Burkhardt Commits to Florida; Eddie Herr Acceptances; Berankis at Bollettieri's
The Tennis Recruiting Network is providing wall-to-wall coverage of the busy commitment period for recruits and today's lead story is a result of my conversation with Joey Burkhardt about his choice of the University of Florida Gators. I spoke to Andy Jackson about Burkhardt this past weekend and he's excited about having him on the team, and he confirmed that yes, Burkhardt is a very talented basketball player.
I haven't been able to locate the acceptances for the Orange Bowl, which I thought were going to be out last Friday, but the Eddie Herr acceptances are out, and the boys 18s field looks exceptionally strong. With junior slam winners Ricardas Berankis (US Open) and Vlad Ignatic (French Open), plus US Open finalist Jerzy Janowicz, Gastao Elias (who just won last week's Futures in Mexico), Rhyne Williams, Wil Spencer, Austin Krajicek, Ryan Harrison, Yuki Bhambri and Bernard Tomic, there's a multitude of excellent players. The qualifying is also strong, with Chase Buchanan, Alex Domijan, Tennys Sandgren and Bo Seal in that group. For a complete list of all four age group competitors, click here.
Berankis, who is playing in Mexico this week (where Harrison and Krajicek have qualified), is the subject of this profile by Mic Huber of the Herald Tribune. As one of the reporters in New York that Berankis spoke with, I can confidently say his answers were not confined to "yes", "no" and "of course." The next issue of SMASH, which should be out in the next couple of weeks, will attest to that, if you read his answers to the Five Questions feature I regularly conduct for the magazine.
While I was busy with the ITA Indoor, the ITF Grade 2 in South Carolina was played. Melanie Oudin took her 16th straight junior match, losing only 17 games in six matches, on her way to the girls title. Alexei Grigorov of Russia defeated Dennis Nevolo in the boys' final and teamed with Ryan Noble to win the doubles (Bo Seal played with Tennys Sandgren). The girls doubles was won by Gabriela Paz and Valeria Solovieva.
And finally, the Challenger circuit is in Nashville this week and it's good to see Brian Baker's name in a draw for the first time in two years. For the draws, see the USTA Pro Circuit page.
17 comments:
congrats for ryan!
first atp point and the 4th 1993 in the world that have one
collarini(arg), bahmbri(ind), souto and now harrison...
nice tournament eddie herr
i'm from argentina... sory for my english is not so good
Good pickup for Florida after missing out on Spencer, Krajicek and Nevolo. Gonna be a tough team down in Gainesville for years to come.
Colette,
Something I would be interested to know is how great an emphasis do the kids place on the academic reputation of a school as opposed to its reputation for tennis and the likelihood of the team making it to the NCAA finals. In particular, I think it would be interesting to know what the thought process is for those players whose junior records would merit a scholarship. How are they using such a valuable tool - to continue on with a tennis career that will, in all likelihood, end with college or to get the best possible education at the most highly rated institution?
I appreciate that for a player like Kellen Damico, who potentially has the game to go pro and make a living on the circuit, tennis could sensibly take precedence. However, for the vast majority of others, that won't be the case. Schools such as Stanford, Duke, UCLA, USC and a few others can give a student access to both academics and high calibre sporting programmes. However, for the majority there will be a trade-off.
Does anyone have any clue as to why Emmett Egger apparently didn't sign up for Eddie Herr when he has played this tournament every year since he was 10 years old? This is particularly puzzling because he is in his final year of 14s.
I agree that it is great to see Brian Baker playing and winning his first round. If he can stay healthy he should be a top 50 player.
I believe that Egger is participating in the camp that the USTA is conducting at the Davis Cup in Portland
College is a personal choice. People sit here and make judgements about where people choose to go to school. Yes, academics vs tennis, there is often a trade off.But this is true of anyone applying to school who may not play a sport. People say, go to the best possible acadmeic program you can, but what if that's not the right choice for an individual. This blogg can be very interesting at times and very annoying as well. People giving their opinions about individuals that they know nothing about.
Stanford, Duke, UCLA, USC, and a few others-how narrow can you be.
anonymous (Colette, why are you still allowing opinions from those who are too lazy to include a name?),
While certain schools might not be a good fit for one person there are more than enough that will be a good or good enough fit,have an excellent academic reputation and allow the student to play tennis as well - possibly on scholarship. Are they being considered and if not, why not? Is the prestige of playing Division I sport outstripping the prestige and academic reputation of the school as a whole? Do the choices of Americans differ to those of foreign players? Those are all perfectly valid questions which should be and need to be asked. Leaving it at, 'college is a personal choice' is only useful to those people who think 'because' qualifies as an answer.
"why are you still allowing opinions from those who are too lazy to include a name" Because perhaps Colette has not 100% relented to making this board a "good ol boys" forum, where only things she agrees with are posted. (though the more I read this board, the closer she is getting)
A true blog would allow opinions, of course bad language would not/should be tolerated, but a board with everybody's name on it, especially within the small world of American Junior Tennis is perplexing. It sends the message that everything should be smelling of roses out there, and if it isnt, then you better be able to answer to "so and so" at the next junior or College tournament out there. A true blog. Yeah right. As this board has become, I will sign my name, "gutless anonymous poster".
gutless anon. poster,
I certainly do not always or even most of the time agree with Colette. It is probably close to 50%, yet she posts 99% of my comments.
The blogs she does not post for me -are when I might cross the line in reference to another blogger when I might not be so nice.
However, she has always posted my opinions-whether she agrees with them or not and there has been times when we are diametrically opposite.
I think what Andrewd is asking is that the blogger takes a name, not necessarily his real name (as I am Man in the Moon) but a name so that it is easily distinguishable so as to respond and keep the continuity of the dialogue instead of just replying to ANON. which sometimes is hard to follow -even for a reader of the blogs.
And you are correct, I have been involved for many years in junior, collegiate and ATP Pro tennis and do not want my opinions (with my true identity) known because there are many times I go against the establishment or certain players and it would be very uncomfortable if my absolute true feelings were made public.
There are very, very few people on this blog or any other blogs that list there true idenity, yet they use fake monikers -problably for the same reasons that I do.
So, Mr. Gutless Anon. I guess we are the same -- as is most everyone else who posts on a blog, who use fake names.
Man in the Moon, I agree with you. And if indeed we can express whatever opinions we want, just as long as we have a "name" attached to it, other than "anonymous", is great! I believe ALL comments should be allowed on this board in this format. AS LONG as they are not abusive to whatever individual is mentioned, or bad language is used. The "abusive" is a judgement call by Colette. Sometimes "abusive" to someone, may be just an "opinion" of somebody else. "gutless anonymous poster".
P.S. its a great feeling to be "official" now!
man in the moon,
That is exactly what I have a problem with. Continuity and ease of response are facilitated by each poster taking a unique handle - not merely 'anonymous'. Of course it doesn't have to be that person's real name, although it can be if, like myself, that's what they want.
Colette, gutless anon. poster, andrewd, et. al
I think the great thing about this blog is:
(1)the info a real junior / collegiate fan receives
(2) the exchange of ideas and thought processes and possibly the lively debate that ensues after people expose their true feelings in regard to junior / collegiate tennis.
(3) "gutless anonymous poster" if you click the "OTHER BOX" in "CHOOSE AN IDENITY" after the "WORD VERIFICATION" the Name will turn up yellow and then just put in your fake name.
(4)No, I do not work for Collete;
I just want to make it easier for people to idenity who you are and not wait until the end of the post to see who you are!!
Thanks Man in the Moon..I'll give it a try.
gutless anonymous poster
Perfecto!!!
I saw where Ryan Harrison picked up 2 points and got to the quarters of the Futures tournament in Mexico before barely losing to Berankis in 3 sets. Congrats on your 2nd point and almost beating the U.S. Open champion.
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