Larcher de Brito Qualifies for WTA Stanford Tournament; Roetert Discusses Tennis Future for U.S.
After a very long drive through the always lush and sometimes soggy-looking corn and soybean farms along the entire length of Illinois, I've arrived in Memphis for the Girls 18s Clay Courts. A look at the draws this evening tells me I haven't missed any major upsets, as the top 16 seeds all made it through their first matches today (the seeds have byes in the first round). The forecast for Tuesday is for low 90s, but with tolerable humidity, so I'm looking forward to some excellent third round matches at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
When Michelle Larcher de Brito won the Orange Bowl last December, she said that she was basically done with junior tennis, and she has been true to her word. Although her results have not been remarkable since she reached the third round of the Sony Ericsson, where she beat Agnieszka Radwanska, today she qualified for the Bank of the West Classic, a Tier II WTA event at Stanford. Nick Bollettieri has a brief story about her results and also some photos of some of the pros and juniors training at the Bradenton academy. And news of Taylor Dent's comeback. Click here for Nick's blog.
And the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review spoke to Paul Roetert of USTA High Performance on the future of tennis in the U.S.
7 comments:
Some interesting results in Delray...
- Sarmiento vs. Bangoura and Burkhardt vs. Vanoverbeek would be the two matches I would want to see from this round
- surprised De Coster is not seeded. He beat Rossi badly.
- Egger got beat badly in the first round. Seems like his star has fallen a fair amount.
I just looked on the georgia tech women's website and saw a much shorter roster! Knew about graduation of Miller and McCray and transfer of Flower - but why isn't Maya Johansson listed? Did she leave too?
Watcher, David, James Timothy, family friend, et.al.
Watcher-so much for your comment of "old tennis fan with no authority" It seems this old tennis fan has come up with comments that PEOPLE WITH AUTHORITY are now spouting!!!
1 more "expert" (Paul Roetert)this time the head of USTA High Performance - now basically quotes exactly - almost word for word what I have been saying for the past 3-4 years. It is not negative - it is REALITY. BTW Roetert, now joins the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many other experts saying what I have said ad nausum, except they are 3 years late.
If you read the Roetert article, today July 10th 2008 and it sounds familiar - that's because I have been saying this forever.
Below are some of the highlights of the Roetert article and I quote
"Downward trend
A look at the number of American men in the top 10, top 50 and top 100 in the world rankings through the years:
Year Top 10 Top 50 Top 100
2008 2 4 10
1998 1 7 10
1988 5 12 27
1978 5 21 34
________________________________________
The Americans' recent struggles became even more evident at the just-completed Wimbledon Championships, where -- for the first time since 1926 -- no U.S. men's player advanced to the second week of the world's most prestigious tennis tournament
Paul Roetert, the USTA's managing director of player development, thinks part of the reason why American men's tennis has dipped is simply that the other countries have gotten better.
And Roetert thinks the successes of other countries coupled with international failures by the U.S. have led to a negative view of men's tennis in America.
"I think the perception has been that some of the players have been a little soft, and they don't have incentive and motivation to get to the top," Roetert said.
Instilling a hard work ethic is one of the goals of the new training center. But the residents, ages 14 to 18, learn more than just how to play the game.
They are also educated in sports medicine, psychology and even physiology to prepare them for the rigors of the professional ranks."
Collette, Please do not print another stupid comment from "Man on the Moon." His comments ad nauseum are ad nauseating. He is the greatest ever at overstating the obvious. He has said nothing that we didn't already know and comes on here like he is some kind of prophet or something. Others just choose not to be so critical or NEGATIVE and yes many of his comments are NEGATIVE. I know he will write some lame response that you will print with examples of how wonderful a parent or tennis guru he is or about how much money he and his sons make but do us all a favor and spare us some of his rubbish once in a while because it truly is AD NAUSEATING to read. He has to be from New York or somewhere close. Nobody else could be that full of themselves. If he ever has the guts to use his real name I will gladly use mine. I can't help but wonder if he is really bitter about his kids not becoming professional players and that is why he is on here spouting off so much.
Totally agree with "tiredof his comments" re man o the moon. Enough already with the self serving, negative comments.
I have always liked this site, and respected all the opinions. Of course some people get on your nerves, but so what!! I know in the past you have stated that you will pick and choose what gets posted because its your site. Not that my opinion matters, but I am very pleased that you have allowed Man on the Moon's comments, and the following ones of the people that are annoyed by him.
All just opinions Colette, I've stated this before, but as long as bad language is not displayed, what harm is there to display everyone's thoughts on the world of tennis?! Bruised feelings and ego's? Reading something, and then being annoyed after you have read it? Again, the more you are allowing this, the more I enjoy this site. It becomes LESS of some sort of "club", and MORE of a "forum" of opinions.
ga tech fan:
Maya Johansson has left Georgia Tech.
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