Scattered Thoughts on the US Open Junior Championships
It's a good time to review the (mostly) dry U.S. Open Junior tournament, as it brings back memories of the sunshine and blue skies. The storm I mentioned yesterday did produce a tornado in nearby Paw Paw, but Kalamazoo escaped without damage or power outages. It's been rain, rain and more rain, however, with five inches in the last 24 hours, and we are now approaching 11 inches for the month.
A lot of the items I heard or observed in New York didn't make it into my daily posts, so I've done a kind of shorthand here on some items you may find interesting. If you were there, feel free to chime in with additions, comments, opinions, whatever.
Most head-scratching result:
Victoria Kamenskaya def. No. 1 Seed Arantxa Rus 6-4, 6-1 --first round
Borut Puc & Juan Spir def. No. 3 seeds Chase Buchanan & Ryan Harrison 7-6(5) 6-4 --first round
Most entertaining match all-U.S. division:
CoCo Vandeweghe def. Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4 --second round
Devin Britton def. Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-3 --third round
Most entertaining match non-U.S. division:
Grigor Dimitrov def. Tsung-Hua Yang 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 --semifinals
Gabriela Paz def. Rebecca Marino 6-4, 7-6(7) --first round
Most unexpected performance:
Devin Britton, qualifier, reaches singles final
Alex Llompart lucky loser, reaches singles third round and doubles semifinal
Most debatable officiating:
Taunting game penalty to Katarzyna Piter vs. Sloane Stephens --second round
No racquet abuse warning to Rhyne Williams vs. Ryan Harrison --third round
Not again:
Jarmere Jenkins retires vs. Krajinovic --first round
Gail Brodsky gets point penalty for racquet abuse at set point vs. Kristina Mladenovic --quarterfinals
First time for everything:
Paz def. Oudin in semifinals after going 0-4 against her in '07-08
Rhyne Williams def. Ryan Harrison for his first win ever over 16-year-old rival
You'll be missed:
Faye Andrews, ITF
Awesome addition:
Andrew Labovitz USTA PR
Most overpriced item at thr USTA BJK NTC:
Ice cream bar $5
Racquet stringing $30
Best scheduling decision:
Finishing doubles on Friday
Worst scheduling decision:
Playing boys and girls final simultaneously
Hope you're back next year:
Tennis Channel coverage of the junior finals
Steve Pratt, usopen.org
Pro tennis writers most interested in juniors:
Neil Harman, The Times of London
Joel Drucker, The Tennis Channel
MIA:
Radar gun on court 11 or any outside "show" court
Match stats that include winners & unforced errors
Heard lots of praise for:
Player food
"Coming Attractions", a new USTA publication highlighting juniors
Heard lots of griping about:
The junior locker room
Scheduling first round matches for Tuesday
Best hitting partners:
Nathan Pasha: Rafael Nadal
Chase Buchanan & Ryan Harrison: Andy Roddick
Christian Harrison: John McEnroe
Evan King: Sam Querrey
9 comments:
Didnt Harrison hit with roddick like 4 times and then also work out federer and nadal?
Collete....Jordan Cox also practiced with Rafael Nadal
2 things -
Are you saying that Tennis Channel will not be showing the Jr Final?
Also - why do you think that the women pro players don't hit with the junior girls like the guys do?
edited question:
Also - why do you think that the women pro players don't hit with the junior girls like the pro men hit with the junior boys?
9/14/2008
RIP David Foster Wallace - everyone should read Infinite Jest for his portrayal of junior tennis academy life, among other things. Plus his other tennis nonfiction.
Not sure about Nadal. He did hit with Roddick quite a few times and then Federer once.
Changing topic to women's college tennis -- at the U. of Iowa team.....Sonja Molnar was to be an incoming freshman there, but not on roster.....anyone know what happened there, or where she is now playing?
Pasha loses to Fowler and Britton gets to finals and Pasha gets to hit with Nadal. Am I missing something here?
Tennisobserver, Yes you are missing something. The fact that if you are still in the tournament and have had a tough match you most likely don't want to hit again no matter who it is because you are worrying about your on match the next day.
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