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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Exclusive Berankis Interview; TCU Men's Tennis Put on Probation; Jan Silva on Nightline Tonight

Last month while I was at the North Miami Beach Futures, I had an opportunity to interview Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, the ITF World Junior Champion in 2007. Although Berankis signed with IMG and is not going to be playing college tennis, many of his insights into the game and its levels seemed appropriate for The Tennis Recruiting Network's audience. For the interview, click here.

TCU has been placed on two years of probation by the NCAA for infractions discovered while Joey Rive was head coach of the men's team. The details of the violations and the penalties were announced today on the NCAA website.

Another feature on six-year-old Jan Silva was released today on abc.com with the notation that it will air tonight on Nightline. There isn't anything new here that wasn't in Tom Perotta's Tennis Magazine piece, but those of you who would like more visuals than the YouTube clips out there might be interested in tuning in. I had hoped to see him myself when he was in Tampa, working with Steve Smith last month, but I missed him by a day or two. I guess it doesn't matter to TV that Tracy Austin's name is misspelled in this story, but they probably will get a few letters if they don't correct the Boris Becker error. Michael Chang is the youngest male to win a Grand Slam, not Becker.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Donald Young's chance is NOW! If he is going to have a breakout, it needs to happen in Memphis. Today he has Bjorkman, a vetern who is on his way down the hill. Can Jonas put together back to back wins over American youngsters? If DY3 wins then he has the winner of Benny Becker and Steve Darcis. Neither are people to be scared of. Benny Beck has struggled and Donald can frustrate him. Hopefully it will be a Roddick-Young final. We didnt get that matchup Down Under and I would like to see it.

Anonymous said...

Austin,

still in that camp of d young.

Even if he wins a match or two against a pro here or there -- after watching him play in the juniors and a number of ATP events- he has a very, very long way to go to break into the top 25.

yes, he is a top 100 player now and should be a top 50 player eventually --

don't bet on him being a top 25 and certainly no where near a top 10 ever, as he has been touted since he was 10 years old!!!

Anonymous said...

Man in the Moon, it's funny how you keep moving the bar by which to judge Donald Young. Just a while back you expressed strong skepticism that he would ever be a top 100 player. You were way off the mark. Now you concede that he will be top 50. Would you care to admit your folly? You've been so incessantly adamant in your negative assessment of Young that I think you should own up to your mistake. For my part, I'll admit that he broke the top 100 about a year earlier than I thought he would.

Your new proclamation that he'll never reach the top 25 is amusing considering both your previous mistake and Young's career trajectory. He's doing very well. Losing 7-6 in the third in the QFs of an ATP tournament as an 18-year-old is not an embarrassment or evidence of inevitable failure. I don't know how you can possibly be so bold in your prediction.

I guess the good news for you is that no matter what Young does, you can always revel in his supposed failure since he probably won't live up the unrealistic expectations placed upon him from when he was an early teen. You'll just keep moving the bar. If he breaks the top 25, you'll mock him for not doing it sooner and change your prediction to something along the lines of: "He still probably won't reach the top 10. Even if he does, he'll NEVER win a Grand Slam." You know I'm right. Rarely does your type (the type that seemingly has a personal grudge against a player) admit to being wrong and give a player the credit he deserves. It's easier to simply change the standard by which you judge him and continue to tear him down.

Does rooting for players to fail ever get old? Or is it a gift that keeps on giving? I'm curious.

Anonymous said...

David,

first and foremost I do not have a grudge against Young personally. He is now # 85 which is great, even though I think it is a false positive- "It is what it is".

I have a grudge against the way he plays and his approach to practice- which I have seen many times. I just don't think he puts out enough effort. He just doesn't think it is cool to sweat. He thinks he is better than he is.

Yes, he is in the top 100 and yes I did say a couple of years ago that I did not think he would be in the top 100.

I feel that I am running for a public office (President of the US, and moving the bar ala the Clinton camp) and you are going over my voting record, which btw I have no problem and I do admit when I am wrong, not like the politicians who can never be wrong.. But yes, I did say I didn't think he would make the top 100. In contrast to all my opponents (other tennis fans) who said he would be in the top 10.

The rankings are a part of life in tennis and yes, he made it to the third round of the US Open when a player defaulted / retired against him in the second round -- so he picked up a bundle of points in that event. No matter, he still made it to the third round. He also made it to the quarter-finals in Memphis because the second seed dropped out. None the less, he still made it to the quarters.

My point is -- he and many people think he is better than he is!!! I just don't think he is that good. Good is a relative point of view, whether it be in the amount of money you earn or in pro tennis how good your ranking is.

Personally, I just don't think a ranking of top 50 or even top 25 goes that far in the USA.

The USA in general, really only care about the top five at best maybe the top ten- as I said previously nobody knew who Todd Martin was except big time tennis fans - and he was in the top 7.

I don't wish Young any harm as far as his ranking goes, I just don't think he is that good.

He has been out on the tour for 4- 5 years - that is a fact. There are players that have been out a much shorter period of time, and are a year or so older that have done much, much better.

Frankly I do not think his coaches, and people that "handle him" are doing a great job and when you can't win points easily ( like Young) it is difficult to be a top player without a killer instinct and hustle!!

When you look at his age group (within a couple of years either way) he is way behind.

Nadal (2), Muarry (11), Gasquet (8), Kei N (won DelRay), Nole(3), Delpotro (59)Querry (66) Tsonga (16) Monfils (52).

BTW, I don't root for him to fail - "I just call them the way I see them" even if it is not the popular thought of the day.