Luke Jensen Named Women's Coach at Syracuse
Luke Jensen picked a good day for maximum publicity for the announcement that he's been named the women's tennis coach at the University of Syracuse. A washout in New York means a lot of tennis press looking for stories, and this is certainly a surprising one.
Jensen hopes to serve as head coach and to continue as a commentator and tennis ambassador, and his boss apparently supports this ambition, at least for now. I know Jensen loves the game, but does he have the technical expertise and enough experience in coaching to handle the job? Attitude and motivation are big parts of coaching, but they aren't the only parts. Knowledge must be conveyed. Players that want to get better need to know how.
Charlie Bricker posted a story on Lauren Albanese today, while TennisWorld's Peter Bodo spent some time watching the Donald Young/Novak Djokovic match yesterday and didn't like what he saw regarding Young's game.
18 comments:
I was just curious if anyone saw Young's match against Djokovic, ie, any match observations, and what he was doing especially in that first set?
It would be nice if Bodo explained what exactly he thought was amiss in Young's game.
I watched the interview of Young after his match against Djokovic on usopen.org yesterday and he was asked if he was lifting weights. He kind of smirked and laughed a little and said, "no". Good luck developing power and not cramping in grand slams with that regimen, but at least he finally won a set. Hopefully that will give him some confidence for the next tournament.
Here's a link to it if anyone is interested in watching it.
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2006-08-28/200608281156819261171.html
I was also dissapointed that USA Network decided to show the Henin-Hardenne massacre instead of showing us at least some bits and pieces of Young's match. I may be wrong, but I would think showing an American men's match on U.S. television would be more popular than showing a forgeiner not named Sharapova. At least we got to see some of Mardy's match. It just would have been nice to see Young when he was winning the 1st set to give a glimpse of the future.
Speaking of Sharapova, is that Alexa Glatch walking behind her, serving to her, in the new Nike ad, "I feel pretty?"
Yep, thats definately Glatch in the Nike ad with Sharapova.
Donald Young, up until this point, is built like Paul Goldstein and Brennan Boyajian. I have seen all three of those players play in many different arenas, in different age classes, over many years.
All 3 are terrific players. However, Donald does not possess the fight of Goldstein or Boyajian on "EVERY POINT". Goldstein and Boyajian would not quit on a single point throughout an entire match. They would fight you to the death. Primarily, because they did not have a killer serve, forehand or major weapon to win a point quickly. What all three do have -- is great coverage of the court, smarts, angles and great hands.
Donald has the attitude of a big serve, quick point player-or sometimes relies on winning a point on one swing of the racquet. The problem is he doesn’t have the goods at this time for that type of game.
He might get away with that in the juniors—but unless he changes his attitude, or grows to be 6 '-4" –he will have a very, very tough time at the ATP level.
Roddick who was a very small player (5 ft 7 in) in the juniors and played like Goldstein and Boyajian and had their “FIGHT TO THE LAST POINT AND EVERY POINT" attitude. Roddick then grows to 6’ 3” ( not 6’1” as he is listed) but still maintained that attitude is one of the reasons he was # 1 in the world. He lost his way for a few years ( still , no so bad to be in the top 5 for the last few years) but now seems to have regained his fight ---those are the type players that achieve greatness.
Donald can hang out with Roddick, Blake Fish , Bob L and any body else he wants –but until he changes his attitude or grows 4-5 inches and develop serious big time weapons —he will have a very, very, long way to go in the ATP.
Donald is quickly finding out that no one on the Pro tour or in life is entitled to anything. And just showing up is not going to get it done.
And the three magical words “I DID IT” are worth more than any gift of a Wild Card (although not in this case, he earned it by winning the Nationals), entitlement-- whether it be on a tennis court, personal endeavors on or off the court included.
And for the reason in the above paragraph, smart, rich ( relative term) parents in my opinion, should not over indulge their children—which is another completely different topic.
I can't figure out why you think Luke Jensen doesn't have the technical expertise to be a college coach. He won the National 18's doubles title in 1984 with Patrick McEnroe. He has been a top player having won the French Open doubles with his brother Murphy.
Donna Ditota in her article had Luke's roots wrong. He was originally from Ludington, MI and not from Grayling. His first tennis teacher when he was very very young was my nephew, Mike Stowe (now deceased). I believe Luke was about 5 years old when he started tennis with group lessons back in Ludington.
This post refers back to Schnugg/Damico doubles. As main draw participants they will each "earn" $5,000.00. As an amateur they need to cover their expenses. Their hotel will be comped, Damico receives free coaching from the USTA, Nate from his brother and air doesn't cost that much. Hmmm, so, what do y'all think about that, NCAA best be watching. Ryan Sweeting's take went up to over $26,000 for todays advance over Coria. I think Ryan will never be a Gator.
If Ryan didn't declare himself a professional before the tournament he can't get the money, only cover his expenses. I'm almost positive he'll be a Gator this fall.
Ahh, the dreaded check of "the box." Classes started at UF on the 23rd, he hasn't had much time to be there!
26 G's doesn't go too far. After taxes he could buy a decent car, that's about it.
So let's recap how our 19-20yr old wildcard guys have done. Kuznetsov won 6 games against Haas. Simmonds won 5 against Gasquet. Jenkins is currently down 7-5,6-4,4-4 to Bjorkman. Odesnik won 13 games against Sluiter. 11.5 sets so far, our guys have won zero. None were expected to win, but I wish they could have been more competitive since they have all been pro for 2yrs. Good thing we got Sam "the man" Querrey putting a beatdown on Kohlschrieber right now up a set and a break.
Austin ,
What would we do without you ? You just have all the inside scoop . Do you work ? Maybe self-employed ? No offense , but keep doing what you're doing , because it is absolutely fastinating how you keep all of us informed !
Ryan declared himself an amateur before the draw started. He cannot take any prize money no matter how far he advances. Even if he announces that he is now a professional, he has to wait until the next tournament to receive any money. He will, however, be given some money for "expenses."
I remember Alexandra Stevenson entering Wimbledon as an amateur the year she made the SF (and turned pro during it). I think her mother raised a big stink about her being able to get the prize money and I think they may have given in, allowed her to take it when she switched to being a pro. Not certain though.
I google that Stevenson story and found this, of course ATP could handle things differently (although I'm sure USTA Play Dev. will gladly help Sweeting obtain pro status)
Stevenson assured of prize money
WIMBLEDON, June 29 (AP) — Alexandra Stevenson will get her Wimbledon prize money after all.
The WTA Tour had ruled the 18-year-old American entered as an amateur and was ineligible for prize money. But Wimbledon officials stepped in yesterday and over-ruled, saying Stevenson had professional status and was entitled to her winnings.
The player’s mother, Ms Samantha Stevenson, had threatened to take legal action to obtain the prize money.
WTA Tour rules and Grand Slam rules state that a player who begins the "first match as an amateur may not receive prize money during that tournament."
However, Wimbledon officials said their guidelines assume "all players are professionals unless they are notified otherwise".
I am not sure where you are getting your information from about Drew and Clint, but I am know both of them, and Clint is not even considering going to UT. Clint is the man, and he owns the little USTA kids everyone is hyping up
Colette
Just saw si article on state of jr tennis on si.com. to the point
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