Qualifier Rogers Reaches 50K Final; Novikov in ITF Junior Final; Querrey, Isner Meet for Serbia Title; McHale, McAdoo Features
Qualifier Shelby Rogers has reached the final of the $50,000 MIMA Foundation/USTA Pro Tennis Classic in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. The 18-year-old from Charleston, SC, did not have to complete either of her last two victories, with Alexandra Stevenson retiring in the quarterfinals after losing the first set to Rogers, and in today's semifinal, Julia Boserup retired trailing Rogers 7-5, 4-0. Boserup had won her quarterfinal match with last week's Charlottesville, Va. winner and No. 5 seed Michaela Krajicek, when Krajicek retired trailing 7-6(3), 3-0. In Sunday's final, Rogers will play No. 1 seed Edina Gallovits, a Romanian living in Atlanta, who has had a very good spring, winning a 25K in March and a 50K in April. Those titles have gotten Gallovits back near the Top 100, and she is familiar with those heights, having finished inside the Top 100 the past three years. Although I have not had an opportunity to try it, the tournament's website is advertising live streams of recent matches.
In the men's Savannah Challenger, Ryan Sweeting will play Kei Nishikori in the final, and in the Orange Park Futures, two Italians will square off, No. 1 seed Matteo Viola against No. 2 seed Stefano Ianni. Denis Kudla and Andrea Collarini won the doubles title in that event, beating Mitchell Frank and Junior Ore 7-6(6), 6-3.
For complete results and draws, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
Most U.S. juniors are playing in the Florida ITFs this month (I'll have more on the Plantation tournament tomorrow), but Dennis Novikov is preparing for the French Junior Championships on the red clay, not the Har-Tru. In the Grade 2 event in Prato, Italy, the 16-year-old Novikov, seeded third, has advanced to the final, where he'll meet No. 7 seed Mikhail Biryukov of Russia. Caitlyn Williams, the only other U.S. junior in the tournament, lost in the first round of singles, but reached the doubles final with partner Ilona Kremen of Belarus.
Speaking of the European red clay, two U.S. men are meeting in an ATP final on that surface for the first time since Agassi and Courier met in the 1991 French Open final. Sam Querrey breezed past wild card Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-2 and will meet doubles partner John Isner for the Serbia Open singles title. Isner beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals. For more on the matches, see the ATP website.
Michelle Kaufman recently wrote this Miami Herald article on French Open wild card tournament winner Christina McHale, which explains why you can often hear her talking to herself in Spanish on the court, although she doesn't use her Mandarin Chinese vocabulary very often. 
And Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel spoke with NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob McAdoo, now a coach with the Miami Heat, about his love of tennis and his experience as a junior tennis parent to his nationally-ranked 14-year-old daughter Rasheeda, in this article.
20 comments:
I always laugh when the famous get interviewed about their tennis kids. No offense, but McAdoo's daughter has had every advantage from a training stand point and is still a mediocre player, ranked 66th in the country while playing a weak (89th ranked) schedule. There are so many better players who deserve the press.
Alexandra Stevenson retired from a match? SHOCKING!
66th in the country - yeah, definition of 'mediocrity' - give me a break. Wow.
Yes, 66th in the country....playing a very weak schedule....rich dad lets her play lots of tournaments to pile up points. Yes, that is mediocre. Anyone who follows girl's tennis knows that.....once you get outside the top 30, many of the girls are awful, products of parents who inflate their records with weak schedules. Go watch some of those matches before you comment. Add in the thousands of international girls her age who are better. Mediocre was being kind.
Saw the draw for the Sarasota Challenger. Is Florida's Bangoura really playing in a clay court challenger the week the NCAAs start? How would he, as Florida's #5, be ready to play high level clay court tennis. Seems like there is an American more deserving of a WC. I guess whether or not it's a team distraction is another story
Brent -- what do you define as mediocre or average? If you are saying 3 star players are average, then I understand your 'wow' comment. To many, mid-level 5 star players which is where McAdoo is ranked, is "average" when it comes to DI quality tennis players. If you are talking beyond college level......well, that's just crazy talk :-)
@Donna:
I've seen her play. I would not call her mediocre.
John, if Donna's point was that she's not ranked #1, then make that point. If her point was that only the top 50 players in the country deserve that much press, fine - whatever. But, to call the 66th player in the country 'mediocre' is just fundamentally wrong and tells a sad story about lack of perspective. I would love for my kids someday to be that 'mediocre' at anything - tennis or otherwise.
Brent - you didn't answer the question as to how you define mediocre when it comes to girl's junior tennis - what is your 'average' player ranked? Colette - how would you answer that question. Everyone's scale is different is my point.
to donna from Miami...ouch... give us break, any girl in the top 100 US is a good college potential player, if you are talking pro-potential that's a different story, which would probably not include 99% of the top 30 anyway, unless they were like (age) 13 in the 18s for girls. collette just dont get why you publish these cheap swipes at kids by what appears to be venting parents
John, it is not I that need to define what the 'mediocre' was in reference to. The original comment didn't make the 'mediocre' reference relative to anything. It made the claim in absolute. Certainly, if someone said 'McAdoo is a mediocre player as compared to Serena Williams', no one would challenge that statement - although I'm not sure why someone would feel compelled to make such a statement. The statement was that she 'is still a mediocre player'. Period. When the facts are that she is the 'elite of the elite' in almost any standard you would choose, and she should be very proud of her accomplishments - despite whatever ginormous chip Donna has on her shoulder about it.
Donna, you are officially losing it. When challenged on whether top 70 in the country was really mediocre, your response is that 'many' of the girls outside the top 30 are 'awful'. Classy. I don't need to have watched any of these matches to know that you are fresh out of perspective.
Brent - mediocre and average have the same meaning. When Donna or anyone uses the term, you have to know what THEY are referring to, not what it means to you, to be able to gauge the term's accuracy.
From a recreational, high school, or section-level player perspective, McAdoo would be considered way above average or 'elite', in my opinion.
But, from a national perspective, a "middle-5 star" ranked player like McAdoo translates in US Junior tennis to an average-level US college player. That player would play in the bottom half (or bench) in the line-up at a ranked school and mid-top of the line-up at a non-ranked school.
That's reality.....I don't know or couldn't care less about this player. Donna may have a chip on her shoulder, but just so you know, your posts come across as if you have a (different) chip on your shoulder........
Players can be good or not good but the point was that childhood rankings typically reflect how much money the parents spend
McAdoo is a Freshman with some nice wins in the State of Florida (Lindl just won the Gator Bowl). McAdoo, the dad, is one of the nicest guys to talk to despite his celebrity. He simply loves the sport and I'm hoping he doesn't come across some of this nonsense written about his daughter. That's actually the really nice thing about tennis, in the end a player really does all their talking with their results. You can't play the match on paper or in a internet blog. Quoting tennis recruiting's rank and schedule strength is like quoting the BCS playoff teams. Schedule strength in the world of USTA alternates is a product of the tournaments you're given an opportunity to play or do you only "play up." The ranking is based on the calendar year, it's not a what have you done for me lately formula. If anyone watched Bolender struggle against Chi in Plantation, they'd understand that the gap between College player and McAdoo's level are not that wide.
John, appreciate your thoughts. Don't mean to be edgy but when someone says something as silly as calling the 66th player in the country 'mediocre' (again, not relative to anything, just absolute) and then, when challenged, backs that up by saying that 'many' of the girls outside of the top 30 are 'awful' (again, not relative to anything, just absolute) - that's kind of begging to be challenged.
You all need to get a life, the kid is most probably trying her best and you waannabe's have nothing better to do than knock a kid.
To donna and Colette for publishing Donna's comments. I just hope that McAdoo herself does not read this blog because those sort of cheap shots can be extremely hurtful to a young person. The fact Donn's remarks have no real merit is besides the point.
You do a great job covering junior tennis but I wish you would not publish comments enabling cyber bullying of minors.
I do not agree with Donna's assessment of McAdoo's tennis game, and I said so, but I do not believe her remarks were meant to be personal insults. If I've misread her intent, I apologize, but I think she was generalizing more than you do.
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