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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Easter Bowl Wrap; Carson Slide Show, YouTube Videos

My weekly post for The Tennis Recruiting Network rounds up all the winners from last week's Easter Bowl. Many of the participants there were under the impression that the tournament might not be in the Palm Springs area in 2010; tournament director Bryan Hamilton Fineberg assured me there is a contract in place with Rancho Las Palmas to host the tournament next year.

I'm a tournament behind in my slideshows and videos, but I did finish processing the International Spring Championship visuals today. Below is the slide show and below that, short videos of the 18s champions Sloane Stephens and Mitchell Frank. There are additional videos of the six other players who reached the finals available at the TennisKalamazoo channel on YouTube.






7 comments:

hmm... said...

i gotta say the video of frank makes him look very unimpressive.

A&M fan said...

Colette, does Jarmere Jenkins have a favorite between A&M and Virginia?

hey said...

frank simply didnt miss one shot and hit every ball to about 5 feet from the baseline or deeper. he was moving unbelievably and never missing. nobody in the tournament could hit a winner on him. kudla did a little bit but was the only person who could. he doesnt look great but he is a very tough competitor and person to play.

carsentennis said...

The conditions at Carsen suited Frank's game, slow courts etc., and none of the juniors with the exception of VanOverbeek or Sundling have a serve that's can be real weapon (have not seen Sandgrens serve though). Frank does not move that well though either, does not come forward and hits nothing w/ any pace at all, backhand particularly weak. Will work at this level on a slow court but for him to take his game to the next level he will have to develop some weapons and more pace on the ball. He will have a hard time at Wimbledon and on Clay unless his movement improves.

Boomtennis said...

Everyone keeps saying that Frank will not be around including the USTA but he keeps on getting stronger and achieving more. He seems to manage his game which is more than most top juniors can do. Think about what happens when he develops the rest of his game.

untrue said...

Boomtennis--

Why do you feel that the usta does not beleive in Frank? That makes zero sense.

Mitchell is one of the better juniors in the country. He has great coaches guiding his development. Frank Salazar and Vessa in Maryland are doing a great job with him.

Frank takes his tennis very seriously: he is coachable, high work ethic, and wants to be really good. Just because he does not have a 140 mph serve doesn't mean the usta doesn't want him. He understands how to play and makes great decisions on the court.

Just don't throw the USTA's name in there, because they are an easy target. Know your facts.

carsentennis said...

To Boomtennis and untrue

I dont doubt that Frank works hard etc and his game is improving, but no-one wins matches in the pros by retrieving the ball with no pace, especially a player like Frank who has not developed any touch yet. He needs to develop some weapons to take his game to next level. I hope he does because the US does not have a large group of promising juniors coming up. What the USTA thinks is really irrelevant because if the player is good, and I mean really good, he or she will rise to the top with or without the USTA blessings/guidance. Bloggers here put far to much emphasis on the USTA's role/importance in developing a player, that comes from these player's individual coaches and until the USTA gets that one right the organization's High Performance efforts will continue to flounder.