Kalamazoo and Other USTA National Wild Cards; U.S. ITF World Junior Teams; Entries for U.S. Open Jrs. Close Friday
The USTA National Championships begin a week from Friday here in Kalamazoo, with the tournaments at the other locations getting underway Saturday or Sunday. Here are the wild card recipients for those events.
Boys 18s:
Sean Berman
Frank Carleton
Jarmere Jenkins
Kevin King
Daniel Nguyen
Nathan Pasha
Max Stevens
Boys 16s:
Terrell Celestine
Trey Daniel
Jeffrey Hawke
Daniel Ho
Erik Lim
Alex Petrone
Mac Styslinger
Quinton Vega
Boys 14s:
Kevin Pham
Quentin Monaghan
Boys 12s:
Jayanth Chintham
Race Collins
Girls 18s:
Kristie Ahn
Gail Brodsky
Jacqueline Cako
Emily Gelber
Asia Muhammad
Shelby Rogers
Stephanie Vidov
Allie Will
Girls 16s:
Breaunna Addison
Tiffany Cheng
Yuki Chiang
Danielle Flores
Kelsey Frechette
Nicole Robinson
Chanelle Van Nguyen
Hannah Wille
Girls 14s:
Samantha Crawford
Mackenzie Craft
Aryn Greene
Cassidy Spearman
Taylor Townsend
Girls 12s:
Usue Arconada
Stephanie Hazell
Sai Keerthi Rachavelpula
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The USTA has announced the players who will represent the U.S. in the ITF World Junior Tennis competition in the Czech Republic August 3-8. The boys, all Californians who were on the North American qualifying team are: Mackenzie McDonald, Nikko Madregallejo and Joseph Di Giulio. The girls are: Brooke Austin, Vicky Duval and Sachia Vickery. Vickery was on the team last year, but she did not take part in the North American qualifying. The full release from the USTA is here.
And a reminder, the last day to enter the U.S. Open Juniors is Friday, July 31. THIS INCLUDES APPLICATIONS FOR WILD CARDS. See the ITF Junior site for more information.
24 comments:
Collette,
Judging by who received wild cards and who did not meet the normal selection criteria, do you have an idea of which big names will not be playing the Boys 18's?
I took a quick look at the list at ustaboys.com and the only two that come to mind are Devin Britton and Christian Harrison.
Does anyone know why Christian Harrison is not playing?
And, by the way, where has he been?
The "2009 Participants" list and the "2009 Players list differ. Ryan Harrison and Rhyne Williams are not in the "Players" list. Which list is the list of actual competitors?
Since it appears Britton already has a WC to the Open, he doesn't have much to gain by playing
Spencer Newman would definetly win Kalamazoo 16's.
spencer newman would not win 16s. jack sock is going to win 16s everyone else can play for 2nd there. i would also still put marcos giron, shane vinsant, jeremy efferding and dennis mrtchkian ahead of him.
Thanks. Glad to see it will be a strong field.
@Austin:
Thanks to @analyst, I discovered that I was looking at the wrong list on the website. It is 2009 PLAYERS, not Participants that is the up-to-date list. (I understand that will be corrected for clarity).
Rhyne Williams and Ryan Harrison have indeed withdrawn.
If Williams and Ryan Harrison are withdrawing for any reason other than injuries, that is ridiculous. Players not understanding the privilege of playing for their national championship is getting silly. I actually throw Britton into that bunch as well. I undestand that he already won the NCAAs but this is his last chance to put his name on that board with all the greats forever. Can't believe skipping a Futures for a week is that big of a sacrifice with the national title as a potential return.
Yep, it saddens me. Could write a 10,000 word essay on this, but I digress.
britton is getting a WC into the open, that is the ONLY reason other than a gold ball to play the zoo, the ONLY reason. Also he is pro now so he doesnt need to worry about junior tennis. he can only worsen his situation by playing the zoo.
I can't fathom why Rhyne Williams would withdraw unless he's injured. He's a long shot to even get a qualifying wild card.
Ryan Harrison has probably received word that he will be given a main draw wild card. No surprise there.
Domijan is now the favorite.
tennis, you are missing the point. If the only reason to play the game was to max out your future pro success, then that would be one thing, but that's silly. There needs to be a recognition by some of these folks that a national title is precious. That is an amazing accomplishment and will be a remarkable memory twenty years from now and forty years from now when most of these players will not have ever cracked the top 100 in their entire pro careers. When that happens and they look back, do you think Denis Kudla would rather be 18s Clay Court champ from 2009 or first round loser in the Lexington Challenger that week because losing that one match didn't do bupcus for his pro career. Winning Kzoo might be the second biggest tournament that Britton ever wins in his career. Hope I'm wrong. Seems like a really neat kid. Loved his blog from Wimbledon. But, chasing the pro dream only without hedging any bets seems like a recipe for later regret in my book (and again, not sold that Britton's 'pro' development will be improved more by losing in the second round of a Challenger that week vs. beating Van Overbeek, King, Sandgren, and Cox on the way to the Kzoo title)
to david,
Disagree about Domijan. He's got the big serve for a jr. but not the court movement and if the serve is off he wil be trouble. With Harrison pulling and Brittin not in the mix there is not a clear cut favorite for the B18s. With the right draw and playing well anyone of a group could win it cox, sangdren, fowler, Buchanan, jenkins, Kulda, King. Some dark horses from CA as well. Seba has had some good relusts. Seems pretty wide open to me. Rhyne Williams results in the past two years very unimpressive. Just hope he didnt peak with his winning a clay court futures at 16.
Losing 2nd round in a challenger will give you points which might help you make the cut for a later tournament. Most people on this site complain continually that the US has declined as a tennis power but when kids have the courage to go for it they get cut down like crazy. There are many different pathways to success in tennis and success doesn't have to be defined as being no 1. Brent, if chasing the pro dream,how does one hedge the bet, just curious on your opinion.
Also, some of you have mentioned that wouldn't these kids rather look back in 20 years and see their name as a national champion rather than grinding on the circuit maybe winning or maybe not. Who is anyone else (except these kids and maybe their coaches) to judge what they would rather have or what they should rather have. I am in complete agreement that it would be very fun to have a tournament where everyone that could possibly play did so regardless of any other tournaments going on that week. But, in all actuality, these kids are putting in hard work and they need to learn for themselves what is important. And at this stage in their lives if playing a 10k event is more important than going to their countries national championship then they have every right to do so. These players need support in their decisions and while they haven't had results that necessarily give us confidence to think this is the right decision, let them go for it.
"The courage to go for it?"
In my opinion its the opposite. Playing it safe is to play a Futures or Challenger where there is no pressure to win the tournament. Playing Hard Courts is where all the pressure is because they are expected to win.
Let's be real for a minute, none of our juniors have done anything this year that PROVES they are above playing the biggest junior tournament in the country. Even Devin Britton, who won NCAA's, lost a lot of matches during the season to lesser players.
Brent, Britton would have to miss TWO pro level events to play Kalamazoo. While it is noble to play for one's (junior) national championship, winning the college national championship is just as significant. He will certainly be able to look back 20 to 40 years down year road & relish that accomplishment. Though, winning either has not exactly been a springboard to pro success. In an ideal world, IMO, Britton would have played one more year of college tennis to get stronger, improve his fitness and deal with the pressure of being the "favorite."But, he decided to strike while the iron is hot. Will he be successful at the pro level? Who knows? The folks who have clearly dominated college tennis in recent years (Devvarman, Isner, Levine) have found it to be tough going in the pros. And I wouldn't say Britton has been a dominant player. In fact, if he doesn't come up with some big serves on a couple of critical occasions in the 2d set vs Clayton (when he was already down a set) in the Qtrs, Devin probably doesn't even turn pro. Guess it's all about timing. Since His goal now is to prepare for the Open, I certainly understand playing 2 challengers in August to get ready. IMO, that would prepare him better than his only August event (prior to the Open) being Kalamazoo. Those are the two options. Due to the schedule, you can't do both. It may even be Octagon making the decision. It'd be interesting to see how other juniors would schedule August if they knew they were already in the Open. Finally, I don't see how you can say a guy who tried college (successfully) has all His eggs in one basket. If there are guys who fit that description, it's folks like Kudla who are "all in" as pros before age 18.
Is anyone else in agreement with me that if you turn pro you should be banned from competing in junior tournaments? As recently as 2003 this was the rule, then all the sudden eight of our top juniors turned pro and the USTA decided to let them all play nationals.
Austin, should amateurs not be allowed to play pro events then. How about the kids that get sponsors or free lessons or free racquets, all forms of compensation. I wonder if they have these arguments in Europe?
Some if these 'kids' are hardly juniors anyway. I was a bit suprised that 18 yo's still play jr events, even the slams; and I agree with not having pros play jr events (understanding that they do it to get wildcards).
I could not agree with Brent and Austin more. Great points guys.
"Pro" vs "amateur" don't even have any meeting in the international tennis world. It's a US thing based on US NCAA rules. Nearly all of the international players have sponsors (often their own governments) from a young age. Many players from other countries don't have this "luxury" of choosing between tennis and a nice college of their choice. It's more like tennis or working at the factory. This is part of the reason the US is falling behind.
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