Carolina April 11-19. Last year Mallory Cecil won the qualifying wild card, but due to injury, was unable to use it, so finalist Nadja Gilchrist took her place. Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year, is already entered again this year, as is Elizabeth Begley, who like Riske, trains in Hilton Head. The entries for the girls 18s and the other nine divisions close next Sunday, February 15th. See the TennisLink site for details on the Level 3 Southern section tournament. For the press release on the wild card offered from the Family Circle Cup, click here.

The next junior tournament I'll be attending is the 18s Spring Nationals in Mobile, Alabama, and the entries for that event close on February 19th. Please see the TennisLink site for more information.

Kimberly Yee, the girls 12s Winter National champion, got some belated recognition from her local newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun in this article.

And in a damp Surprise, Arizona today, the US Fed Cup team came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Argentina 3-2 and assure themselves a place in the semifinals against the Czech Republic. After Gisela Dulko had taken Argentina's second point with a straight set victory over Jill Craybas this afternoon, Melanie Oudin came back from a set down to defeat Betina Jozami 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to pull the US even. Then Julia Ditty and Liezel Huber won the doubles match 6-2, 6-3 over an undoubtedly exhausted Dulko and Jozami. Results and stories from the weekend's Fed Cup action are available at fedcup.com.

Tags: junior tennis, Smash Junior Cup, USTA Spring Nationals, Kimberly Yee, Fed Cup, Colette Lewis

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McHale and Oudin Fall in Australian Open First Round; Tomic Makes History with Win

Today is a travel day--back to the single digits of Michigan's winter--so this early post will be a brief review of the opening round performances of some of the juniors at the Australian Open.

In matches overnight, 16-year-old Christina McHale, the USTA wild card tournament winner, lost a heartbreaker to Jessica Moore, an 18-year-old Australian wild card, 1-6, 6-3, 9-7. McHale was featured on the ESPN2 coverage, and was shown early in the third set suffering from a severe leg cramp, but it apparently didn't keep her from taking a 5-3 lead in the the third set. Eventually Moore began to wear her down however, from this account in the Herald Sun. Prior to McHale's grand slam debut, the New York Times and Northjersey.com published profiles. The Times' story, found here, contains an error. McHale did not lose in the first round of the juniors at the U.S. Open this year. She lost in the third round to Madison Brengle, as the Northjersey.com story accurately states.

Seventeen-year-old Melanie Oudin, who was the youngest player to qualify for the women's main draw, lost to 84th ranked Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-4.

Sixteen-year-old Australian wild card Bernard Tomic became the youngest man to win a main draw match in Australian Open history when he beat 73rd ranked Potito Starace of Italy 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6). Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash had an assessment of Tomic's strengths and weaknesses in this article by Linda Pearce in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tags: junior tennis, Christina McHale, Melanine Oudin, Bernard Tomic, Australian Open, Colette Lewis

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McHale and Oudin Fall in Australian Open First Round; Tomic Makes History with Win

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Britton to Ole Miss; Cecil to Duke; Seven U.S. Women Advance in AO Qualifying

Before the start of the Boca Raton Futures today, I'm linking to my weekly story at The Tennis Recruiting Network, which is Devin Britton's commitment announcement to University of Mississippi. Another longtime Bollettieri student, Mallory Cecil of South Carolina, has joined the Duke Blue Devils for the 2009 spring season. Her announcement came via goduke.com.

In Australia, the women's first round of qualifying is complete, with seven of the eight U.S. women advancing to the second round: Carly Gullickson, Alexandra Stevenson, Julie Ditty, Melanie Oudin, Varvara Lepchenko, Madison Brengle and Vania King. Alexa Glatch suffered the only loss of the day for the U.S. For the complete AO qualifying draw, see the official website.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Devin Britton, Mallory Cecil, Australian Open, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Colette Lewis

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Shake-up at Bollettieri's Tennis Academy; Australian Men's Qualifying Draw; Pro Circuit Opens 2009 in Boca Raton

First, I want to welcome Lynn Berenbaum back to the world of tennis blogging at her site Off The Baseline, and thank her for drawing my attention to this story in the Sarasota Herald Tribune about the firings of four IMG employees at the Bollettieri Academy, including director of tennis Gabe Jarmillo. Given the length of employment of those let go and their direct relationship with Nick, it seems shocking, but there is little in the story to explain it, other than an implication that it was a cost-cutting move, with the possibility that it relates to a sale.

The Australian Open men's qualifying draw has been posted, and there are nine Americans vying for spots in the main draw: Amer Delic, Brendan Evans, Zach Fleishman, Scoville Jenkins, Kevin Kim, Wayne Odesnik, Rajeev Ram, Ryan Sweeting and Michael Yani. I was surprised to see Sam Warburg, Jesse Levine and Donald Young missing from the list of U.S. competitors. An interesting first round match pits Indians Prakash Amritraj and Somdev Devvarman. In many junior tournaments, the draw is structured so players from the same country don't play each other in the first round (the same goes for USTA sections), but that's obviously not a consideration in a Grand Slam.

We did make it to Florida, and tomorrow will be checking in on the first Pro Circuit Futures of the year in Boca Raton. Wild card Alex Domijan and qualifiers Chase Buchanan and Rhyne Williams are playing their first round matches on Wednesday. For complete draws, see the Pro Circuit draw and schedule page at usta.com.

Tags: junior tennis, IMG/Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Australian Open, Pro Circuit Boca Raton, Colette Lewis

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Do Great Juniors Become Great College Players? Tomic, other Aussie Teens Get Australian Open Wild Cards

My colleague Marc Lucero has crunched some numbers in an attempt to determine if there is a correlation between the top girls from the recruiting class of 2007 and the top collegiate performers of 2008. His findings, which appear today on The Tennis Recruiting Network, are well researched and full of interesting numbers that should be useful to any college coach who utilizes rankings to make judgments about recruits (and I would guess that would mean all of them). I hope he'll make this a regular feature, but I certainly recognize that it involves a lot of heavy lifting on his part.

Tennis Australia announced the last of its main draw wild cards today, and juniors Bernard Tomic, Monika Wejnert and Olivia Rogowska are among the recipients. For the complete list, which includes Isabella Holland, who was announced earlier, scroll to the bottom of this story from the Australian Open website.

As of the latest acceptance list for the Australian Open Junior Championships, Harry Fowler is the only U.S. boy playing in the main or qualifying draw. The girls draw, which is notably stronger, is showing that Lauren Embree, Beatrice Capra, Ester Goldfeld and Christina McHale are still entered in the main, and Alexandra Cercone, Noel Scott and Monica Yajima are in the qualifying. For the most recent list, click here.

And a final note, we are attempting to get out of Michigan for Miami before a blizzard, so if there's no post on Tuesday, you'll know I'm snowed in somewhere!

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Australian Open, Isabella Holland, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Marc Lucero, Colette Lewis

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Keys Wins Coffee Bowl; Devvarman Loses to Cilic in Chennai; Play Tennis Florida Magazine Available Online

Madison Keys, who turns 14 next month, won her third ITF tournament since she began playing them in May, defeating No. 3 seed Valeria Solovieva of Russia 6-4, 7-5 in Saturday evening's final at the Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica. Keys won a Grade 5 in the Bahamas in June, and took the Grade 4 held in November at the Evert Academy, where she trains, but this is a Grade 1, so her ITF junior ranking, currently at 139, should take a big leap. The boys winner was 16-year-old David Souto of Venezuela, who defeated top seed Denis Kudla of the U.S. 6-2, 6-2 to claim his first Grade 1 title. The left-handed Souto, who hasn't played in the U.S. since he lost in the final of the Junior Orange Bowl 14s in 2006 to Bernard Tomic, has been playing mostly in Futures qualifying the past five months. Souto and his partner Jesus Bandra, also from Venezuela, won the doubles title too.

In Chennai India, two-time NCAA champion Somdev Devvarman fell in the final to 20-year-old Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6(3). The Hindu provides its always colorful take on the match here(Ectomorph?!)

The December/January issue of Play Tennis Florida is now available for download from the USTA Florida Section's site. There is an interesting story on University of Central Florida women's coach Stephanie Nickitas, who credits a career in tennis coaching to the influence of her coach at the University of Florida, ZooTennis contributor Andy Brandi. There is also much news about the section's annual awards (we'll be congratulating Robert Gomez for being named Junior Development coach of the year next week when we're in Miami for the Plaza Cup), Dede Allen on getting the attention of a college coach, and my regular Photo Op feature, which is Alex Domijan (pg. 28).

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Madison Keys, Coffee Bowl, David Souto, Somdev Devvarman, Marin Cilic, Play Tennis Florida, Alex Domijan, Colette Lewis

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Australian Tennis at "Lowest Ebb"; France's Mladenovic Receives AO Wild Card

With the Australian Open starting in just about a week, the discussions of what's wrong with Australian tennis have begun. This type of conversation is guaranteed three times a year, once for each of the English-speaking countries who host Grand Slams (I'm not conversant enough in French to know if this happens before Roland Garros, but since there seems to be a general satisfaction with their system and results, I'm guessing it doesn't) and The Australian recently offered this article, which comes at the problem from a slightly more sympathetic perspective than most of the Australian press. Most of the time, a newspaper calls a former Aussie great who is not involved in the current Tennis Australia framework and the criticism of Steve Wood and Craig Tiley begins.

Ashley Cooper is certainly a former great, but he is apparently part of the TA process, saying that while a number of factors are to blame, there are probably the result of what was not done "8 to ten years ago."

Craig Tiley, the AO tournament director and head of player development, who expects to see improvement by 2012, offers this:
"If you ask me to predict how many players in the top 100 by then, I'd be in a different business if I knew that," Tiley said. "But I can tell you we have about 100 players we have targeted that we think can get there and if we work on the 10 per cent theory, that's 10. It takes 15 years to develop a player, so I can tell you there will be more than there is now and more than there is in the past.

"In the past we had some players (Pat Cash, Lleyton Hewitt, Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis) at the top and that masked the problems down at the bottom."
This is an interesting perspective because it implies that French system, where there are large numbers of top 100 players, but precious few Grand Slam champions, is more desirable than the opposite. Is Federer masking a problem in Switzerland's player development? Or is he just, as all great champions are, a sublime exception that owes little to his particular federation?

Another theory floated about the Australian decline is the disappearance of backyard courts due to development. John Fitzgerald subscribes to that, and his remarks can be found in this article from the Canberra Times. (The Observer article mentioned in this piece is more about the general decline of Australian sport, and it can be found here).

Tennis Magazine's Peter Bodo recently wrote a post for espn.com, providing background on the purpose of wild cards and congratulating the USTA for holding a wild card tournament to fill the one it exchanges with Australia. Tennis Australia holds a tournament to hand out one set of theirs--this year they were won by Colin Ebelthite and Jelena Dokic--but they have four sets of discretionary wild cards remaining after the Asian, U.S. and French wild cards. Only one set has been announced, with 18-year-old Jessica Moore and 21-year-old Carsten Ball the recipients, but speculation is that the remaining three sets will go to younger players. The Australian notes that Moore and Ball have shown a "drop in performance," then mentions the younger players that are likely to be given wild cards in this article.

And speaking of the French, they do not appear to follow the wild card tournament route, unless they squeezed one in that I did not hear about. Kristina Mladenovic, the 15-year-old French junior, was given the Australian Open main draw wild card, despite her indifferent end to the 2008 junior season, where as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, she lost in the second round of the Yucatan Cup, the third round of the Eddie Herr and the second round of the Orange Bowl.

Tags: junior tennis, Tennis Australia, Craig Tiley, Kristina Mladenovic, Colette Lewis

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Keys in Coffee Bowl final; Kudla and Frank Face Off Again in Semis Tonight; Devvarman Wins Again in Chennai; Burdette to Stanford

Unseeded Madison Keys, the 13-year-old from Boca Raton, has reached the finals of the ITF Grade 1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, and will face No. 3 seed Valeria Solovieva of Russia for the championship Saturday. Keys has been rolling through the draw, losing only one set in her first five matches and today she defeated No. 12 seed Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway 6-2, 6-2.

This evening, the Orange Bowl 16s finalists Denis Kudla and Mitchell Frank will meet in the semifinals, with the winner playing the survivor of the match between No. 7 seed David Souto of Venezuela and No. 5 seed Arthur De Greef of Belgium. Kudla is the top seed; Frank is unseeded.

For complete draws, including doubles, see the tournament website.

In the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Chennai India, former Virginia Cavalier Somdev Devvarman, a wild card, posted his second consecutive upset, taking down No. 25 ranked Ivo Karlovic 7-6(4), 6-4. Unlike Moya, Devvarman's victim on Thursday, Karlovic didn't have much to say about Devvarman's game, but he certainly wasn't happy with the way he played. The Hindu takes particular pleasure in Devvarman's lob over the 6-foot-10 inch Karlovic in this account of the match.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has a story on Mallory Burdette's verbal commitment to Stanford. Given that her two older sisters selected the Cardinal, it's not a surprising choice, but an interesting read nonetheless.


Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Coffee Bowl, Madison Keys, Somdev Devvarman, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Mallory Burdette, Colette Lewis

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Eight Intriguing Questions; Collins Wins Futures Wild Card; Devvarman Beats Moya; Harrisons Sign with Nike

My annual look ahead--it's hard to believe that I've been doing this piece for five years now--at The Tennis Recruiting Network is entitled Eight Intriguing Questions for 2009. I'm only 92 short of Todd Spiker, of WTA Backspin, who published his Intriguing 100 last week, and those are women's tennis only!

I ran across this press release with the news that 15-year-old Danielle Collins won a wild card tournament for the $25,000 Pro Circuit event in Lutz, Florida, which takes place the week of January 19. I was disappointed that Collins didn't play in the Eddie Herr or Orange Bowl last month, but this result shows she's as competitive as anyone in the state her age.

In second round action in the ATP tournament in Chennai India, two-time NCAA champion Somdev Devvarman caused quite a commotion when he beat No. 6 seed and former world No. 1 Carlos Moya of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Already receiving plenty of attention due to his status as India's No. 1 ranked man, the accolades were quick to begin pouring out of the Indian press. This one from the Hindustan Times, which gives Devvarman the nickname AweSom, is a bit over the top; for a more conventional newspaper account, see this article from rediff.com.

And finally, Nick Bollettieri's blog Nick's Picks, reported yesterday that the Harrison brothers had signed an endorsement deal with Nike.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Danielle Collins, Somdev Devvarman, WTA Backspin, Ryan Harrison, Christian Harrison, Colette Lewis

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Oudin Signs with BEST; Charges Against Mississippi St. Player Dropped; Copper Bowl Winners

Melanie Oudin has signed with the management agency BEST (Blue Entertainment Sports Television), formerly known as SFX. The announcement came via a press release dated December 17, 2008. Oudin, who had begun playing as a professional back in February, joins a client roster that includes Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, the Bryan twins and Sam Querrey among many others. For the full press release, click here. To see the full roster of clients represented by BEST, click here.

Back in November, a Mississippi State tennis player was charged with rape, but a judge dismissed the case yesterday, according to this Associated Press item.

The Copper Bowl ended today, and two Texans took the 18s: Top seed Brett Ellen Keeler of Austin and No. 11 seed Ben Guthrie of Plano. In the 16s, two Floridians emerged with the kachina dolls given to the winners: No. 31 seed Trey Strobel and No. 7 seed Maci Epstein.

In the 14s Balaji Jothishankar, the 23rd seed, was the boys winner and top seed Alexandra Morozova took the girls title. Both are from Florida. The 12s titles went to Texan Gabriella Umoquit and Hawaiian Zandrix Acob.

For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

Due to rain, it appears that the 12s and the consolation matches resorted to tiebreakers in lieu of third sets. This is an account, from the Tucson Citizen, of the semifinal match between Gregory Anderson of Tucson and David Liu of Omaha Neb., which was decided by a tiebreaker. Anderson lost to Acob 6-1, 6-0 in the final.

Winter National champion Christian Garay ascended to the top spot in the USTA rankings after his win in Tucson last week, and the Columbus, Ga. Ledger-Enquirer took note with this article, which also reveals that Garay saved three match points in his third-set-tiebreaker win over Toshiki Matsuya.

Tags: junior tennis, Melanie Oudin, Mississippi State, Copper Bowl, Christian Garay, Colette Lewis

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