Youth Is Served, but Nadal Serves a Bit Better - New York Times (registration required)

Youth Is Served, but Nadal Serves a Bit Better - New York Times-

As regular readers of zootennis know, I've been an unabashed Scoville Jenkins fan since I first saw him play, as a fourteen-year-old, in the 2001 Nationals in Kalamazoo. It was a treat to see him, four summers in a row, get better--bigger, stronger, smarter, and yet retain his sweet, low-key demeanor. But this summer, he elected not to defend his title, (a calculated risk because he needed the US Open wild card), so it has been a year now since I've seen him play. He spent the last twelve months playing the minor leagues, struggling with funding without a clothing/shoe deal of any consequence, but he demonstrated last night, in his loss to Nadal, that the pattern of steady improvement in his junior years has continued.

After watching every point of the match last night, I admit that doubts surfaced when he lost the first two games. Just how, I wondered, is he going to win points from Mr. Defense? Well, he showed me how. With a good first serve and a top-rung forehand that he wasn't afraid to hit. As McEnroe pointed out during the match, Jenkins had more forehand winners than Nadal, by a considerable margin. He had double the winners period, and even the fact that he had four times as many errors isn't that discouraging--there's a fearlessness in that number that's downright heartening. And to see what he learned from last year's Roddick pummeling--about the occasion, and how he could fit into it--was just more evidence of his ability to absorb the game's many lessons.

It was great fun to see his dad, Scoville Sr., in the players box, enjoying the moment, and his coach, Torrey Hawkins, still mouthing encouragement when Jenkins was down two sets and a break in the third. This is an entourage any player would be lucky to have. But he needs more than friends and supporters--he needs money, having just doubled his yearly earnings with the $25,000 he made for reaching the second round. Tom Ross of Octagon, the agency that signed Jenkins to a professional contract last year, said earlier this week that a clothing/shoe deal is in the works. Having limited knowledge of the details of endorsement contracts, I can only speculate on the likelihood that it will provide a financial cushion for Jenkins' next year of development. But potential sponsors would have to be more shortsighted than usual to disregard his attractive combination of work ethic, skill and personality.

Speaking of which, Jenkins is writing a diary for usopen.org, just as he did last year. The first two entries give a glimpse of how he's matured, personally and athletically, in the last year.