Following the US Open: Day One
The first day at the US Open wasn't especially kind to U.S. players with Wayne Odesnik, qualifier Ryler De Heart (who won a five-set thriller from Olivier Rochus), and the winner of the Blake - Young match tonight the only ones to get through (Shenay Perry and Coco Vandeweghe are just taking the court).
Qualifiers Ryan Sweeting and Alexa Glatch lost as did wild cards Asia Muhammad, Ahsha Rolle and Brendan Evans. Muhammad was the first to go down, losing to Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-4, and the Las Vegas Sun had the story about her loss up by mid-afternoon. Does anyone know what the reporter can possibly be referring to when he cites Muhammad as defeating "three professionals ranked in the top 100 this summer"?
Several New York area publications are doing blogs, with usually a team of reporters or tennis-loving editorial employees contributing to their frequently updated sites. I was happy to see that Aron Pilhofer of the New York Times was back on their blogging team this year, as he has a keen interest in junior tennis and will, I hope, be a frequent companion of mine at junior matches next week. Click here for the New York Times blog. Newsday also has entered the blogging fray and their work can be found here. Finally, the New York Observer is also on site, providing their take on the daily action and atmosphere at the BJKUSTANTC.
And of course, Marcia Frost will be posting daily updates at collegeandjuniortennis.com.
14 comments:
Perhaps the reporter in the Asia article was talking about women she beat in the Las Vegas tournament who had a career high in the top 100?
It may seem like we havent done that well today, but weve actually done better than expected. Doubt many people had DeHeart taking out Ollie Rochus. I was very impressed he was able to come back in the 5th. The only matches Americans have been favored in all day was Davenport who won and now Blake over DY3. Donald is down 1-6 after 17min and has yet to start playing, "deer in the headlights" is the best way to describe it so far.
My guess on the 3 professionals ranked in the top 100 is that the reporter based it on historic rankings. Muhammed beat Czink, Malek and Bychkova, all 3 of whom have career high singles within the top 100.
Maybe the writer meant this year instead of this summer. She did beat players ranked (at that time) 81, 89, and 105 in the Las Vegas tournament in March.
When is the usta going to let Brendan Evans sink or swim on his own? Not saying he doesn't have game, but I feel like if you have to work to get into main draws it pushes you harder than being given the main draw. in the long run you're better off. ryler deheart, maybe?
As a Brit, I'd very much like to know why U.S. tennis doesn't have the great players it once had. Any opinions?
I dont neccessarily feel that Americans arent as good. I think the globalization of the world has now made us look less superior. You have to remember that all these countries were not playing 40, 30, 20 or even 10yrs ago. Because of that it made Americans look better, however I doubt they really were that much more talented than our players today. Now there are just so many other countries competing.
Also, the specialization at such a young age in America gives our kids less of a chance to get good at tennis before settling on another sport.
I dont want to hear another 20 post bashing of the USTA. Sometimes you have to look in the mirror called realism.
allan hardy,
that is the question many of us "yanks" have been asking for quite a while - and opinions galore have been expressed on this blog for almost 3 years.
To cut to the chase - even after thousands of posts- some of the most often said reasons are:
(1) the world has caught up to the U.S. as it did to the Aussies and the Brits of the 50's and 60's.
(2) there is a great debate concerning our federation (USTA) and how it is run and what the goals should be
(3) not quite sure that Tennis gets the best U.S. athletes- most going to basketball, baseball, American football
There are many opinions and the above are just mine - I do not speak for anyone but me.
to allen hardy
I would say the asnwer is in one word- USTA high performance and its approach for the last decade to focusing on 2 or 3 players per age group and giving them eery opportunity and letting all the other top junors essentially sink or swin on thier own and giving them minimal or no help financially. That is the long and short of it. And that approach is not about to change. Most recent example, giving CHristian Harrison a wild card into the main draw, a very talented 14 year old who has yet to prove himself at the ITF level in grades 4 or 5 but overlooking other older juniors who are coming into thier own is an exmaple of that. Christain Harrison should have been the qualies. Another example is the continued favoritism for Raynmond Sermento who again should have been in the qualies based on his ITF record at G1s and GAs over the past 6 months.
Wow, huge win for Querry today. Absolutely lit up Berdych. Interesting that DY and Levine are playing doubles together.
Colette,
In the wake of Wild Card recipients Melanie Oudin, Gail Brodsky, Asia Muhammad and Coco Vandeweghe losing in the first round I hope, when you do speak to someone from the USTA or, even better, Pat McEnroe they can give you a rational answer why those players were deserving of wildcards and Amanda McDowell wasn't.
In particular, Vandeweghe was out of her depth. She's got a big(ish) game but, on the pro tour, all she's proven so far is that she isn't ready to win at a high level. A player like Amanda Fink has won a $10K and been runner-up in a $50K (within the last two months). So, if the USTA tells you that McDowell wasn't deserving, could you ask why Fink wasn't?
**Julie Coin, after an excellent win over Casey Dellaqua, moves into the second round.**
The draws that the wildcards and to Kristie Ahn got were brutal. They played THREE players in the top 15 in the 1st rd. It's hard to judge if they are playing players that are out of there league right now.
Andrewd, in answer to your question regarding Amanda McDowell, the USTA feels that she is too old, and has little chance to be a top PRO Player. The players you mentioned that got the WC's, have tremendous upside. In the USTA's opinion.
In my opinion, the NCAA Champion, male and female should get an automatic spot in the main draw of the U.S Open.
I also think some of the younger nations' players are hungrier for it.
Also, in the U.K., the L.T.A. makes a fortune from Wimbledon and we still can't understand why we don't have more players in the top 100. But, hey, maybe if we took all assistance away from junior players and they really had to fight for success it might work better. Just a thought.
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