Chasing the Dream, Russian Style; Anaheim Plans to Upgrade City Facility
I'm attending a USTA Boys Nationals wrapup meeting tonight, so I need to get this post up early, and this is a story that I've been meaning to link to for a while. Although it's not nearly as comprehensive or detailed as the March New York Times story that delved into the Russian tennis revolution, this AP article from last month does serve as a reminder of what parents are willing to do to support their daughters' dreams of becoming the next Maria Sharapova. One of the players mentioned, Yana Buchina, played in the U.S. Open Juniors, getting in as a lucky loser when Alexa Glatch withdrew.
This LA Times article about the city of Anaheim's determination to save the municipal tennis center is a very positive one, given all that's been written lately about tennis clubs closing in Southern California. I'm 99% sure that Mike Nelson, the club's new operator, is the father of USC senior and two-time NCAA finalist Lindsey Nelson.
8 comments:
I know this isnt on topic but the preseason college rankings are out now and I wondered if you had any idea how they were made up?
I was looking at them and saw that Nina Henkel wasn't on the list of 125 but on June 1 she was ranked 20. Amanda Craddock was ranked 60 on June 1 and her ranking should have gone up (she beat the much higher ranked Banada and Henkel) but she isn't even in the top 125. Amanda McDowell's ranking went up from 90 to 60, but her wins came at #4 and during the duel match season she only beat two ranked players and both of them were ranked lower than her.
Totatlly confused, can anyone offer an explanation?
college rankings dont tend to make much sense. Especially when it are the rankings outside of the top20 or 30. The best usually rise to the top, but even then that might just mean top10 if you don't play #1 for your team. If Luis Flores or Travis Helgeson played the top spot for UGA they may have been top5. It really just depends, make sure you dominate during the fall during individual competition if you want to be ranked high.
Could someone either give me a reference or give a brief explanation how college team/singles rankings work?
for college players their ranking is a point of pride. If they lose it, even for one rankings period, they want it to be because of their play, not some weird system. Most of them, even the really good ones, will never play on a winning team in sectionals or nationals. but there is a greater chance they can get a top 100 ranking. Its also a real boost for their school and its tennis program to have someone top 100.
Here's some others that I just can't understand, nomatter how many ways I look at it.
Courtney Zauft went 17-13 playing mainly at #3 with early matches at #2. She won 3 matches against players ranked in the top 100, one of those was against a player in the top 50. Her ranking on June 1 was #118. In the pre-season ranking she is listed at #84.
Amanda Craddock went 35-10 playing at the #3 position for the eventual national champions. She had 7 wins against top 100 players, 4 were against top 50 players. Her rankings on June 1 was #60. In the pre-season ranking she is unranked.
Whitney McCray (this is one I just can't find a reason for) played only 18 singles matches all year, at number 6, went 13-5, only played 4 times in duel matches, and her last singles match was on the 2/24/2007. On June 1 she was ranked 94. In the pre-season list she's ranked at 64. How in the world can your ranking improve that much when didn't play singles the last THREE MONTHS of the duel match season?
Kirsten Flower didnt get to start in singles for the Yellow Jackets but had a good enough ranking to make the singles draw solely based on her fall individual performance.
that is because she had a huge fall as well as some good wins early in the spring (national team indoors i think, where she was playing top 3) before she worked her way out of the lineup
the coaches/voters pull all the seniors (or players that turned pro) out and just move everyone up. so if a player finshed say 40 and there were 10 seniors in front of her she'd be 30 in the preseason rankings ... henkel and craddock left school, otherwise they'd be included
austin,
nomatter what happens in the last preseason it just can't ever make sense for a player to be dropped from their team's singles line-up due to poor results but have their ranking improve. That totally goes against everything that competition is about.
But, can you explain Craddock and McCray?
Post a Comment