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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Catching Up With the Women

There are going to be many changes in the next Division I rankings, due out on Thursday, but not at the top of the women's team rankings, where Northwestern will stay after their impressive showing in Wisconsin at the ITA Women's Team Indoor. After taking out a very dangerous Miami team 6-1 in the opening round, the Wildcats barely got by Duke in the quarterfinals 4-3, but handled excellent teams from Notre Dame and Georgia in the semifinals and finals, dropping only one point. Duke gets a rematch on Feb. 28th in Evanston, and the Fighting Irish also travel to Northwestern in early April, but if the Wildcats get by those two teams and Georgia Tech, whom they face in Atlanta this Sunday, a perfect regular season is probable. Although that would obviously make Northwestern one of the teams to beat for NCAA title, there are several teams who can rival them, especially when play moves outside later this spring. So despite Northwestern's hold on the top spot, there is a still a lot of excitement left this season in women's college tennis. For the Northwestern website's story on the Indoor title yesterday, click here.

The ITA now has a team schedule page, that provides links to the dual match schedules of most colleges with tennis teams, so check out your local team's upcoming home matches and make plans to attend one.

Georgia freshman Chelsey Gullickson, who garnered the Bulldogs' sole point in yesterday's Team Indoor final against Northwestern by beating Maria Mosolova, the nation's top-ranked player, was the subject of last week's College Spotlight on usta.com. The seventh-ranked freshman is definitely a contender for the NCAA individual title in College Station, and she is publicly stating that as one of her goals.

And in case you missed it, wild card Melanie Oudin beat her Fed Cup teammate Jill Craybas in the first round at the WTA Cellular South Cup in Memphis Sunday, but fell today in the second round to Marina Erakovic of New Zealand. The Memphis Commercial Appeal had this story about Oudin's victory. Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito, who just turned 16 and also a wild card, won her first round match against Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-0.

The Sony Ericsson WTA website devoted a recent "Getting to Know" segment to former Clemson standout Julie Coin. Click here for that interview.

The Pro Circuit has a $25,000 women's event in Surprise, Arizona this week, where Kaitlyn Christian and Asia Muhammad have qualified for the main draw. The men are in Brownsville, Texas for a $15,000 event there. Wild card Jordan Cox won his first round match today. (correction--Cox lost, it was initially posted incorrectly on the draw). For complete results and draws, visit the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jordan Cox lost in Brownsville. He was clearly out matched and showed a lot of immaturity both tactically and emotionally.

Anonymous said...

Colette, the ATP site is now showing that Cox lost 1 & 5, instead of winning. As of last night, they showed Cox winning, so don't know if it was just originally an error or what.

I think that Donald Young may have just received his last wild card. If you never do anything with them, you aren't going to get them anymore. Does he have any chance of turning this rut around? Seems like Levine's momentum has stalled as well.

Anonymous said...

After watching Donald play at least 6 times at the challenger and ATP level I think i can safely say that until Donald develops a little bit of mental discipline he has no shot at cracking the top 50. Great skill sets but horrible tactics and lack of desire to make the right shot at the right time all the time. Zero discipline when he is on the court and unfortunately I feel this stems from to much time spent with a parent coach. As a coach of a top junior who also is my daughter you can only go so far in instilling toughness and discipline with out totally wrecking your relationship or creating mental disasters on the court. Donald is mentally and emotionaly handicapped on the court and he needs someone who can be the Alpha dog in his development and training or to put it more bluntly...he needs a kick in the but and he needs to allow himself to be coached. Also Jordan Cox seems like a nice kid and is a very good player but pro tennis should not be on his radar. He should play college tennis and see where that takes him. Another aspiring american junior with out the hint of a world class weapon.

Anonymous said...

you watched me play greg? "immaturity both tactically and emotionally"? first off it was 50 mph winds out there and i was doing all i could to win in the tough conditions. and i'm always going to be emotional. but it didn't affect my play. in the first set i was outmatched cuz the guy made no errors and didnt miss a pass.. 2nd set he came down to earth and i had chances to win it.. who are u?

jordan cox

Anonymous said...

Jordan

Hey why do you read this stuff and why do respond? But do agree with Greg that you should focus on developing your game until you have the consistent results that show you are ready to play at the pro level. Hope your coaches are telling you that.

Anonymous said...

hey tennis junky why do u read this stuff and why do u respond? i can do what i want. just telling the facts instead of the crap greg said. you're so right tennis junky i should develop my game. can you help me?.. not

Anonymous said...

Jordan, I was not trying to infuriate you I was just stating my opinions and by the way that is what blogs are for. You are right it was windy and miserable but it was miserable for both players. Young was changing speeds and getting the ball high to your backhand creating several shortballs that he hit for winners. And he figured out your tendency to pass down the line when you were under pressure off your back hand side. You often went for to much on your forehand when the wind was at your back resulting in many unforced errors. You also lost your patience and gave your opponent a tremdous lift when you through a temper tantrum at 4-4 in the 2nd set when the referee made a bad call. you were right but you lost your composure and you lost the set. I like your game but you need to get a lot stronger (weights) and you need to develop your first serve and increase your 1st serve percentage along with developing your forehand to be more of a weapon then it currently is in order to play with the big boys. Good luck in the future.

Anonymous said...

Colette, who is this kaitlyn christian girl? I just saw that she beat #211 in straight sets and coco vandeweghe at the 25k. These are very impressive results. Can anyone describe her game style and her age? Thanks in advance!!

Colette Lewis said...

She turned 17 last month, and is somewhat typical of the Southern California player, in that she plays very few ITFs.

I haven't seen her play since the Clay Courts last July, but she is not a typical power baseliner. She has a lot variety, slices often and is able to win points in many different ways.

She is considering Syracuse, Arizona State, Georgia Tech and USC, but is only a junior.

love-tennis said...

We know Kaitlyn quite well and our daughter has competed against her for years.

First of all, she is very unusual in that she is extremely positive. If she misses, she encourages herself. She doesn't beat herself up like most girls do. She is an athletic looking girl who loves to wear long pants more than shorts. I have had competitors mistake that for thinking she is not taking them seriously but it actually is just her clothing preference. Since being sponsored by Kswiss, I do notice that she has moved into the shorts arena more.

She plays a very consistent, more defensive game. She slices, dices, and mostly plays great defense, and ultimately drives her competitors nuts. She is not a power player.

She is humble, and a great team player.