Odds and Ends
First, this story about the wildcard into the French Open qualifying won by Jamie Hampton appeared early this week on the TennisWeek website, and I should have included it in the Clay time post yesterday. I think the decision to trade Grand Slam wildcards adds a little team sport flavor to tennis and the USTA is obviously willing to deal. I also know that tournaments to decide who gets them are popular in Key Biscayne. It does seem much more fair than just awarding them, but then it's the invitation to compete that is the prize and that is still in the USTA's hands. No glaring omissions in this group of eight; Alexa Glatch and Chelsey Gullickson probably just couldn't make it.
Speaking of Key Biscayne, last week Paul Roetert issued a response to Rhiannon Potkey's The College Conundrum, which denied that the USTA discourages players from attending college.
Donald Young will not be going to college any time soon, but he's followed up his Easter Bowl championship with a win at the Vero Beach Futures event this week. The TCPalm has the story here. I don't quite see the Nadal forehand comparison, but I do agree that Young should thrive on the clay.
4 comments:
Collette, did you notice that Rhyne Williams qualfied for that Florida Futures Tournament that Donald Young is playing in?
I also see that Marcus Fugate retired in his match which seems to becoming a more common occurence. I wonder if he has some sort of chronic injury.
With regard to Donald Young's forehand, it's a very "poor man's version" of Nadal. It's the same "kind" of stroke and they are both left-handed, but Nadal gets twice as much racket speed which gives his spin much more jump but also gives his hard ball twice the power.
colette, i agree with the above comment that racket head speed is probably the most important component of men's tennis. ryan sweeting is also in the same futures tournament and has enormous racket head speed.
ryan sweeting showed some amazing shot-making ability, even when having an off day (unforced errors). Return of serve of the big guy from Poland today was great to watch -
Donald Young gets knocked a lot for being one of the best juniors in the world. Hopefully he will have the last laugh.
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