USA's World Junior Tennis Teams; Youth Olympic Games; McEnroe's Academy Decides Girls Scholarships; McHale Wins, Johnson Loses
Although the USTA has not yet sent out a release, the U.S. teams for the ITF World Junior Tennis competition 14-and-under tournament have been selected. Gabrielle Andrews, Brooke Austin and Taylor Townsend will be the United States' girls team, which is seeking its fourth consecutive world title. Jordan Belga, Stefan Kozlov and Noah Rubin are the boys who will be competing for the U.S. in Prostejov, Czech Republic beginning next Monday. Kathy Rinaldi and Mike Sell are the USTA National Coaches making the trip. The list of countries participating can be found at the ITF junior website.
Monica Puig, who plays for Puerto Rico, is the only U.S. player scheduled to compete in the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games, which begin on August 15th in Singapore. The fact that the USTA National championships end on the day the tennis competition begins probably accounts for the limited interest on the part of the U.S. juniors, although Grade A points are being given. The fields are very strong, however, with India's Yuki Bhambri, Wimbledon boys champion Marton Fucsovics of Hungary, Brazilian Tiago Fernandes, the Australian Open Junior champion, and Great Britain's Oliver Golding among the boys expected to contend. World No. 2 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is entered, as are No. 3 Puig, No. 4 Timea Babos of Hungary and No. 5 Sachie Ishizu of Japan. In all, there are six Top 10 boys and five Top 10 girls scheduled to compete. The complete list can be found here.
Last week, John McEnroe's tennis academy in New York held tryouts for the girls scholarships. Sabrina Xiong, 12, of Fresh Meadows, Queens was the full scholarship winner. For the names of the other girls who received partial scholarships, see this release at Global Village Tennis News. The Wall Street Journal met with McEnroe to discuss his academy last week. That article can be found here.
In the ATP's Farmers Classic in Los Angeles today, Somdev Devvarman beat USC's Steve Johnson, a fellow qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round. The former NCAA champion from Virginia will next play No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
At the WTA's Bank of the West Classic, Christina McHale defeated Kai-Chen Chang of Taiwan 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in another first round battle between qualifiers. McHale plays top seed and French finalist Samantha Stosur of Australia in the second round.
8 comments:
I really don't understand how you can call Puig a "US girl" when she will wave the Puerto Rican flag at the Youth Olympics and not the US's.
One more time - Puerto Rico is part of the Caribbean Section, one of the 17 Sections of the USTA. Puerto Ricans are USA citizens.
Come on now. Puerto Rican people have been US citizens since 1917. What she does is no different than someone bragging they are from Txas or John Isner making sure everyone knows how much he loves U of GA.
Wrong. Puerto Rico has their own Olympic Committee. Texas doesn't and neither does UGA. And you certainly aren't able to replace the (USA) by your name with (UGA) or (TEX). She doesn't represent the United States in the Youth Olympic games. Puerto Rico's medals don't count towards the United States's total.
As tired too said, Puerto Rico is in the Carribbean Section of the USTA....and they are US citizens.
So since we are talking about junior tennis here and not the Olympics, she is indeed a "US girl".
Actually, we are talking about the Olympics. The Youth Olympic games. Plus, it's the same thing with Fed Cup.
Puerto Ricans are US citizens and they are part of the USTA. In regards to overall junior tennis, she is a US girl. How Junior Olympics count medals is not relevant. When Ms. Puig plays tennis as a junior she is part of the USTA umbrella, if she plays as a pro she will play as a US citizen.
As Puerto Rican, we have our own Olympic Committee. The fact that we are U.S. citizen is a political fact, is not a matter of sport. Moreover, from cultural and social perspectives, Puerto Rico is a nation, and I consider culture more relevant to describe the identity of a person than politic.
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