Easter Bowl Preview

Easter Bowl Preview--
©Colette Lewis 2005--

The competitors for next month's Easter Bowl have been announced and director Seena Hamilton has gotten what she wanted, a tournament that will be competitive from the first match on. Donald Young returns to defend his historic 2004 title, and except for Timothy Neilly, Tim Smyczek and Justin Kronauge, all the top American juniors are entered. Only the Boys and Girls 18s are ITF sanctioned, so it shouldn't change the feel of the tournament much, with the 14s and 16s in both boys and girls remaining 128 draws.

I'll be at the Easter Bowl this year for the first time, eager to see for myself an event of this scope; with two jurisdictions, ITF and USTA, it's a chance to assess the strengths and weaknesses side by side. But what I'm really interested in is the tennis.

Donald Young will be seeded one, of course, and based on his Casablanca Cup and Australian Open titles, there is no arguing that he is the player to beat. Any tournament he enters automatically has a great field. But all this recent losing, even if it is in ATP events, can't be instilling much confidence. And there are plenty of players who can beat him if he doesn't play well or isn't completely healthy. Seena has assured herself a dynamite draw, but that's a double-edged sword--it means that a marquee player can be gone before you know it. But stars aside, better fields only improve the game in the long run. If there were a qualifier for eight of the 64 spots, I'd be even more impressed with this new format.