Egger Verbally Commits to Washington; PSA For College Tennis; Williams vs. Sock in Pitt Futures; Kennedy Funding Underway
When I spoke with Emmett Egger at the International Grass Courts last month, he hadn't yet decided on which school he would attend. But within two weeks of the conversation and before the important July 1 contact date, he had selected Washington, so I spoke to him again about the reasons for his choice late last week, and my story appears today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Egger is one of many 2011 graduates who have already chosen their school; recently Kaitlin Ray verbally committed to UCLA and Lorraine Guillermo has decided on Pepperdine; in fact six of the 10 rising senior girls have already verbally committed. To my knowledge, Egger is the first Top 10 boy to commit.
Speaking of college tennis, the USTA has produced a 30 second public service announcement about it, featuring Billie Jean King, John Isner and the Bryan twins, which will air throughout the summer at the US Open Series tournaments as well as the US Open. It is available for viewing on facebook via the USTA Tennis On Campus page.
In Pro Circuit play, Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com is streaming audio of the $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Dallas for the rest of the tournament. The second round Irina Falconi - Julia Glushko match (Glushko upset No. 4 seed Christina McHale in the opening round) was postponed until Friday due to rain, but the other second round matches were completed. Click here for the updated draw.
In the Pittsburgh Futures, the quarterfinals are set, with Rhyne Williams upsetting top seed Vasek Pospisil of Canada today in the second round 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4. This is the same tournament that Williams won as a 16-year-old back in 2007. Williams' quarterfinal opponent is No. 7 seed Jack Sock, who also has won a Futures event on clay, with Sock's the more recent, in November of 2009. Andrea Collarini also advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over A & M's Austin Krajicek. Collarini and Evan King have advanced to the doubles semifinals, where they'll meet Williams and Tennys Sandgren. Click here for the updated draws.
One of the summer's biggest charity tournaments is the Kennedy Funding Invitational, which I follow via the excellent coverage from the Lower Hudson Valley's Journal News. Their preview story focused on Victoria Azarenka and Melanie Oudin, two of the women competing, but today's story was about local 15-year-old Jamie Loeb, who was invited to qualify for the women's field and did so, with victories over Jessica Stiles and Lauren Cash the past two days. Loeb is just coming off a title at a 16s National Open, where she barely lost a game, and it was her second NO title this summer. In fact, she hasn't lost a junior match since the Easter Bowl. For the men's quarterfinal results and the weekend's schedule, see thekennedyfundinginvitational.com.
2 comments:
I was reading up on Egger and it made me think... has anyone else noticed that the USTA Training Center has failed to actually make kids better. Both Egger and Vinsant attended the center, both experienced sharp decline in results. I know this site is usually filled with USTA apologists, but I think it is interesting to note that within a few months of being back at that club in Dallas, both Egger and Vinsant made massive improvements (Egger to semis of Grass Courts last year, Vinsant to finals this year, together winning doubles this year)
Maybe the USTA Training Center needs to be trained in player development.
to justamusing
I have never been a fan of the USTA and their approach, but I would not equate that either Egger or Vinsant did not get better because they trained in Boca. And I would not read much into being back at Dallas either, unless either start all of a sudden start winning matches at the futrues level. What is missing in your equation is the difficulty and talent it takes to keep making the leaps to the next level, which very few players worldwide actually make. It is a continual culling out process and at some point sheer athlticism and sheer talent do kick into the process, not to mention mental toughness and luck. I am not saying that at some point one, or both may make the leap, but it’s very very tough.
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