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Friday, April 24, 2009

Girls 18s Nats Move to San Diego in 2010; Blogs from Europe; Brugues Profile


The big news out of the USTA Junior Competition meeting in Dallas last weekend is that the Girls 18s USTA National Championships have been awarded to San Diego's Barnes Tennis Center, the site of the girls 16s championship, beginning in 2010. The Girls 18s National Team Championships were awarded to Claremont Tennis Club, in suburban Los Angeles.

The Fed Cup semifinal tie between the U.S. and the Czech Republic begins tomorrow in Brno, and there are blogs galore emanating from it. Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens, the junior hitting partners, are writing a joint diary for usta.com. Captain Mary Joe Fernandez is also giving us her perspective in the Captain's blog. And over at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour site, doubles specialist Liezel Huber is providing a much more detailed perspective. USC's 2008 NCAA doubles champion Kaes Van't Hof is helping the women prepare for the Czech encounter as a hitting partner, and will stay in Europe after the Fed Cup to play Challengers.

In addition to their diary, Stephens and McHale talk about their experience in this Q&A with Erin Bruehl at usta.com.

And Grace Min is providing a very funny and lively blog from Spain, where she, Chanelle Van Nguyen and Breaunna Addison are training, accompanied by National Coach Lori McNeil.

The country's top-ranked college player, Arnau Brugues of Tulsa, is the subject of this feature in today's Tulsa World. An MBA isn't a bad thing to have as you step out into the grind of minor league professional tennis, is it?

I'll be commuting to the Big Ten men's championships Saturday and Sunday in Ann Arbor, so look for a late post Saturday evening. To follow the live scoring, visit mgoblue.com.

If the Pac-10 individual championships are of interest to you, Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com will be internet streaming his commentary Saturday and Sunday from Ojai. It's free, and you need only do a simple registration to access the webcast.

8 comments:

Austin said...

Alabama just blew a 3-0 lead against Florida in the SEC quarters.

scott said...

Score was a little misleading. I wouldn't say they blew it, as they never led in any of the 4 remaining matches, with Florida having won 1st sets at 2, 4-6. Court 2 did go to a 3rd set, but Lacroix never trailed. Good match, what you would expect from the 4-5 matchup. I'm glad Florida gets another shot at Ole Miss.

Austin said...

Thibedeau(spelling) had all the momentum though and Thompson was serving for the second set I believe. Alabama has had a major problem this year in close matches against Top15 teams. They make it extremely close, but fail to close it out. Billy Mertz playing #5 is whats killing them. He played #1 two years ago, then had either shoulder or elbow surgery, redshirted last year and just hasnt been the same since.

Is Hochwalt going to redshirt, anyone know?

scott said...

Hochwalt has played in one dual match, against Ole Miss. Not sure if that takes away from his redshirt. I don't know what is up with that situation. If he's able to return to form next year and Florida doesn't have anyone leave, they're gonna be very tough.

Looking at the way this match is going, I'm not so glad Florida had to play Ole Miss again. That is a well oiled machine right now, just running through SEC teams.

gators said...

I've heard that Hochwalt is no longer on the team and might transfer to Texas

markus said...

Does anyone know how the players that are training in Spain got selected? Given that Min, Van Nguyen, and Addison are very good players, I do not think they have grown in the past year or two, and are rather short - is it worth investing in someone who will be five two?

Colette Lewis said...

Hochwalt is leaving Florida. He will be training in Texas with Grant Doyle and John Roddick this summer, but there is no confirmation from his parents on a transfer.

TennisRat said...

What is with Florida?? I heard there are problems there. Does anyone know more about why Hochwalt is leaving??