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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Querrey believes he's well served for pro game:: Ventura County Star



Rhiannon Potkey scooped everyone on the news that Sam Querrey has made his decision and will not be playing college tennis, opting for the pro tour instead. I spoke to Sam today and he's not sure how she heard about his signing with SFX early last week, but he was amazed how fast the word got around the tennis beat, once her story appeared this morning.

He'll be working with Colin Smeeton at SFX, and I asked if the fact that both the Bryan twins and Roddick are clients of that agency had any impact on his decision to sign with them. He said it didn't hurt, but that he just personally felt very comfortable with Smeeton.

I asked if he was planning on playing Kalamazoo in August and he gave a firm yes, saying that a semifinal showing at the Legg-Mason the week before (an SFX promoted ATP tournament where he's certain to get wild card) would be the only reason he would not return to the 'Zoo.


And in a related story by Bonnie DeSimone for espn.com, Vania King has most certainly NOT made a decision regarding her future as a pro, but has said it will be either pro tennis or college academics; she won't play if she decides on college. That's a bit odd, because eligibility for an athletic scholarship is really the only reason for retaining her amateur status.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not really odd at all. What she's saying is that if she goes to college she won't return to playing on the pro tour, not that she won't play at the college level. That's why she needs to retain her eligibility.

I don't know what her grades are like but she might see an athletic scholarship as her only way or best way to get into what she considers a good school. From that perspective it is a pretty sane choice.

Anonymous said...

In Collette's defense, you might be right that this is what Vania King meant by her statements because it seems like the only logical explanation; however,the story and her quotes were very vague and ambiguous and so I don't know why you would expect Collette to read her mind as to what Ms. King really meant.

Colette Lewis said...

I think "anonymous" is correct--King wll probably play in college, but not pro tennis after college.

Anonymous said...

Kind of hard to figure this family out. I'm sure they are very nice and not trying to knock them, but saying she doesn't plan to pursue a pro career if she goes to college seems like an odd statement to make this early in the game. Plus her brother has had some really negative statements regarding his decision to go to college. My take is that Phil King deciding to go to college was the best decision he ever made - turned out he had the tools to be a great player, but not a successful pro. Plus he has a degree from Duke to show for it. Had he decided to skip college my guess is that he pro career would be over by now.

Anonymous said...

It seems like Phillip King was scared to fail at tennis. He had a good comment about you never hear about the guys who fail and disappear from the tour again, but this is the guy who dominated people like Fish, Ginepri and Roddick as he was making his decision whether to go to school or not. He lost like 3 sets on his way to the title in '99, then didnt lose one at all in '00, he beat Fish and Ginepri in those title matches. Each of which turned pro the following year. Then he went to college and had a great freshman year, but it was all downhill from there. Im sure he got a great education and had fun playing college tennis, but if your 18 and ranked as high as he was he would have made enough money on tour to pay for whatever school hed like to go to after his career.

Normally I'm in favor of top juniors going to college for at least a year or two, but its so well documented that the ones who stay all four years lose their talent and end up where hes ending up now, ranked in the 300's playing in Asia at a futures tournamen thats probably has more players at it than fans.

Instead of taking one year off after high school to see if he had what it takes to move up the rankings we'll probably never find out how good he could have been. Its not like he was Scott Oudsema, Phillip Simmonds, Brendan Evans, Wayne Odesnik, Mykata Kryvonos, all of which turned pro without actually ever proving any concrete evidence that they were "cant miss" prospects outside of doubles and are now floating from 250-600 or so in the rankings. Hopefully Levine, Fugate, Smyczek, Neilly and Clayton wont make the same mistake and get themselves to college in the fall for at least a year to prove they belong.

Back to King, I wonder how many two-time 18's Zoo winners went to college all four years and fizzled like him, or who went to college at all? Well actually I know the answer and its Paul Goldstein. So there's one anomaly, now name another...

Anonymous said...

Phillip King was not offered any significant endorsement contract despite his great junior exploits. Had he been offered something that Ginepri, Brendan Evans or Oudsema got I think he would have considered it very seriously. I know this because King was interviewed for the Duke University newspaper and was quoted on this subject.

My understanding is that the pro scouts thought he was too much of a grinder and overachiever without much power and size and that he therefore didn't have that much potential.

This style of game won't hurt his sister on the WTA, but the scouts felt that the ATP was a different story.

The scouts might have been wrong but this is what has been said.

The scouts did temporarily look pretty stupid when they passed on Brian Vahaly and went instead with Robby Ginepri who was the same age and also from Atlanta. They supposedly picked Ginepri because he was faster and taller than Vahaly. That is why Vahaly went to college. When Vahaly graduated from the University of Virginia he actually grew to about 6 ft. and then passed Ginepri in the ATP rankings.

I agree that some of these kids should not turn pro when there is no evidence that they have a good shot of making it. Sam Querrey is an exception but I understand that Marcus Fugate has turned pro even though he has never even won a U.S. junior championship. Tim Neilly is now coming to his senses and considering college now that he realizes that he hasn't won much since his surprise Orange Bowl win. I think that Jesse Levine is leaning towards college now but Michael Shabaz seems to be thinking about the pros only.

Anonymous said...

Im glad someone has some inside information, keep it coming. One thing though, Vahaly is 4yrs older than Ginepri. He graduated college when Robby graduated high school.

Anonymous said...

I don't know King but I have seen some grinders. They said Leyton Hewitt didn't have much of a future because he was just a grinder.

Anonymous said...

I hadn't realized that Vahaly was 4 years older than Ginepri. Thanks for the info, Austin.

With regard to Leyton Hewitt being a grinder, I agree that he is another example of someone breaking the stereotype of a grinder who couldn't make it in the pros, but I think one thing to consider is the fact that both Hewitt and Michael Chang had not just very good speed, but extraordinary speed. Phillip King reportedly only had very good speed. In my opinion, if Donald Young makes it big, the most likely thing that will get him there is that he has extraordinary foot speed which might make up for his alarming lack of firepower on his groundstrokes.

Anonymous said...

Hey Austin, I just looked it up and, just fyi, Vahaly is more like 3 years and 3 months older than Ginepri. They might be 4 grades apart, but Vahaly was born July 19, 1974; whereas Ginepri was born October of 1982.