Kalamazoo Preview; Jenkins & Krajicek Top Seeds in 18s Doubles; Final Call for Tournament Picks
©Colette Lewis 2008--
Kalamazoo MI--
The buzz around registration at Markin Center and practice at Stowe Stadium the day before the Nats begin is always full of excitement and anticipation. But this year everyone seems even more enthusiastic, marveling about the depth of the 18s and the unprecendented strength of the 16s. That's the theme of my Kalamazoo preview today for The Tennis Recruiting Network.
On Thursday night, the seeds for the 18s doubles championship are revealed, which is especially important in Kalamazoo because the top seeded team provides the opposition for the professionals who are in town for the Opening Night Exhibition. Jarmere Jenkins and Austin Krajicek, who reached the US Open Junior Championships final in 2006, received the No. 1 seed, and they will warm up for their match against John Isner and Scott Oudesma with a second round match Friday afternoon (seeds receive first round byes).
For complete doubles draws, see ustaboys.com.
In past years, I've written for ustaboys.com and simply used zootennis to link to my stories there. This year, I will be posting only to zootennis.com, so check back here daily for Nats at the Zoo coverage. Marcia Frost will also be in Kalamazoo for the first part of the tournament, so visit collegandjuniortennis.com for her coverage.
If you want to pick the winners, you have until Friday midnight Eastern Time to do so. The post for the contest is here.
4 comments:
I guess the field may be deeper, but I dont know if I really believe that. The reason I think people are saying that is because there is no clear favorite like there is in most years. Just using the past two years as an example, Young was the clear favorite in '06 and McClune was as well last year. This year I dont think anyone would be surprised to see a double digit seed win the tournament. Some would actually argue that the #12 seed is the favorite.
When I think of something in terms of deeper, I think quality, and if you look at the international results they have not been that great compared to years past.
A couple upsets already - William Parker and Spencer Smith have gone down in the round of 256. Kandath dismissed Stevens rather easily - 2 & 4. He is going to be a tough out.
Some interesting combinations in doubles - I would have thought that Thacher and Klahn would play together, given that they will be teammates a couple weeks from now.
Brent - actually have a good point . Since Thacher and Klahn are Stanfords top dogs , how come they are not playing dubs together. I don't think they ever played,come to think of it . Rivalry brewing ?
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